6. Cadogan Hall
Where: London
Opened: 2004
Seats: 950
London’s Cadogan Hall is in the heart of leafy Chelsea, just a short walk from the Royal Albert Hall and Hyde Park. The Grade Ii-listed building – a former Church of Christ, Scientist church – was designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm in a Byzantine Revival architectural style and opened in 1907. Over the years, however, the congregation started to dwindle, and by 1996 the church lay disused.
Salvation came in the form of Cadogan Estates, which bought the building, refurbished it to the tune of £7.5m and reopened it as a concert venue in June 2004. The ceiling and the f loor had to be re-modelled to provide new lighting and a sound installation, and the Byzantine-style stained glass windows were also restored.
Today, Cadogan Hall hosts over 300 concerts and events each year, ranging from chamber and orchestral concerts to book signings and film screenings. It is the home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which gives regular concerts here and, since 2005, the venue has also hosted BBC Proms chamber concerts. Last summer, the I Fagiolini ensemble performed a Monteverdi Prom to mark the Italian composer’s
450th anniversary.