View source for Albertopolis

{{Short description|Area in South Kensington, London}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{coord|51|29|53|N|0|10|36|W|type:landmark|display=title}}
[[File:Kensington Museums aerial 2011 b.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|An aerial view of Albertopolis, South Kensington. The [[Albert Memorial]], [[Royal Albert Hall]] and [[Royal College of Art]] are visible near the top. The [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] and [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] are at the lower end. [[Imperial College]], the [[Royal College of Music]], and [[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]] are in between.]]

'''Albertopolis''' is the nickname given to the area centred on [[Exhibition Road]] in [[London]], named after [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]], consort of [[Queen Victoria]]. It contains many educational and cultural sites. 

It lies in the former village of [[Brompton, London|Brompton]] in [[Middlesex]], renamed as [[South Kensington]], split between the [[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]] and the [[City of Westminster]] (the border running along [[Imperial College Road]]), and the area bordered by [[Cromwell Road]] to the south and [[Kensington Road]] to the north.

==Institutions==
[[File:Albert Memorial, London - May 2008.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|The [[Albert Memorial]].]]
[[File:RoyalAlbertHall.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Royal Albert Hall]].]]
[[File:Facade.7.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Victoria and Albert Museum]].]]
[[File:Busy ice rink at the Natural History Museum - geograph.org.uk - 637143.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|The Natural History Museum]]
Institutions in and around Albertopolis include:

*[[Imperial College London]]
*[[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]]
*[[Royal Albert Hall]]
*[[Royal College of Art]]
*[[Royal College of Music]]
*[[Royal Geographical Society]]
*[[Royal Institute of Navigation]]
*[[Science Museum (London)|Science Museum]]
*[[Victoria and Albert Museum]]
*[[Albert Memorial]]

The following were originally institutions in their own right:

*City & Guilds College, now Imperial College's [[Imperial College Faculty of Engineering|Faculty of Engineering]]
*[[Geological Museum]], now a subsidiary of the Natural History Museum
*[[Royal College of Science]], now Imperial College's [[Imperial College Faculty of Natural Sciences|Faculty of Natural Sciences]]
*[[Royal School of Mines]], now a part of Imperial College's Faculty of Engineering

Institutions formerly in Albertopolis include:

*[[Royal College of Organists]], from 1904 to 1991.
*[[Royal School of Naval Architecture]], from 1864 to 1873.
*[[Royal School of Needlework]], from 1903 to 1987.
*[[Imperial Institute]], later [[Commonwealth Institute]], from 1893 to 1962.

More recent additions to Albertopolis include:

*[[Polish Hearth Club]] from 1939
*[[Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum]] from 1945
*[[Ismaili Centre, London|Ismaili Centre]]

==History==
Following the advice of [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/ExploringSouthKensington/SouthKensingtonFromAbove/1856-1862.aspx |title=South Kensington From Above: 1856 – 1862 |access-date=2010-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118192718/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/ExploringSouthKensington/SouthKensingtonFromAbove/1856-1862.aspx |archive-date=18 January 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> the area was purchased by the [[Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851]] with the profits made from the [[Great Exhibition]] of 1851, which was held in a site in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] nearby to the north-east. This is commemorated in the name of the principal north–south street laid out on their estate, Exhibition Road.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2016/july/prince-alberts-cultural-vision-and-the-history-of-south-kensington-what-is-albertopolis/|title=Prince Albert's cultural vision and the history of South Kensington: What is Albertopolis? |date=7 July 2016 |first= Lydia |last=Smith|website=Royal Albert Hall}}</ref>

Prince Albert was a driving force behind the Great Exhibition and President of the Royal Commission. The name "Albertopolis" seems to have been coined in the 1850s<ref name="auto"/> to celebrate and somewhat satirise his role in Victorian cultural life.  After his death the term fell into disuse, and the area was more widely referred to as [[South Kensington]].<ref name="auto"/>  

The name was revived by architectural historians in the 1960s and popularised by the nascent [[Historic preservation|conservation]] movement to bring attention to the complex of public Victorian buildings and the surrounding houses built on the Commissioners' estate, that were threatened with demolition by the expansion and redevelopment plans of Imperial College. Among the buildings threatened was the [[Imperial Institute]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStoryOf/ImperialCollege/DemolitionOfTheInstitute.aspx |title=Demolition of the institute and expansion of Imperial College |access-date=2010-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819031621/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStoryOf/ImperialCollege/DemolitionOfTheInstitute.aspx |archive-date=19 August 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> designed by [[Thomas Edward Collcutt|T. E. Collcutt]].

==Overview==
There is a central axis between the [[Albert Memorial]] in [[Kensington Gardens]] to the north and the central portal of the south façade of the Natural History Museum. The Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music, the former tower of the otherwise-demolished Imperial Institute (now the [[Queen's Tower (London)|Queen's Tower]] of Imperial College London) and the 1950s rear extension to the Science Museum are all aligned on this axis, which cannot be seen on the ground. 

This regular geometric alignment of Albertopolis can be observed readily only from the balconies of the Queen's Tower, very rarely open to visitors. The northern part can be glimpsed from the top floor of the Science Museum.

The closest tube station is [[South Kensington tube station|South Kensington]], linked to the museums by the South Kensington [[Subway (underpass)|Subway]].

In May 1885, the District Railway opened [[South Kensington Subway]], [[Subway (underpass)|a pedestrian subway]] (a tiled tunnel), running from the station beneath the length of Exhibition Road, giving sheltered access to the newly built museums for a toll of 1 [[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|penny]]. The subway was originally intended to go as far as the Royal Albert Hall, but the construction of the Imperial Institute meant the tunnel emerged at the Science Museum where it exits onto Exhibition Road. It cost £42,614 to construct, approximately £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|42614|1885|r=-3}}|0}} today.{{Inflation-fn|UK}} It was closed in November 1886 and afterwards was opened only occasionally for special museum events.{{cn|date=July 2023}} 

Originally only opened during exhibitions in South Kensington, it was opened to the public free of charge in 1908.{{cn|date=July 2023}} The subway is Grade II listed.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1392462 |desc=South Kensington Subway |access-date=6 October 2021}}</ref>

There are three research libraries in the area, the [[National Art Library]], in the Victoria and Albert Museum, [[Dana Library and Research Centre|Dana Centre]], part of the Science Museum, and Imperial College's [[Imperial College London Abdus Salam Library|Abdus Salam Library]], located on [[Queen's Lawn]].

==See also==
* [[Charles Wentworth Dilke]]
* [[Exhibition Road]]
* [[Henry Cole (inventor)|Henry Cole]]
* [[Museum Lane]]
* [[Serpentine Gallery]] in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] to the north

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131103223205/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/Albertopolis.aspx Albertopolis online exhibition], from the Royal Institute of British Architects
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101229191536/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/architecture/things_online/trails/exhib_trail/index.html Architectural Tour of Exhibition Road and 'Albertopolis']  from the Victoria and Albert Museum
*[http://www.royalcommission1851.org.uk/ Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851]
*[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=364 Survey of London: volume 38: South Kensington Museums Area]  F. H. W. Sheppard (editor). Originally published by the Athlone Press for the Greater London Council, 1975. Available online as part of [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ British History Online].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120119201239/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/ExploringSouthKensington/WalkingTour.aspx Walking tour of Albertopolis] Podcast, PDF and map.

{{LB Kensington and Chelsea}}
{{Imperial College London}}

[[Category:Areas of London]]
[[Category:Brompton, London|Albertopolis]]
[[Category:Museum districts in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Great Exhibition]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:South Kensington]]