Kensington Gore - History

History

Gore House was once the residence of political reformer, William Wilberforce between 1808 and 1821. The three-acre (12,000 m²) estate was then occupied by the Countess of Blessington and the Count D'Orsay from 1836 to 1849.

In May 1851, the house was opened as a restaurant by the chef Alexis Soyer, who planned to cater for the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. After the exhibition and following the advice of Prince Albert, Gore House and its grounds were bought by the Exhibition's Royal Commission to create the cultural quarter known as Albertopolis.

In 1871, the Royal Albert Hall was completed on the site of the former house. It was officially opened by Queen Victoria.

In 1892, The Gore Hotel was opened by two sisters, Miss Ada and Ms Cooke, both descendants of Captain James Cooke. The 50 bedroom luxury hotel has been featured in many music videos and photo shoots, such as for Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones.

The streets are bounded to the north by Kensington Road (present A315 road). The nearest tube station is South Kensington to the south.

Read more about this topic:  Kensington Gore

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to his sensual pleasures, to be instrumental in promoting his comfort; but never has he desired to elevate her to that rank she was created to fill. He has done all he could to debase and enslave her mind; and now he looks triumphantly on the ruin he has wrought, and say, the being he has thus deeply injured is his inferior.
    Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)

    The myth of independence from the mother is abandoned in mid- life as women learn new routes around the mother—both the mother without and the mother within. A mid-life daughter may reengage with a mother or put new controls on care and set limits to love. But whatever she does, her child’s history is never finished.
    Terri Apter (20th century)

    The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.
    Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)