Alexandra Palace and Park
| Palace for the People Ally Pally |
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| Address | Alexandra Palace Way London N22 7AY England |
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| Location | Alexandra Park |
| Coordinates | 51°35′38″N 0°07′48″W / 51.59389°N 0.13000°WCoordinates: 51°35′38″N 0°07′48″W / 51.59389°N 0.13000°W |
| Public transit |
 Alexandra Palace Wood Green
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| Operator | Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust |
| Capacity | 800 (Panorama Room) 1,750 (East Hall/Ice Rink) 2,000 (Palm Court) 2,500 (West Hall) 8,250 (Great Hall) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | September 1865 |
| Opened | 1 May 1875 |
| Renovated | 1873–75, 1980–88, 2016—17 |
| Construction cost | £417,000 (£36.6 million in 2016 pounds) |
| Architect | Owen Jones, John Johnson and Alfred Meeson |
| Builder | Kelk and Lucas |
| Website | |
| Venue Website | |
| Building details | |
| General information | |
| Inaugurated | 24 May 1873 |
Alexandra Palace is a historic entertainment venue in London. It is located between Muswell Hill and Wood Green, in the north of the city. It was originally built by John Johnson and Alfred Meeson and opened in 1873 but was rebuilt, solely by Johnson, in 1875 following a fire. It was originally designed to serve as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as North London's counterpart to The Crystal Palace in South London.
Intended as "The People's Palace" and later nicknamed "Ally Pally" (supposedly by Gracie Fields), in 1936 it became the home of the world's first regular public "high-definition" television service, operated by the BBC. Although other facilities soon superseded it after the war, Alexandra Palace continued to be used by the BBC for many years and its radio and television mast is still in use. The original studios 'A' and 'B' still survive in the south-east wing with their producers' galleries and are used for exhibiting original historical television equipment. The original Victorian theatre with its stage machinery also survives. The theatre and stage structure is on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk register. Alexandra Palace became a listed building in 1996, at the instigation of the Hornsey Historical Society.
A planned commercial development of the building into a mixed leisure complex including a hotel, replacement ice-skating rink, cinema, ten-pin bowling alley and exhibition centre, encountered opposition from public groups and was blocked by the High Court in 2007.
The Great Hall and West Hall are typically used for exhibitions, music concerts and conferences, operated by the trading arm of the charitable trust that owns the building and park on behalf of the public. There is also a pub, ice rink and palm court.
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