Science & Engineering

The museums, the machines and the men and women who worked it out: laboratories kept as they were, beam engines under steam, the tunnel, the barrier, the roofs, and the plaques on the houses where the ideas came.

Tell us what we can do better, or what you’re trying to discover.

Alexandra Palace: the BBC's first studios

Where television began: the studios in the east wing from which the BBC launched the world's first regular high-definition service on 2 November 1936, and the mast that still stands.

Engineering landmarksGo inside

Photo by Jack Rose, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Architecture.

The BBC leased the east wing of the palace, turned two banqueting rooms into Studios A and B, and broadcast from them until 1981, beginning with the opening night of 1936 in which Baird's mechanical system and Marconi-EMI's electronic one alternated for a fortnight until the electronic won; the transmitter mast on the tower is the landmark of north London. The studios are closed and stripped, but the palace runs tours into them on occasional dates, the theatre and the East Court have been restored, and the terrace has the view the mast broadcasts over.

Where
Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY
Nearest station
Alexandra Palace · 10 min walk

Studio tours on occasional dates; the palace, park and terrace are open daily

NearbyScience & Engineering

NearbyOther Categories

See more nearby listings

Submit a correction for this listing.

Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

Which area are you in?