London Theatreland city vintage map 1915 by Gill, Leslie MacDonald.

Created in 1915, this charming and highly imaginative pictorial map was commissioned by the London Underground (the Underground Electric Railways Company) and printed by Westminster Press

It depicts London’s West End theatre district (popularly known as “Theatreland”) as though it were a theatrical stage viewed from the auditorium. The map is richly embellished with visual humor—most notably, the “stage curtain” appears to have collapsed to reveal actors tumbling into an orchestra pit, led by an orchestra conductor who is believed to be a playful caricature of the printer, Gerald Meynell.

The map was completed shortly after the tragic Theatreland Zeppelin Raid of 13 October 1915—an airship attack that claimed lives in the Lyceum Theatre area—and MacDonald Gill ingeniously incorporated this event into the illustration. In the top right corner, a German Zeppelin hovers menacingly over Lincoln’s Inn Fields, while Gill’s brother, Eric Gill, is depicted warming his hands near a small fire, commenting wryly, “Such a cold night too!