Interior of the Great Hall in Exeter Hall, Strand, City of Westminster. Exeter Hall was erected between 1829 and 1831 to designs by John Peter Gandy Deering and enlarged by S. W. Daukes in 1850. The site was previously occupied by the Exeter Exchange, famous for its menagerie of wild animals, and prior to this, by part of Exeter House (formerly Burghley House and Cecil House), the London residence of the Earls of Exeter since the sixteenth century. Built in response to the lack of indoor meeting space in London, with room for 3000 people, with a platform to accommodate 500. Exeter Hall hosted religious and philanthropic meetings, including meetings of the Anti-Slavery Society, and was the headquarters of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). A seven-hour public meeting was hosted here by the South Australia Company on 30 June 1834 to support the establishment of the free colony of South Australia. The elaborate 40 feet high organ was built by J.W. Walker and Sons in 1840. The works of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart were performed here, and Berlioz and Mendelssohn conducted their own works. Exeter Hall was sold by the YMCA to the J. Lyons & Co. in July 1907. It was demolished, and on the site was built the Strand Palace Hotel, opening in September 1909.