Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall stands on a site that once held a nineteenth century lead shot tower, a relic of an industrial past that predates the artistic ambitions of the area. Following its opening in March 1967, the building was immediately polarized by public opinion. One national newspaper poll even voted it the ugliest building in Britain shortly after its debut. The structure was the product of a young, ambitious team of architects who sought to create a rugged concrete landscape, drawing aesthetic inspiration from the terraced, rocky mounds found in animal enclosures at the London Zoo.