Great Wheel

The Empress State Building is a high rise building on the West Brompton/Earl's Court border in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (West London). Its full address is Empress State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Road, West Brompton, London, SW6 1TR.

Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, originally opened in 1887, with an art moderne structure built between 1935 and 1937 by specialist American architect C. Howard Crane. With the active support of London Mayor Boris Johnson, in an attempt to create Europe's "largest regeneration scheme", its proposed heritage listing was refused after it was acquired by developers, who promptly in 2008 applied for and were granted a Certificate of Immunity from Listing by English Heritage, and its demolition was completed in 2017. The area has since returned to its former state of "waste ground" only with an adjacent devastated Green corridor. Located in Earl's Court but straddling the boundary between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, it was the largest such venue within the capital served by two London Underground stations—one of them, Earl's Court tube station, being specially adapted with a tunnel for show visitors, and in latter years with a direct link to Heathrow Airport. The founder of the entertainment grounds was Leeds entrepreneur John R. Whitley and the first attraction headlined performances by Buffalo Bill Cody as part of the American Show visited by Queen Victoria and subsequently by members of the Royal Household. This was followed by numerous other exhibitions representing countries such as Canada, France and India. Earls Court was widely known for serving as London's and the country's premier exhibition venue for many decades, hosting the Royal Smithfield Show, Royal Tournament, the British International Motor Show, London Boat Show, the Ideal Home Show, Billy Graham rallies, the Brit Awards (until 2010), Crufts and other events such as large scale opera productions and pop concerts in addition to hundreds of trade shows, such as the London Book Fair. It was also used as one of the venues for both the 1948 and 2012 Olympic Games.

The Ideal Home Show (formerly called the Ideal Home Exhibition) is an annual event in London held at Olympia, London. The show was devised by the Daily Mail newspaper in 1908 and continued to be run by the Daily Mail up until 2009. It was then sold to events and publishing company Media 10. Its goal is to bring together everything associated with having an "ideal home", such as the latest inventions for the modern house, and to showcase the latest housing designs. A regular feature of the show for many years was the Ideal House Competition, where designs were invited and the winning schemes erected at the exhibition the following year. The first exhibition was held in 1908 at the Olympia exhibition centre, with sections dedicated to "phases of home life" such as construction, food and cookery, furniture and decoration. Demonstrations and contests included an Arts and Crafts competition and a competition to design the "Ideal Home". Wareham Smith, advertising manager of the Daily Mail, founded the exhibition as a marketing event for the newspaper. It was often visited by celebrities and royalty.

The Earls Court Boat Show was first held in December 2007 at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. This venue had previously hosted the long-established London Boat Show until its move to London's ExCeL Exhibition Centre in 2004. The new commercial Earls Court Show is entirely separate from the London Boat Show. The 2007 Earls Court Boat Show took place between 1–9 December 2007. It was the 50th boat show to be held in the exhibition centre. In 2008, the show rebranded as the Sail, Power & Watersports Show at Earls Court.

The Empire of India Exhibition took place at Earls Court in London in 1895. Indian scenery was reproduced and there were displays which reflected the country's past and present states. The overall theme was that modern India was the product of British patience and genius. It was organised by Imre Kiralfy.It featured the Great Wheel.

Philbeach Gardens is a communal garden square in the Earl's Court district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The communal garden at the centre of the development is 0.9815 hectares (2.425 acres) in size and was previously the site of tennis club and courts.The square was developed on the site of the 190 acre Earl's Court Farm, which had been farmed by the descendants of Samuel Hutchins since 1720. The development is named for Philbeach, a village in the Pembrokeshire parish of Marloes on the west coast of Wales. The 1st Baron Kensington, William Edwardes, had married Elizabeth Warren of Longbridge, Pembrokeshire and their only son became the 2nd Baron Kensington. The precarious finances of the 2nd and 3rd Baron Kensington precluded the development of the estate until the late 19th century.In 1875 an application was made to the Metropolitan Board of Works by Martin Stutely the surveyor of Lord Kensington's estates, to create the roadway of Philbeach Gardens. The builder George Mineard began building by 1876. Mineard's previous developments had included Cluny Mews and parts of Warwick Road.1-31, 64-73 and 89-110 Philbeach Gardens had been built by 1882, in the Italianate style. 88 Philbeach Gardens was built in the red-brick Domestic Revival style which was used for the rest of the development. It is the only double fronted house in Philbeach Gardens.The average price of a property in Philbeach Gardens was £720,000 in 2020.The musician Michael Howard rented a maisonette in a "decayed terrace" in Philbeach Gardens in the late 1940s. Mario Vargas Llosa lived in Philbeach Gardens in 1967.St Cuthbert's, Earls Court is located at No. 50 Philbeach Gardens.Michael McNay, writing in his Hidden Treasures of London describes Philbeach Gardens as a "big crescent embracing impressive parkland".The civil servant and inventor Henry Cole first rented in Philbeach Gardens and then later bought a property there. Cole was attracted to the area because of his concern with the danger of sewer gas, having been impressed by builder George Mineard's ventilation system to mitigate the dangers of gas. Mineard and Cole established the "Fifth of November Club" which held firework displays from the gardens.An armed siege took place on Philbeach Gardens between 20 and 22 March 1985. The perpetrator, James Alexander Baigrie, had escaped from prison in Edinburgh where he was serving a life sentence for murder. Baigrie killed himself with a sawn off shotgun in the van after a siege lasting 44 hours.

