Getting There: The nearest tube station is South Kensington on the
District, Circle and Piccadilly lines.
Map
Telephone: 0870 870 4868
Website
Opening Times: Open 7 days a week from 10.00 to 18.00
except 24 to 26 December.
Building History
- The science museum is situated on
Exhibition Road in South Kensington in London. It is an immensely popular
building and no family trip to the capital is complete without a visit to view
displays spanning 300 years of technological advancement. The Science Museum
is renowned for its excellence and innovation and the sheer quality of the
exhibits on display. The science museum is one of three museums situated
in Great Britain that make up the Museum of Science and Industry. It first
opened its doors in 1857 under the title of the South Kensington museum and
was built on land that had been acquired using profits from the Great
Exhibition of 1851. The original structure was sited on land that is now part
of the Victoria and Albert Museum. It consisted of an iron framed structure
clad in sheets of corrugated iron. What a sight it must have been, Londoners
of the day used to joke about its ugliness and the fact it more resembled a
factory than a museum building. It was nicknamed the Brompton boiler and in no
way did justice to the growing number of exhibits it contained.
The general expansion continued at such a pace that in 1862, some items had to
be moved across the road to buildings that had originally been designed for
the International exhibition. As time passed the scientific community started
to lobby for new buildings and in 1909 Queen Victoria laid the first stone of
the new building which was the become known as The Victoria & Albert museum.
However, the focus of this building was on art and by 1909 the government had
woken up to the fact that the science exhibits needed a building of their own.
In 1910 a committee was set up to oversee the developed of a new building and
this committee the Bell Committee has been influential in the development of
the science museum ever since. Work actually started at the eastern end of the
complex in 1913 but because of the first world war all building and
construction work was suspended and the property finally opened in 1928. The
construction of the galleries followed typical museum design concepts at the
time. Most of the exhibits were in glass cases and lighting was almost all
natural.
Further planned expansion of the buildings were placed on hold in 1930s due to
severe financial constraints and the second world war brought great disruption
to the museum, the galleries were closed and most of the exhibits were taken
away to be stored safely. It was not until 1950s that things started to get
back to normal. At this time, it was deemed that the old 1862 building was no
longer useable and in 1949 this was demolished to make way for a new
structure. This space now houses the centre block and it was first used for
the Festival of Britain in 1951 although further financial constraints stopped
any more construction work. From the 1960s the internal galleries gradually
started to open and fill with exhibits
Westward expansion at South Kensington started again in 1996 with new wing
made possible thanks to sponsorship by the Welcome Trust. Already many much
loved displays have been removed to store, perhaps never to be seen again. Any
future expansion of the Science Museum is likely to occur outside of London in
more modern purpose built buildings.
UK's Top 20 Historic Listed Buildings:
The Science Museum