Lawrence Hall in Greycoat Street,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

was the newer of the two Royal Horticultural Halls owned by R.H.S. Enterprises Limited, which is part of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

charity in central

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The other is Lindley Hall in Elverton Street; both are close to the RHS' headquarters in

Vincent Square Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London Planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides playing fields for Westminster School, who own ...

. The site of Lawrence Hall incorporates a self-contained purpose-built conference centre above the main hall. The building's name relates to Trevor Lawrence, president of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1885 to 1913 who was chiefly responsible for moving the Society from its expensive Kensington site to a more practical home in Westminster in 1904. Lawrence Hall has vaulted ceilings and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

interior features. It was awarded a gold medal by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

for its dramatic architecture. It was constructed between 1925 and 1928 and was designed by the partnership of Easton and Robertson. The tall parabolic arches which begin as square piers are credited to Easton, derived from the reinforced concrete work of Hennebique and Freyssinet. It has been listed Grade II* on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

since 1983. Lawrence Hall and the conference centre underwent a £1.2 million renovation in 2006. Although built as an exhibition hall, Lawrence Hall was increasingly used for product launches and

conferences A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

.RHH to close halls for £1.2m refurbishment
''Event'' magazine, 4 April 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2011. In December 2011 the RHS announced that it had leased the hall for 999 years to

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

for £18 million, the terms allowing the hall to continue to be used for four RHS flower shows each year.

has converted the building for use as a Sports Centre. It was used as a

filming Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

location for

Pink Floyd - The Wall Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

, '' Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', '' Richard III'', '' The Saint'', ''

Killing Eve ''Killing Eve'' is a British spy thriller television series, produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturi ...

'', and '' Children of Men''.

References

External links

Royal Horticultural Society New Hall
at English Heritage's

Images of England Images of England is an online photographic record of all the listed buildings in England at the date of February 2002. The archive gives access to over 323,000 colour images, each of which is matched with the item's listed designation architectur ...

Royal Horticultural Society Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Art Deco architecture in London Exhibition and conference centres in London {{London-struct-stub