Both White City and Imperial College London are rooted in the great international exhibitions of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The development of Imperial’s South Kensington campus traces back to the Great Exhibition in 1851, while a major milestone in the history of White City is the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition.

The exhibition brought thousands of visitors to the ‘Great White City’ of striking domes and palaces. It also established Imperial’s first links to the area when a team of physicists showcased their equipment among the displays. 

Over the next thirty years, White City witnessed more international, institutional and industrial events. It would go on to become a cultural and artistic hub with the arrival of the BBC’s iconic Television Centre in 1960, a centre of modernist social housing in the White City Estate, and the home of Queens Park Rangers football club.

Today, White City is undergoing its latest transformation as a home for cutting-edge research, business and culture.

White City timeline