Rudolphe Cabanel

Rudolphe Cabanel (also Rudolph) (1763–1839)^[1] was a German architect, engineer and machinist, known for his work on British theatres.

Life

Cabanel was born at Aachen in 1762. He came to England early in life, and settled in London. He died in Mount Gardens, Lambeth, on 5 February 1839.^[2]

Works

Royal Cobourg Theatre, 1819 engraving

Cabanel was employed in construction of several theatres. He designed the stage arrangements of the old Drury Lane Theatre for the reconstruction of the 1790s; in 1811, after the theatre was destroyed in a fire, the designs of Benjamin Dean Wyatt were preferred.^[3] He worked on the Royal Circus (later named the Surrey Theatre), 1805 (burnt down 30–1 January 1868), and the Royal Cobourg Theatre, 1818.^[2] At Sadler's Wells Theatre he reconstructed the auditorium, from 1802, following a model by Richard Hughes.^[4]

He was the inventor of the "Cabanel roof", and a number of theatrical machines.^[2]

Family

Harriot Cabanel, a dancer at the Royal Circus and Rudolphe's sister, married the actor Jack Helme.^[1]

Notes

1. Philip H. Highfill; Kalman A. Burnim; Edward A. Langhans (1982). Habgood to Houbert. SIU Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-8093-0918-4.
2. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1886). "Cabanel, Rudolph" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 8. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
3. Earl, John. "Cabanel, Rudolphe". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4288. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. Philip H. Highfill; Kalman A. Burnim; Edward A. Langhans (1982). Hough to Keyse. SIU Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-8093-0919-1.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1886). "Cabanel, Rudolph". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 8. London: Smith, Elder & Co.