Battersea Arts Centre
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| Address |
Lavender Hill London, SW11 United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 51°27′53″N 0°09′39″W / 51.4648°N 0.1607°W |
| Public transit |
  Clapham Junction
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| Owner | BAC Trust |
| Designation | Grade II* listed |
| Type | Producing house |
| Capacity | 640 (500 Grand Hall; 140 Lower Hall) |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Architect | E. W. Mountford |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a Grade II* listed building near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that operates as a performance space specialising in theatre productions. It was formerly Battersea Town Hall. In March 2015, while a major programme of renovation works were underway, the Grand Hall was severely damaged by fire. Approximately 70% of the theatre, including the 200-capacity Council Chamber, the Scratch Bar and the Members Library, was saved from the fire and remains open.
The building, designed in 1891 by E. W. Mountford, opened in 1893 as Battersea Town Hall, the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Battersea, shortly after the borough was transferred from the county of Surrey to the newly formed County of London. It is built from Suffolk red brick and Bath stone.
Bertrand Russell's essay Why I Am Not a Christian was originally given as a talk in the hall, on 6 March 1927, under the auspices of the South London Branch of the National Secular Society.
It building was given Grade II* listed protected status in February 1970.
In 1901 a large pipe organ was installed in the Grand Hall by Norman & Beard. This was an unusual instrument designed by Robert Hope-Jones, a pioneering organ builder who invented many aspects of the modern pipe organ. His ideas went on to form the basis of the Wurlitzer theatre organ in the 1920s and 30s. It was said to be the largest Hope-Jones organ to survive, and was partially restored in 2008–2009. In the 2015 fire, although much of the organ was destroyed, including the console, bellows, wiring and architectural cases, the soundboards and much of the pipework survived as they were off site undergoing restoration. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
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