London Guide
South Kensington
The 1851 Great Exhibition was not only an enormous success, but yielded a profit of £186,000, with which Prince Albert and his committee bought 87 acres of land in South Kensington. Institutions and museums, whose purpose was to "extend the influence of Science and Art upon Productive Industry", were to be established here to form a kind of "Museumland". Albert died of typhoid in 1861, and never saw his dream fully realized, but "Albertopolis", with its remarkable cluster of museums and colleges, plus the vast Albert Hall, now stands as one of London's most enlightened examples of urban planning.
With the founding of "Museumland", the surrounding area was transformed almost overnight into one of the most fashionable in town – a status it retains today. The multistorey mansions around the Royal Albert Hall and the grand Italianate houses along Queen's Gate and further south around Onslow Square, one block south of the tube, date from this period. South Ken, as it's known, has acquired further cachet thanks to its French connections, with a French school and crèche, a couple of bookshops, a deli and several genuine patisseries and brasseries clustered around the Institut Français ( 
www.institut-francais.org.uk) on Queensberry Place, which maintains an interesting programme of theatre, cinema and exhibitions.