The Imperial Institute was created in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee with the intention of it being a scientific research institution exploring and developing the raw materials of the Empire countries. It was administered by a Governing body with the then Prince of Wales as President.
The Imperial Institute building was constructed in South Kensington between 1888 and 1893. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone in 1888 and opened the building in 1893. The Institute building spanned from the Queen's Gate side, to where Mechanical Engineering now stands. It faced the Imperial College Road (which then was called the Imperial Institute Road and was open to traffic).
The Imperial Institute was designed by T. E. Collcutt in the neo-renaissance style. It was 700 feet long with a central tower (the Queen's Tower) and smaller towers at the east and west ends. It contained a library, laboratories, conference rooms and exhibition galleries with gardens at the rear.
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