The Albert Palace

Last updated

The Albert Palace, captioned (from left to right) the Exhibition Palace, the Concert Hall, the Conservatory, the Aviary and the Hippodrome Albert Exhibition Palace, Battersea.jpg
The Albert Palace, captioned (from left to right) the Exhibition Palace, the Concert Hall, the Conservatory, the Aviary and the Hippodrome

The Albert Palace was a large building located in Battersea, in the borough of Wandsworth, London. It faced, and formed a backdrop to the lake in Battersea Park, and was a re-erection of an iron and glass structure, like The Crystal Palace of 1851, which had partly housed the Dublin International Exhibition of 1865.

Contents

In 1882, a company was created to dismantle the temporary structure in Ireland, ship it to London and re-site it on Prince of Wales Road (now known as Prince of Wales Drive, London).

Building

The main building fronted Prince of Wales Road and was of glass with an iron frame. The south side, along what is now Lurline Gardens, was built of brick, faced with Bath stone and Portland stone which had come from the old Law Courts at Westminster, demolished in 1883 after the opening of the new Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand.

The central part of the finished palace consisted of a 473-foot nave with a central ‘apse’ for an orchestra. The Connaught Hall Concert Room at the west end and a tea room to the east increased the total length to about 675 feet.

The interior was decorated with the assistance of the designer and decorative artist, Christopher Dresser.

Gardens

Plans were made to extend the palace’s gardens westwards and a piece of land was acquired from the Commissioners for £10,000 extending to what is now Forfar Road and down to Battersea Park Road on the south. This is the site now occupied by York Mansions and the former Battersea Polytechnic. The land had originally been leased to Lloyd, Bogue & Allin for building houses, but only the roads had been laid out. The site extended to just over ten acres.

The gardens were designed by Sir Edward Lee with further terraces to the north beside the main Prince of Wales Road entrance. The gardens included fountains, a conservatory and a bandstand.

Grand opening and exhibitions

A Grand Opening took place on 6 June 1885 with a concert in the Connaught Hall. The day was wet so the 5,000 visitors mostly fell back on the indoor amusements – exhibition stands, aquarium, picture-gallery, refreshment rooms and bars.

Throughout the autumn and winter of 1885 the permanent orchestra and organist gave concerts with, as an added attraction, the Viennese Ladies Orchestra. Cat shows, bird shows and flower shows were also held, and for his ‘Indian Village’ Arthur Lasenby Liberty brought to The Albert Palace silk spinners and weavers, carpet makers, metal workers, sandalwood carvers, embroiderers, a sitar maker, singers, dancers, jugglers and snake-charmers from India.

In the gardens to the west, now occupied by York Mansions, crowd pullers included the diving bell, gymnastic displays and ballooning.

Closure

But there was an inherent problem with The Albert Palace, public access was not free, whereas across the road at Battersea Park it was. Almost immediately, financial problems set in. Easy access to the Palace formed the basis of hopes of success in attracting people from all over south London but visitors came in insufficient numbers. By 1888, the Palace was permanently closed, slowly becoming a ruin with sparrows nesting in the organ.

Great efforts were made to save the building, the Vicar of Battersea headed an Acquisition Committee. But the stumbling block was that anyone purchasing the freehold would have to take it subject to the lease which, technically, still belonged to the original promoters – the Albert Palace Association. The Association was now in liquidation in Chancery which would mean taking on a lawsuit, and so the land went to the building developers. Albert Palace Mansions and Prince of Wales Mansions stand on the site of the palace itself. Battersea Polytechnic (built in 1893) and York Mansions (built in 1897) replaced the gardens.

The palace’s organ survived the demolition of the building and eventually ended up in Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland.

Related Research Articles

Battersea Human settlement in England

Battersea is a large district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is centred 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the 200-acre (0.81 km2) Battersea Park.

Clapham Human settlement in England

Clapham is a district of South London lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.

London Borough of Wandsworth Borough in United Kingdom

Wandsworth is a London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main settlements are Battersea, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town.

London Borough of Lambeth Borough in United Kingdom

Lambeth is a London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as Lambehitha and in 1255 as Lambeth. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier Street near Lambeth North tube station, though nearby Charing Cross on the other side of the Thames in the City of Westminster is traditionally considered the centre of London.

