How long did the globe take to build?

Answer 1

The company Shakespeare worked for (the Kings Men) belonged to Richard Burbage. Richard had inherited the company from his father James Burbage - a builder by trade who had diversified into theatrical productions (and made a lot of money that way). James Burbage had constructed the first purpose built theatre in the world, he called it The Theatre (James invented the word). James' company played at the Theatre, then after James' death Richard's company did too.

But the land the Theatre stood on was mortgaged, and when James died the mortgagor Giles Allen threatened to demolish the building.

The Theatre was a timber-frame building, and Richard Burbage also knew a bit about building, so late at night a few days after Christmas 1598 Burbage and a bunch of heavies disassembled the Theatre, ferried it across the Thames on some barges, and started putting it up again in Southwark.

There are relatively few examples in history of an entire building being kidnapped - but Burbage knew his stuff.

We don't know precisely how long it took to rebuild the Theatre, it would only have been a few weeks. When it re-opened it was called the Globe.