The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,500-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building, the first post-war building to become so protected (in 1981). The London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are resident in the hall.
The hall was built as part of the Festival of Britain for London County Council, and was officially opened on 3 May 1951. When the LCC's successor, the Greater London Council, was abolished in 1986, the Festival Hall was taken over by the Arts Council, and managed together with the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room (opened 1967) and the Hayward Gallery (1968), eventually becoming an independent arts organisation, now known as the Southbank Centre, in April 1998.
The complex includes several reception rooms, bars and restaurants, and the Clore Ballroom, accommodating up to 440 for a seated dinner. A large head and shoulders bust of Nelson Mandela (by Ian Walters,created in 1985) stands on the walkway between the hall and Hungerford Bridge approach viaduct. Originally made in glass-fibre it was repeatedly vandalised until re-cast in bronze.
Festival Hall may refer to:
Festival Hall (フェスティバルホール) is a concert hall located in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is run by the Asahi Building Co., Ltd., a Japanese real estate company controlling properties of the Asahi Shimbun Company, and is housed in the Festival Tower, a skyscraper. The opening ceremony of the new hall was held on April 3, 2013. The new hall has 2,700 seats, the same number of seats the original hall had.
The hall is home to the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra moved its home to Symphony Hall in Oyodo-minami, Kita-ku after the original Festival Hall was closed in 2008, then moved again to the new Festival Hall 1 year after the opening.
Original Festival Hall
Festival Hall was opened in 1958, on the occasion of the first Osaka International Festival for which it was specially built. The Shin Asahi Building was renovated to a skyscraper named Festival Tower East, the plan for which was announced in April 2007 by Asahi Shinbun Company, a group that includes the Asahi Building Co., Ltd. Festival hall was closed for reconstruction on December 30, 2008 and subsequently torn down.
Festival Hall is an Australian concert and sporting venue located at 300 Dudley Street, West Melbourne, Victoria. It is one of Melbourne's larger concert venues and has hosted a variety of local and international acts over many years.
Formerly known as the West Melbourne Stadium (shortened to The Stadium), it was originally built in 1915 by John Wren (chairman) and Dick Lean (general manager) of Stadiums Ltd as a multi-function venue for boxing and pro wrestling. It quickly became known to locals as "the House of Stoush", as over the years some of the greatest names in Australian boxing have duked it out, including Lionel Rose, Johnny Famechon, Anthony Mundine, Lester Ellis and Barry Michael. Professional wrestling also featured regularly, as did Roller Derby, ballroom dancing, cultural and religious gatherings and the first Indoor Tennis Exhibition featuring John McEnroe. It was used by the Painters and Dockers as a meeting place. During the Great Depression, unemployed men seeking work would gather at Festival Hall to be picked for dock work.