Battersea Park railway station National Rail station in London, England

Battersea Park is a suburban railway station in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London. It is at the junction of the South London Line and the Brighton Main Line, 1 mile 23 chains (2.1 km) measured from London Victoria.

Statue Square Square in Hong Kong

Statue Square is a public pedestrian square in Central, Hong Kong. Built entirely on reclaimed land at the end of the 19th century, Statue Square consists of two parts separated by Chater Road into a northern and a southern section. It is bordered by Connaught Road Central in the north and by Des Voeux Road Central in the south.

Clapham High Street railway station London Overground station

Clapham High Street railway station is on the South London Line in Clapham, within the London Borough of Lambeth, Greater London. It is 6 miles 21 chains (10.1 km) measured from London Bridge. It is served by London Overground services, with a limited service to Battersea Park under the control of the London Rail division of Transport for London, and a daily Southeastern service to Ashford International once a day.

Battersea Park Place in London, United Kingdom

Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858.

Garden Palace

The Garden Palace was a large, purpose-built exhibition building constructed to house the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 in Sydney, Australia. It was designed by James Barnet and constructed by John Young, at a cost of £191,800 in only eight months. This was largely due to the importation from England of electric lighting, which enabled work to be carried out around the clock.

Carlton House

Carlton House was a mansion in Westminster, best known as the town residence of King George IV. It faced the south side of Pall Mall, and its gardens abutted St James's Park in the St James's district of London. The location of the house, now replaced by Carlton House Terrace, was a main reason for the creation of John Nash's ceremonial route from St James's to Regent's Park via Regent Street, Portland Place and Park Square: Lower Regent Street and Waterloo Place were originally laid out to form the approach to its front entrance.

Bagshot Park Royal residence in Surrey, England

Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village 11 miles (18 km) south of Windsor. It is on Bagshot Heath, a fifty square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire. Bagshot Park occupies 21 hectares within the designated area of Windsor Great Park.

Carlton House Terrace Street in City of Westminster, United Kingdom

Carlton House Terrace is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster in London. Its principal architectural feature is a pair of terraces of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street overlooking St. James's Park. These terraces were built on Crown land between 1827 and 1832 to overall designs by John Nash, but with detailed input by other architects including Decimus Burton, who exclusively designed numbers 3 and 4.

Royal Surrey Gardens

Royal Surrey Gardens were pleasure gardens in Newington, Surrey, London in the Victorian period, slightly east of The Oval. The gardens occupied about 15 acres (6.1 ha) to the east side of Kennington Park Road, including a lake of about 3 acres (1.2 ha). It was the site of Surrey Zoological Gardens and Surrey Music Hall.

Lavender Hill

Lavender Hill is a hill, and a shopping and residential street, near Clapham Junction in Battersea, south London. Lavender Hill forms the section of the A3036 as it rises eastwards out of the Falconbrook valley at Clapham Junction, and retains that name for approximately 1.3 km to the corner of Queenstown Road in Battersea, beyond which it is called Wandsworth Road towards Vauxhall.

Thomas's London Day Schools are four co-educational independent preparatory schools in London, UK. They are located in Kensington, Battersea, Clapham and Fulham, as well as a kindergarten in Battersea. They are a family-run establishment, and have come to be seen as a feeder for major British public schools such as Eton, Harrow, Brighton College, Marlborough, Westminster, Alleyn's School, City of London, Dulwich, Radley, and King's College School.

Shaftesbury Park Estate

The Shaftesbury Park Estate, commonly known as The Shaftesbury Estate, is a residential estate in Battersea in South London, England. It lies north of Lavender Hill and Clapham Common and east of Clapham Junction railway station.

Prince of Wales Drive, London

Prince of Wales Drive is a street in Battersea, in the London borough of Wandsworth. It is situated on the southern perimeter of Battersea Park.

York Mansions

York Mansions is one of the seven Victorian blocks of flats on Prince of Wales Drive, London, between Albert Bridge Road and Queenstown Road, in Battersea, in the London borough of Wandsworth. The four-storey building is portered.

John Stanley Coombe Beard

John Stanley Coombe Beard FRIBA, known professionally as J. Stanley Beard, was an English architect known for designing many cinemas in and around London.

References

Coordinates: 51°28′34″N0°09′11″W / 51.4760273°N 0.1530898°W / 51.4760273; -0.1530898