The Kensington District | Page 8

known officially as the Victoria and Albert
Museum, but generally goes by the name of the South Kensington
Museum. The galleries and library are well worth a visit, and official
catalogues can be had at the entrance.
From an architectural point of view, the Imperial Institute is much more
satisfactory than either of the above. It is of gray stone, with a high
tower called the Queen's Tower, rising to a height of 280 feet; in this is
a peal of bells, ten in number, called after members of the royal family,
and presented by an Australian lady. The Institute was the national
memorial for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and was designed to embody
the colonial or Imperial idea by the collection of the native products of
the various colonies, but it has not been nearly so successful as its fine
idea entitled it to be. It was also formed into a club for Fellows on a
payment of a small subscription, but was never very warmly supported.
It is now partly converted to other uses. The London University
occupies the main entrance, great hall, central block, and east wings
(except the basement). There are located here the Senate and Council
rooms, Vice-Chancellor's rooms, Board-rooms, convocation halls and
offices, besides the rooms of the Principal, Registrars, and other
University officers. At the Institute are also the physiological theatre
and laboratories for special advanced lectures and research. The rest of
the building is now the property of the Board of Trade, under whom the
real Imperial Institute occupies the west wing and certain other parts of
the building.
The Horticultural Gardens, which the Imperial Institute superseded,
were taken by the Society in 1861, in addition to its then existing
gardens at Chiswick. They were laid out in a very artificial and formal
style, and were mocked in a contemporary article in the Quarterly
Review: "So the brave old trees which skirted the paddock of Gore
House were felled, little ramps were raised, and little slopes sliced off

with a fiddling nicety of touch which would have delighted the imperial
grandeur of the summer palace, and the tiny declivities thus
manufactured were tortured into curvilinear patterns, where sea-sand,
chopped coal, and powdered bricks atoned for the absence of flower or
shrub." Every vestige of this has, of course, now vanished, and a new
road has been driven past the front of the Institute.
The Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, and, like the
other buildings already mentioned, is closely associated with the earlier
half of her reign. The idea was due to Prince Albert, who wished to
have a large hall for musical and oratorical performances. It is in the
form of a gigantic ellipse covered by a dome, and the external walls are
decorated by a frieze. The effect is hardly commendable, and the whole
has been compared to a huge bandbox. However, it answers the
purpose for which it was designed, having good acoustic properties,
and its concerts, especially the cheap ones on Sunday afternoons, are
always well attended. The organ is worked by steam, and is one of the
largest in the world, having close on 9,000 pipes. The hall stands on the
site of Gore House, in its time a rendezvous for all the men and women
of intellect and brilliancy in England. It was occupied by Wilberforce
from 1808 to 1821. He came to it after his illness at Clapham, which
had made him feel the necessity of moving nearer to London, that he
might discharge his Parliamentary duties more easily. His Bill for the
Abolition of Slavery had become law shortly before, and he was at the
time a popular idol. His house was thronged with visitors, among
whom were his associates, Clarkson, Zachary Macaulay, and Romilly.
What charmed him most in his new residence was the garden "full of
lilacs, laburnum, nightingales, and swallows." He writes:
"We are just one mile from the turnpike at Hyde Park Corner, having
about 3 acres of pleasure-ground around our house, or rather behind it,
and several old trees, walnut and mulberry, of thick foliage. I can sit
and read under their shade with as much admiration of the beauties of
nature as if I were 200 miles from the great city."
In 1836 the clever and popular Lady Blessington came to Gore House,
and remained there just so long as Wilberforce had done--namely,

thirteen years. The house is thus described in "The Gorgeous Lady
Blessington" (Mr. Molloy):
"Lying back from the road, from which it was separated by high walls
and great gates, it was approached by a courtyard that led to a spacious
vestibule. The rooms were large and lofty, the hall wide and stately, but
the chiefest attraction of all were the beautiful gardens stretching out