3-003-797 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens, South Kensington: steps from one of the central arcades to the gardens, 1861. The Society's new garden opened in 1861 and was located on the current site of the Science Museum and Imperial College London. Prince Albert, as President of the RHS, influenced everything from the garden's Kensington location to its Italianate architecture and even the events held there. The Society had agreed that the garden would be open to all ticketholders to the international exhibitions held in the new South Kensington cultural quarter. Events such as the International Horticulture Exhibition in 1866 received almost 62,000 visitors over 4 days. With rocketing visitor numbers, the garden was often over-crowded. However with spiralling costs and disagreements about how best to run the site, the RHS closed the Horticultural Garden in 1888. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.