Ellen Terry Building

This is used by our Faculty of Arts and Humanities, specifically for the performing arts, media and music courses. Built in 1880, the art deco building underwent a major refurbishment in 2000. Fittingly, it was previously a cinema, and is named after Dame Ellen Terry, a star of the Victorian stage and a leading Shakespearean actress.

Dame Alice Ellen Terry was born in Coventry on 27 February 1847. She lived in a house which was situated near the old market place where Broadgate is today. If you look for the elephant you’ll find a blue plaque nearby which was unveiled by Coventry Corporation. In 1906 she returned to Coventry to unveil a commemorative marble stone to mark a building being converted into a theatre.

She was a highly regarded Shakespearean actress and worked with some of the biggest names in theatre at the time including Sir Henry Irving, Charles Kean (son of Sir Edmund Kean). One of her famous correspondents was George Bernard Shaw who coincidently wrote a play for Waldo Lanchester entitled Shakes versus Shav (1949).