Alexandra Palace, Entertainment venue in Haringey, England
Alexandra Palace is an entertainment venue in the London Borough of Haringey that sits on a hill above a 79-hectare park. The building includes several halls, among them a large concert room with cast-iron columns and an ice palace with a year-round rink.
The building opened in 1873 as a leisure and exhibition venue for north London residents and burned down completely just 16 days later. After being rebuilt in 1875, it survived a second fire in 1980 and has been gradually restored since then.
Locals call the venue "Ally Pally" and treat it as a meeting point where generations gather for concerts, ice skating, or simply to walk through the park. Near the entrance, restored brick arches and old broadcasting rooms remind visitors of the BBC's first television broadcasts from this site.
The entrance sits on the north side of the building, and the terrace offers a wide view over London. On weekends and during events, the park can be crowded, so arriving early helps if you want to walk through the rooms quietly.
A small exhibition in the basement displays the original cameras and equipment used by the BBC to broadcast the world's first regular television service in 1936. The rooms are preserved so visitors can see how cramped and simple the early days of television were.
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