Peter Street (carpenter) facts for kids

Peter Street was an English carpenter and builder who lived in London during the late 1500s and early 1600s. He was a very important person in the history of plays and theatre in London. He built the famous Fortune Playhouse and probably also the Globe Theatre, where William Shakespeare's plays were performed! Peter Street also helped build King James's Banqueting House in Whitehall Palace and might have even created the special sets for the king's royal shows called masques.

Early Life and Training

Peter Street was born around 1553. He was one of eight children of John Street, who was a joiner (someone who builds things with wood) in London. Peter was only ten years old when his father passed away. He was the only one of his brothers and sisters to live to be an adult.

When he was sixteen, in March 1570, Peter began an eight-year training program (called an indenture) to become a carpenter. His first teacher was William Brittaine. After just one year, Peter's skills were noticed by Robert Maskall, a very important person in the carpenters' guild (a kind of club for carpenters). Maskall bought Peter's training contract, and Peter finished his apprenticeship with him in March 1577. After completing his training, Peter became a full member of the Carpenters' guild.

We don't have records of Peter Street's wedding, but it's thought he got married in 1581 to a woman named Elizabeth. His stepfather, William Marrytt, who was a successful brewer, gave Peter a house and a shop that year. This was probably a wedding gift! Peter and Elizabeth's first child, John, was born in March 1584. John later followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a full member of the Carpenters' guild in 1608 after his own training.

Peter Street's Career

In August 1581, Peter Street took over the lease for his old teacher Robert Maskall's house. This house belonged to the Carpenters' guild, which shows that Peter's business was doing well and that he was respected in his job. He later leased more land from the guild, including two gardens.

In 1584, he was chosen to be a liveryman of the guild, which meant he had to represent the Company at formal events. He didn't really want to do this, but he accepted. By 1598, he became the guild's Second Warden. He might have even become the Master of the guild, like his former teacher Maskall. However, after 1599, he was criticized for not attending guild meetings and not doing his duties. So, he didn't rise any higher in the guild. (Even though the guild thought he was "idle," he was actually very busy with big building projects, like the Fortune Playhouse, which was taking up a lot of his time!) In 1608, the Carpenters' guild even tried to put him in prison for missing meetings, but a court of City Aldermen released him on the same day.

Building Theatres

The Theatre in Shoreditch

Peter Street's first experience building a theatre might have been at The Theatre in Shoreditch in 1576. The person who started The Theatre, James Burbage, lived in the same church parish as the Street family, so they knew each other well. We don't have a record saying for sure that Peter Street built it, but he was in the last year of his training and could have worked on the project.

Blackfriars Theatre

In 1596, James Burbage bought part of an old building called Blackfriars priory. A group of child actors was already using another part of the building. Burbage wanted to change his new property to add seating and galleries for an audience. Around this time, Peter Street bought a house and a woodyard near Bridewell, which was very close to Burbage's new theatre.

It's believed that Peter bought this woodyard so he could be near his new building project. A woodyard by the water was important because Peter would often stay in Berkshire, where his timber (wood) was grown. He would build parts of his timber-framed buildings there and then send the pieces by boat down the River Thames to London.

Burbage actually let Peter go from the Blackfriars project before it was finished. This was because some powerful people living nearby didn't want a theatre there.

Much later, after Peter Street became well-known for building London's playhouses, he returned to Blackfriars. The Burbages, who were now part of the King's Men (a theatre group supported by King James himself), were finally able to finish the project. In 1608, they hired Peter Street again to complete the work he had started.

The Globe Theatre

When the Blackfriars plan was stopped, James Burbage's sons, Cuthbert and Richard, asked Peter Street for help. Their theatre, The Theatre, was about to be taken away because their lease was ending. This would likely mean the end of their successful theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

The eight owners of the Chamberlain's Men found some land in Southwark, across the River Thames. They then arranged for Peter Street to take apart The Theatre and reuse its oak timbers for their new building. They wanted to save money because of the money they had already spent on the Blackfriars project.

On December 28, 1598, Peter Street, along with twelve of his workers and others, began to take apart the old Theatre. Peter told people he was just going to fix it up and rebuild it "in another form." But soon, the heavy oak beams were on their way by wagon to Peter's woodyard. They were stored there until the strong foundations for the new theatre in Southwark were ready.

Three weeks after taking the timbers, Peter Street was sued by Giles Allen, the landlord of The Theatre. Allen complained that Peter had "carried away all the wood and timber." However, no final decision was made in the case, as the Burbages and Allen continued to argue in court for years.

Besides storing the old wood, Peter Street also prepared new timber frames for the new theatre. The Globe Theatre was going to be bigger than The Theatre, so he needed more wood. He likely built and loosely put together the timber frames near where the wood was grown and dried, upriver in Berkshire. For another project, The Fortune theatre, he did this in Windsor and Maidenhead.

Once the foundations were complete, it took another ten weeks to build the main structure of The Globe, finishing in the summer of 1599. Only the walls (made of lath and plaster) needed to be finished. The whole project cost £700. The new theatre, which the writer Ben Jonson called the "Glory of the Bank," was very close to other theatres like The Rose and The Swan.

The Fortune Playhouse

In January 1600, Philip Henslowe, who owned The Rose theatre, hired Peter Street to build a new theatre. Henslowe wanted to compete with the new Globe Theatre. This new theatre, called The Fortune, was built in Finsbury, north of the City.

We still have the contract and records for this work. It's clear that Henslowe liked Peter Street's work on The Globe, because the contract often said that the new building should be made "as had been done at The Globe." The main difference was that The Fortune was to be a square building, unlike the round-shaped Globe.

While workers prepared the foundations in London, Peter Street went back to Berkshire to choose and prepare his timber. The contract said that only new wood should be used for The Fortune. By early May 1600, the foundations in London and the carpentry in Berkshire were almost done. The building was finished in August 1600, a little later than Peter had planned. Peter Street was paid £400 for this project.

The Hope Theatre

Richard Henslowe still owned property in Southwark after opening The Fortune. In June 1606, he hired Peter Street to tear down his Beargarden, a place where people watched bears for entertainment, and rebuild it as the Hope Theatre. However, Peter Street passed away before the main building work started, and another builder named Gilbert Katherens finished the project.

Other Projects

At one point, during a court case about a property lease in 1596, Peter Street said he was part of the Queen's household. However, the other side in the case accused him of saying this just to impress the court. A record from 1593 does show a "Peter Street" living and working at the Palace of Whitehall, but it doesn't say what his job was.

However, later in his life, as he became more famous, he definitely worked for the royal family. He was good friends with William Portington, the king's carpenter. Peter Street provided his special knowledge and tools when the first permanent Banqueting House was built in 1606. This building was made to be a theatrical setting for royal events. Peter Street's special contribution was the wooden columns, which were hollowed out to prevent cracking and painted to look like marble, just like the ones at The Globe. Some historians believe that Peter Street's experience building theatres was also used to create the stage and seating for the royal masques at King James's court.

Peter Street was also the carpenter for Bridewell Palace. This wasn't a royal job, though, because the former palace of King Henry was being used as Bridewell Hospital, a home for orphans, at that time. After Peter's death, his son John took over this job.

In Books and TV

The poet Seamus Heaney wrote a poem in 1965 called Peter Street at Bankside, which honored Peter Street's work. Peter Street also appeared as a character in an episode of the TV show Doctor Who.