Built in the 1840s as a railway engine shed on Chalk Farm Road, the Roundhouse has become one of Camden's best-known buildings. Its circular brick shell has since housed locomotives, gin barrels, and generations of musicians and theatre makers.
A Great Circular Engine House
Constructed between 1846 and 1847 by the London & Birmingham Railway, the building was designed by architects Robert B. Dockray and Robert Stephenson. Known originally as the Great Circular Engine House, or the Luggage Engine House, it stands in Chalk Farm and was used to service locomotives for roughly a decade. The structure measures 48 metres in diameter and is built of yellow brick; its conical slate roof is supported by 24 cast-iron Doric columns and centres on a smoke louvre that has since been glazed.
The building's railway function was short-lived. Within ten years, locomotives had grown too long for the circular space. From 1871 it served for half a century as a bonded warehouse for gin distillers W & A Gilbey Ltd, before falling into disuse shortly before the Second World War. It was first listed in 1954 and is now Grade II* listed; in 2010 it was declared a National Heritage Site. Inside, original flooring survives, along with fragments of the turntable and early railway lines.
Centre 42 and Counterculture
The Roundhouse reopened as a performing arts venue in 1964, when the playwright Arnold Wesker established the Centre 42 Theatre Company and adapted the building for public use. It became a focal point for counterculture on 15 October 1966, when the All Night Rave launched the International Times newspaper with performances by Soft Machine and Pink Floyd. A major concert followed on New Year's Eve 1966, headlined by The Who.
Over the next decade, the venue hosted Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, and Motörhead, among others. In July 1967 it staged the Dialectics of Liberation congress, which brought together R. D. Laing, Herbert Marcuse, and Allen Ginsberg. The rock musical Catch My Soul opened in 1969, and the revue Oh! Calcutta! followed in July 1970.
Decades of Disuse
Despite its cultural impact, Centre 42 eventually ran out of funds. In 1983 the Greater London Council handed control of the building to Camden London Borough Council, but a lack of money kept it empty. The structure remained largely unused until the mid-1990s, when the Norman Trust, led by Torquil Norman, purchased it for £6 million in 1996. The Roundhouse Trust was formed in 1998 to oversee a full redevelopment.
Reopening and Restoration
The venue closed in 2004 for a multi-million pound renovation led by architects John McAslan & Partners. The project, which cost £27 million from 1996 onwards, reopened the building on 1 June 2006 with the Argentine spectacle Fuerzabruta. Seven layers of soundproofing were added to the roof, glazed roof-lights were reinstated, and a steel-and-glass New Wing was constructed to house the box office, bar, café, art gallery foyer, and offices.
The main space now holds up to 3,300 people standing, or 1,700 seated. Beneath it, the Roundhouse Studios provide music recording suites, film production rooms, television and radio studios, and rehearsal spaces. The Roundhouse Trust operates as a registered charity, and between 2006 and 2012 it delivered creative training in live music, circus, theatre, and new media to more than 13,000 young people aged 11 to 25.
On the Stage Today
Recent years have seen performances by PJ Harvey in 2023 and by Tinlicker and Ben Böhmer in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets released a live album recorded at the venue in 2020. The Roundhouse continues to function as both a commercial concert hall and a charitable youth project, rooted firmly in its Chalk Farm surroundings.