E2BN Gallery

The original Globe Theatre opened in 1599 and in 1644 it was demolished to build tenements and its foundations were buried.

In 1949 Sam Wanamaker visited London to look for evidence of the Globe and found only a plaque on a brewery wall. He did no more until 1970 when he set up the Globe Playhouse Trust to raise money to build the New Globe. The Trust was offered a 1.2 Acre site beside the river Thames by Southwark Council, but nothing was done with the land until 1987.

In l987 they began to clear the site and in 1989 the Globe's original foundations were discovered, about 200 yards from the site. They managed to dig up about 5% of the foundations which made it possible for the architect to re-evaluate the shape of the old Globe. Theo Crosby was the New Globe's architect who had first met Sam Wanamaker in 1969.