View of Festival of Britain boundary wall in York Road, Waterloo, looking north on the corner with Chicheley Street. Behind a wooden fence, under construction, the boundary wall of the Festival of Britain between the Station Gate entrance and the Chicheley Street Gate. This site would include the Fairway Cafe and a General Information building, and it is now occupied by high-rise mixed office and retail units. The Festival of Britain was a nationwide event that took place in the summer of 1951. Originally intended to mark the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, it became a way to celebrate Britain and its achievements rather than including international themes. The construction of the Festival on its flagship South Bank site required the demolition of the industrial and residential buildings between Waterloo Bridge and County Hall. After the Festival, the South Bank site was cleared of all festival infrastructure except the Royal Festival Hall on the orders of Winston Churchill, who saw the Festival as a beacon for socialist ideas. On the right there is a large vacant plot enclosed by advertising hoardings; buildings on this site were destroyed in a V1 rocket attack on the 23rd June 1944 killing three people and injuring 48. The advertisements include Robertson's Golliberry Jam and Silver Shread Marmalade, and Oxo. On the corner with Griffin Street a man on a ladder cleans the windows of the Duke of York pub. This site now has mixed office and retail units. A railway bridge crosses the road which carries trains from Waterloo East, formerly Waterloo Junction Station, across Hungerford Bridge to Charing Cross. In the background, on the corner of Waterloo Road and Stamford Street, is the Royal Waterloo Hospital founded in 1823. Its name was changed in 1852 to the Royal Infirmary for Children and Women, on receipt of an annual bequest on condition that the hospital admitted inpatients and treated women. The Renaissance style building dates from 1903 and is Grade II listed, listing number 1356166. It now forms part of the Kings College London campus.
