Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace was built on a hill in Muswell Hill in North London in 1873 as a public entertainment centre. It is now a conference centre operated by a charitable trust. It was nicknamed "The People's Palace", or "Ally Pally", and in 1936 became the headquarters of world's first regular public television service, operated by the BBC
History
The 1873 building was destroyed by fire only sixteen days after opening, but was quickly rebuilt and reopened in 1875. It contained a concert hall, art galleries, a museum, a lecture hall, a library, a banqueting room and a theatre, and was surrounded by a landscaped park. The Willis organ installed in 1875 is still working, but its restoration is continuing.
In 1935 the palace was partly occupied by the BBC, who used it as their main transmitting centre with the famous callsign 2LO. The antenna was designed by Charles Samuel Franklin of the Marconi company. The world's first public broadcasts of high-definition television were made from this site in 1936. Two competing systems, Marconi-EMI's 405-line system and Baird's 240-line system, were installed, each with its own broadcast studio, and were transmitted on alternate weeks until the 405-line system was chosen in 1937. The palace continued as the BBC's main transmitting centre for London until 1956, interrupted only by World War II. After that it continued to be used for news broadcasts until the early 1970s, and for the Open University until the early 1980s. The antenna mast still stands, and is now used for digital radio broadcasts.
A second disastrous fire destroyed half the building in 1980. Some of the damage was repaired immediately but the project got into severe financial problems and the future of parts of the site is (as at 2004) still unknown.
In June 2004 the first performances for about 70 years took place in the theatre, first in its foyer then on 2nd July in the theatre itself. Although conditions are far from ideal the audience was able to see the potential of this very large space - originally seating 3000, it cannot currently be licensed for more than a couple of hundred. It is intended that the theatre will one day reopen but much costly restoration will be required first. The theatre will never reach 3000 again (not least because one balcony was removed in the early part of the 20th century as a fire precaution, when films started to be shown there) but it does seem likely that a capacity of more than 1000 may one day be achieved. A major season of the theatre company Complicite is planned for 2005.
Access
- Nearest rail station: Alexandra Palace
- Nearest Tube station: Wood Green
- Address: Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, Wood Green, London N22 7AY
Famous Events
In 1967, a Benefit gig ??The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream?? was organised by ??International Times?? which was held on April 28 1967 at the Alexandra Palace (??Ally Pally??). This demonstrated the importance of the quickly developing UK Underground scene. Although ??underground?? venues such as the UFO Club was hosting counterculture bands this was certainly the biggest indoor event by that time and probably after. Bands who appeared included Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, Savoy Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Soft Machine, The Move and Sam Gopal Dream (featuring a young Lemmy of Hawkwind/Motorhead fame/notoriety).
