Royal Horticultural Society New Hall

The Royal Horticultural Society New Hall is an exhibition hall built between 1923 and 1928 by architects Murray Easton and Howard Robertson. The building features a brown brick and stone entrance administrative block in front of an innovative concrete-framed exhibition hall with brick infill. The forebuilding showcases an early stripped-classical modern facade and consists of five storeys, including mezzanines on the first and fourth floors. The central section, which is six windows wide, is slightly advanced compared to the end bays. The ground floor of the centre has a range of glazed doorways at the top of steps, with a mezzanine above, both of which are advanced in a segmental curve and stone-faced. The upper floors, which are brick-faced and stone-banded, have plain stone surrounds for the range of windows, featuring metal casements. A block cornice finishes the front above the top mezzanine.

The exhibition hall behind has blind side walls and features four tiers of stepped-back clerestories. The interior reveals the structural reinforced concrete frame, characterized by tall parabolic arches that start as square piers. The hall has flat-roofed top-lit aisles, clerestories, and domed top lights, along with three tall lights with two transoms in the northeast end wall. This construction method, introduced by Easton, is notable as the first of its kind in Britain, influenced by Scandinavian timber construction from the early 1920s, including Max Berg's 1922 exhibition pavilion at Breslau and the reinforced concrete work of Hennebique and Freyssinet, such as the Orly airship hangars from 1921.