History of South Kensington

The layout for the area called South Kensington goes back to the 1600’s, when it was mostly farmland.

The main roads established in the 1700’s are still recognisable today. Much of the building in the area occurred in Georgian and Recency periods of the early-middle 1800s, with the construction of Alexander Square, Pelham and Egerton Crescents, Thurloe Square and Onslow Gardens. Development continued into the Victorian age and later.

The launching of the Great Exhibition in 1851 encouraged further interest in the South Kensington area. Prince Albert used much of the £186,000 profit left over from the Exhibition to fund land purchases and building works that started what are today the Victoria and Albert, Science and Natural History Museums, as well as Imperial College. For this act, the area is sometimes called “Albertropolis”.

The current railway station was opened around 1868, with the development of the Metropolitan District Railway line. The Circle Line was completed in 1884. In 1907 the Piccadilly Line was opened, with an ox-blood red tiled station included at the site.