Theatre Royal Burns Down

Date: February 24, 1809 • Location: London, United Kingdom

After standing for only 15 years, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (pictured), the third building in London of that name, burned down.

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The present building, opened in 1812, is the most recent of four theatres that have stood at the location since 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent London theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" drama.