Olympia, London
Exterior of Olympia Grand as seen from Kensington (Olympia) station
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| Former names | National Agricultural Hall |
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| Location |
West Kensington London, W14 United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°29′47″N 0°12′35″W / 51.49639°N 0.20972°WCoordinates: 51°29′47″N 0°12′35″W / 51.49639°N 0.20972°W |
| Public transit |
   Kensington (Olympia)
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| Owner | Capital & Counties Properties |
| Capacity | 4,000–10,000 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 26 December 1886 |
| Renovated | 2013 |
| Expanded | 1987; 2011 |
| Architect | Andrew Handyside and Company |
| Website | |
| olympia |
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Olympia is an exhibition centre, event space and conference centre in West Kensington, London, England.
The venue is home to a range of international trade and consumer exhibitions, conferences and events.
The nearest railway station is Kensington (Olympia) which is both a London Overground station and a mainline rail station. The nearest underground stations are Barons Court, Hammersmith, Shepherd's Bush and West Kensington. The direct District Line spur to the station only runs on weekends.
Olympia London’s story began in May 1884. John Whitley had created the National Agricultural Hall Company with the aim of building and operating the country's largest covered show centre.
Opened on 26 December 1886 as the National Agricultural Hall, it soon changed its name to Olympia in keeping with its ideals and objectives. It was built by Andrew Handyside and Company of Derby and covered an area of 4 acres (16,000 m2). The Grand Hall was said to be the largest building in the United Kingdom to be covered by one span of iron and glass.
Olympia London now features four event venues and a conference centre. The event venues are Olympia Grand (19,325 m2 or 208,010 sq ft), Olympia National (8,730 m2 or 94,000 sq ft), Olympia Central (formerly Two) (7,850 m2 or 84,500 sq ft) and Olympia West (7,688 m2 or 82,750 sq ft).
Having secured the site, the National Agricultural Hall Company commissioned Henry Edward Coe to design the building. He had already designed the Agricultural Hall in Islington twenty five years before and took its barrel-roof form as the basis for the new building. With fixed seating for 9000 people and at nearly an acre in size, the arena was far larger than any other roofed arena in England.
The roof had to be high – 115 ft at the apex – to enable its great weight to be carried down as near vertically as possible. The loads of the 1200 ton iron frame plus 85 tons of glass and 75 tons of zinc are most elegantly carried by ten cast iron columns along either side with a ball and socket bearing at the top and bottom of each to absorb stress. The structure is incredibly strong, with the hurricane of 1987 achieving no more than the destruction of a loose ventilation hatch.
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Wikipedia