Albertopolis

English

Etymology

From Albert (“male given name”) +‎ -polis, after Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria, who proposed the purchase and redevelopment of the area, funded by profits from the Great Exhibition, which he had also championed. Initially used somewhat satirically, the term fell into disuse after the Prince's death, but usage was revived in the 1960s.

Proper noun

Albertopolis

1. (informal) An area of South Kensington, London, that contains a large number of educational and cultural sites.
   • 1861 April 15, “Photography and the Exhibition of 1862”, in The Photographic Journal, volume 7, page 149:

     Of course there will be a collection of unprecedented merit in the temple about to be raised in Albertopolis.

   • 2002, Hermione Hobhouse, The Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition: Science, Art and Productive Industry: A History of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851‎^[1], page 243:

     As the nineteenth century and the Queen's reign ended, new players and new attitudes were to sweep away a lot of the characteristics of Albertopolis, including some of its small-town qualities, the nepotism, its interwoven employment and its interests — what we might call its 'cronyism'.

   • 2005, Leo Hollis, Historic London Walks‎^[2], page 208:

     One of the first public spaces to be developed in Albertopolis was the garden of the RHS,^{[Royal Horticultural Society]} yet it did not last long at this location.