Lillie Bridge is a road bridge that links Old Brompton Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with Lillie Road in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. It crosses two railways: the West London Line on the London Overground and the Wimbledon branch of the London Underground at West Brompton station.

St Cuthbert's, Philbeach Gardens (Earls Court), is a Grade I listed Anglican church at 50 Philbeach Gardens, Earls Court, London SW5.The Church was built 1884–87, designed by the architect Hugh Roumieu Gough (1843–1904), son of Alexander Dick Gough. The interior furnishings designed by William Bainbridge Reynolds (1845–1935) who was a member of the congregation. It has been hailed as Jewel of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. The church is situated on the north west of Philbeach Gardens in Earls Court near the West Cromwell Road (A4). Adjoining the church is the clergy house, and to that the Philbeach Hall. St Cuthberts is noted for its interior decoration and its style of worship.

Lillie Road is a street in the north of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. A mixed residential and commercial road, it is the westerly continuation of Old Brompton Road, running from Lillie Bridge to Fulham Palace Road (the A219). Its main junctions are with North End Road and with Munster Road at Fulham Cross.

Lillie Bridge Depot is a historic English traction maintenance depot on the London Underground Piccadilly and District lines, situated between West Brompton and West Kensington stations in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is accessed from the District line tracks between Earl's Court and West Kensington or between Earl's Court and Kensington (Olympia). The Depot was constructed in 1871, when the Metropolitan District Railway gave notice to the Metropolitan Railway, who were running their trains for them, that they would henceforth run their own trains. Lillie Bridge Depot was built on derelict land to the west of Earl's Court, to provide stabling and maintenance facilities for the District Railway's rolling stock. In 1905, the District was extended, and a new depot at Ealing Common replaced Lillie Bridge. A year later, the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, later the Piccadilly line, was opened, and the depot was reconfigured to provide stabling and maintenance for their trains. Parts of it were used as a permanent way depot, until 1932, when extensions to the Piccadilly line created a new depot at Northfields, and the site was purely used by engineering departments. It was reconfigured at this time, and again in 1962 and 1987. It housed a flash butt welding plant for producing long welded rails between 1937 and the completion of the Victoria line, when this facility was transferred to Ruislip depot. Subsequently, it was used for maintenance of London Underground's fleet of battery locomotives. Although the District Railway ceased to use steam locomotives for passenger workings in 1905, two were kept at Lillie Bridge for shunting duties. From the 1940s, all of London Underground's steam locomotives were maintained at the depot, after facilities at Neasden Depot were closed, and this continued until the last steam locomotives were withdrawn in 1971. A pioneering electro-diesel locomotive spent long periods at the depot from 1940, undergoing repairs, and after the demise of steam, the works shunter was an 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic machine obtained from Thomas Hill of Rotherham. Its use was restricted, due to its short wheelbase and axle loading. The Depot is scheduled to be decommissioned by 2024 by Transport for London, as part of an Earl's Court regeneration scheme. Engineering facilities will be moved to Acton Works, and it will be replaced by stabling for twelve S7 Stock trains at a lower level, with redevelopment taking place above it. The scheme has not been universally popular, attracting criticism from the Mayor of London, the current Hammersmith and Fulham Council, local housing associations and residents.

West Brompton is a London Underground, London Overground and National Rail station on Old Brompton Road (A3218) in West Brompton, located in west London, and is on the District line and West London Line (WLL). It is immediately south of the demolished Earls Court Exhibition Centre and west of Brompton Cemetery in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The station is on the Wimbledon branch of the District line between Earl's Court and Fulham Broadway stations. On the WLL, National Rail services are provided by Southern and London Overground, in between Kensington (Olympia) and Imperial Wharf stations. The station's location on the WLL forms a borough boundary and its tracks are shared between Kensington & Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Since 2000 it has been a Grade II (starting category) Listed Building.

Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the sub-districts of South Kensington to the east, Chelsea to the south and Kensington to the northeast. It lent its name to the now defunct eponymous pleasure grounds opened in 1887 followed by the pre–World War II Earls Court Exhibition Centre, as one of the country's largest indoor arenas and a popular concert venue, until its closure in 2014. The area has long been known as "Bedsitter Land" with many of its stuccoed terraces converted into studio flats, hotels and hostels.In practice, the notion of Earl's Court, which is geographically confined to the SW5 postal district, tends to apply beyond its boundary to parts of the neighbouring Fulham area with its SW6 and W14 postcodes to the west, and to adjacent streets in postcodes SW7, SW10 and W8 in Kensington and Chelsea. Earl's Court is also an electoral ward of the local authority, Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council. Its population at the 2011 census was 9,104.