Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall from Kensington Gardens
Interior viewed from the Grand Tier
Location within Central London
General information
Type	Concert hall
Architectural style	Italianate
Address	Kensington Gore London, SW7
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′03.40″N 00°10′38.77″W / 51.5009444°N 0.1774361°W / 51.5009444; -0.1774361
Construction started	18671
Completed	18711
Inaugurated	29 March 1871; 145 years ago (1871-03-29)
Renovated	1996–2004
Cost	£200,0001
Client	Provisional Committee for the Central Hall of Arts and Sciences
Owner	The Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences
Height	135 feet (41 m)
Design and construction
Architect	Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott
Architecture firm	Royal Engineers
Main contractor	Lucas Brothers
Website
royalalberthall.com
References
1 – Victorian London: Royal Albert Hall 2 – Royal Albert Hall, London

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, which holds the Proms concerts annually each summer since 1941. It has a capacity of up to 5,272 seats. The Hall is a registered charity held in trust for the nation and receives no public or government funding.

Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres have appeared on its stage and it has become one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings. The location of some of the most notable events in British culture, each year it hosts more than 390 shows in the main auditorium, including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, film screenings with live orchestra, sports, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and banquets. A further 400 events are held each year in the non-auditorium spaces.

The Hall was originally supposed to have been called the Central Hall of Arts and Sciences, but the name was changed to the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences by Queen Victoria upon laying the Hall's foundation stone in 1867, in memory of her husband consort, Prince Albert who had died six years earlier. It forms the practical part of a memorial to the Prince Consort – the decorative part is the Albert Memorial directly to the north in Kensington Gardens, now separated from the Hall by Kensington Gore.

In 1851, the Great Exhibition (for which the Crystal Palace was built) was held in Hyde Park, London. The exhibition was a great success and led Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, to propose the creation of a permanent series of facilities for the enlightenment of the public in the area, which came to be known as Albertopolis. The Exhibition's Royal Commission bought Gore House and its grounds (on which the Hall now stands) on the advice of the Prince. Progress on the scheme was slow and in 1861 Prince Albert died, without having seen his ideas come to fruition. However, a memorial was proposed for Hyde Park, with a Great Hall opposite.