Qualla: Alexandra Palace https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/alexandra-palace-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Alexandra Palace https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace Alexandra Palace: Introduction https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace/ Photo credit Panhard, CC BY 2.5. On 24 May 1873, 102,000 people turned out for the opening of Alexandra Palace. Sixteen days later, it burned to the ground. Three people died in the fire. Only the outer walls survived. The speed with which it was rebuilt — the new palace opened less than two years later, on 1 May 1875 — says something about Victorian determination, or perhaps about the commercial pressure to recoup the investment. What followed over the next century and a half was a career so improbable it reads like fiction: disaster, reinvention, more disaster, and survival, all under the banner of the People's Palace.

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Image: Panhard | CC BY 2.5

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/alexandra-palace-wp/gcpv-alexandra-palace-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Alexandra Palace: The People's Palace — and Its Owners https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace/ Photo credit Panhard, CC BY 2.5. The palace was conceived as a great public venue for north London — an equivalent to Crystal Palace in the south — designed to welcome everyone. The original plan called for a glass structure; what was built instead was a more conventional Victorian pile by architects John Johnso...

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Image: Panhard | CC BY 2.5

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/alexandra-palace-wp/gcpv-alexandra-palace-the-peoples-palace-and-its-owners.mp3 0:06 2 full Alexandra Palace: Two World Wars, One Organ https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace/ Photo credit Jim Osley, CC BY-SA 2.0. During the First World War, Alexandra Palace served first as a refugee camp for displaced Belgians, then from 1915 to 1919 as an internment camp for German and Austrian civilians. The Henry Willis organ installed in 1875 — declared by organist Marcel Dupré to be the finest concer...

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Image: Jim Osley | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/alexandra-palace-wp/gcpv-alexandra-palace-two-world-wars-one-organ.mp3 0:06 3 full Alexandra Palace: The Birthplace of Television https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace/ Photo credit Hywel Williams, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1935 the BBC leased the eastern section of the palace to establish a production and transmission centre for their new television service. On 2 November 1936, Alexandra Palace became the site of the world's first regular public high-definition television broadcasts. Two competi...

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Image: Hywel Williams | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/alexandra-palace-wp/gcpv-alexandra-palace-the-birthplace-of-television.mp3 0:06 4 full Alexandra Palace: Ally Pally's Remarkable Second Careers https://qualla.com/alexandra-palace/ Photo credit SoundBaby, CC BY-SA 4.0. The events roster at Alexandra Palace reads like an anthology of twentieth-century popular culture. Led Zeppelin played two sell-out Christmas shows in the Grand Hall in December 1972, tickets priced at £1 each. The Grateful Dead played three nights in September 1974. Pink Floyd ...

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Image: SoundBaby | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/alexandra-palace-wp/gcpv-alexandra-palace-ally-pallys-remarkable-second-careers.mp3 0:06 5 full