By Elliott West
Introduction
Alexandra Palace is a Grade ll listed building, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill and situated with a panoramic view of London. Instantly recognisable, the building is still accompanied by the original radio and television mast that was used to transmit programmes from its earliest days as a BBC broadcaster. Built on the site of Tottenham Wood, it was built by John Johnson and Alfred Meeson and first opened in 1873.
The palace is now home to the Masters with the invitational snooker tournament being held here every January. A tournament that has grown and grown with additional seating having to be added to the tournament every year and even now has VIP boxes for those lucky enough. A venue that hosts the PDC World Darts Championship every Christmas, concerts, has a large indoor ice skating rink next to the main building and even has its own pub.
Steeped in History
First opened in 1873, a fire caused its closure, two weeks after its opening and it had to be rebuilt by the original builder, John Johnson. Its original concept was to be a people’s palace and to serve the public as an accessible centre for recreation, education and entertainment. A design that acted as a counterpart to the Crystal Palace building. However in 1900, the owners decided to sell the building and the land for redevelopment but fortunately, a group of local authorities managed to acquire it. A subsequent Act of Parliament enshrined in law that the trustees had to maintain the palace and the park and make them available for the free use and recreation of the public forever.
The BBC Days
In 1935, the trustees leased part of the building to the BBC for the use of transmission and broadcasting and in 1935 it became home for the BBC for its first regular public television service. The broadcasts were transmitted on a 405-line monochrome analogue television, the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. In 1937, the first-ever snooker game was broadcast by the BBC. A ten-minute demonstration by leading professionals of the time, Horace Lindrum and Willie Smith. The BBC expanded out to other London facilities after the Second World War but Alexandra Palace continued to be used for production for many years and the mainmast is still in operation.
Then and Now
The original ‘A’ and ‘B’ studios still exist and can be viewed at the southeast wing of the building and house some of the original equipment used in the early days of television. The building also houses an original Victorian theatre, complete with stage machinery and started to be used again in 2019. The theatre is currently on English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk register and Alexandra Palace became a listed building after a request by the Hornsey Historical Society. In 2013, Alexandra Park was declared a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1.
