Albert Memorial. When Prince Albert died in 1861 a competition was held for a national monument to him, which Sir G. G. Scott, inevitably, won. It took ten years to build, from 1863 to 1872. It stands in Hyde Park, just across Kensington Gore from the Albert Hall. The latter is cheap and rather boring, designed by an army engineer. The memorial makes up for that—tall, Gothic, spiky, colourful, and crammed with decorations and sculptures meant to celebrate the glorious achievements of the high Victorian age. It was handsomely restored at the beginning of the 21st cent.

Bernard Porter

Albert Memorial a Victorian Gothic memorial (1863–72) to Prince Albert in Kensington Gardens, London, designed by George Gilbert Scott, and often held as typifying the grand Victorian style; after being boarded up for a number of years, it was substantially restored in the 1990s.