An exterior view of the west front of the Roayl Shakespeare Theatre, fronting the River...

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre has a long history, and has been on this site since 1769, when a celebration of Shakespeare and his work was held on the Bank Croft site. The celebrations were moved as industrialisation of the town meant that the building, and later refilling, of the canal interrupted the site. The theatre was rebuilt on the site in 1877-79, and some of the Vicotrian walls are still intact and part of the sturcture today. The north and west front of the theatre was designed by Elisabeth Scott, who won an architectural competition held after a fire destroyed the building in 1926. Scott made many changes to her design after public feedback. One of these changes was the addition of the projecting restaurant in 1938. There are four clear storeys on this front, each terraced, and the second storey has five bays of doors, which are divided by projecting fins of brickwork. Above this level is a metal balcony, and to the right is a large polygonal stair tower, with stepped windows in the lower section, whilst the top windows are positioned in a line. In the foreground are leisure boaters on the river.