The Natural History Museum in South Kensington was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, who took over the scheme in 1866 and revised the plans. Francis Fowke's entry won the 1864 competition, but he died in December 1865. Work began in 1873 and finished in 1880, and the museum opened on April 18, 1881.
Waterhouse used a Romanesque style of his own, clad in architectural terracotta tiles by Gibbs and Canning, with relief sculptures from his drawings. Neal Potter designed the central atrium. The article gives no dimensions, and the cost estimate was cut from £495,000 to £330,000.
Hintze Hall holds a blue whale skeleton installed in 2017. The Darwin Centre opened in two phases, in 2002 and 2009, and the museum merged with the Geological Museum in 1985. Permanent exhibitions are free, and it had 7,116,929 visitors in 2025.
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