Blackfriars Rotunda

James Parkinson came into possession of the collection of Sir Ashton Lever quite by chance: Lever put it up as a lottery prize, Parkinson's wife bought two tickets, gave one away, and died before the time the lottery draw was carried out.

[1] The Rotunda building had a central circular gallery and in brick; the roof was conical and in slate.

One attempt, a proposed purchase by the government, was wrecked by the adverse opinion of Sir Joseph Banks.

There were other public rooms: Adjoining the theatre and near the inclosed part appropriated to the lecturer, is the chemical laboratory, in which convenience, compactness, and elegance are united.

[14]The building from 1823 was used in a variety of ways until 1855, when it was put to ordinary business use,[15] as the Royal Albion pub.

[17] It also hosted a diorama (a peristrephic panorama as described at the time), and a book about its representation of the Greek War of Independence was published in 1828.

The Home Office regarded the Rotunda as a centre of violence, sedition and blasphemy, and regularly spied on its meetings.

[24] From 1833 to 1838 it operated as the Globe Theatre; under John Blewitt it was called a "musick hall",[25] and in 1838 the Rotunda was again a concert room.

After an illegal cock fight was discovered, the Rotunda finally lost its entertainment licence, in 1886.