Royal Festival Hall

Contemporary view of the Embankment at dusk showing the new space-age lights and the London Eye in the background, but it hasn't always been this way ... Photograph: Antonio Olmos

... Observer photographer Jane Bown captured the view towards the Royal Festival Hall from Waterloo when the Hall opened in 1951. Photograph: Jane Bown/Observer

This is what the north side of the Royal Festival Hall looks like today with the London Eye in the background. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

People walking down the stairs from the Hungerford Bridge ... Photograph: Jane Bown/Observer

... And today, people continue to walk down the steps leading down from the Hungerford bridge on their way to the South Bank. The two cable-stayed pedestrian bridges are officially called the Golden Jubilee bridges. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

A satellite dish lies beneath the stairs of the Dome of Discovery at the Royal Festival Hall. Photograph: Jane Bown/Observer

Some of the original stairs of the South Bank complex as they appear today. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

PA speakers on a building built for the Festival of Britain. Photograph: Jane Bown/Observer

Today the Embankment is often busy with performers and buskers at dusk. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

A view of a rhombus-decorated wall on a nearby building in 1951. Photograph: Jane Bown/Observer

Today the walkway underneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall has become a skateboard park with graffiti decorating the walls. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

Chairs inside the Royal Festival Hall. Photograph: Jane Bown/Observer

Today the Embankment area outside the Royal Festival Hall has been transformed into a thriving meeting spot with restaurants, shops and bars. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

The bright exterior of the newly refurbished Hall. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian

The inside is equally impressive ... seen here are the cantilevered boxes of the refurbished auditorium. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian

The auditorium after its multi-million pound makeover awaits its opening night concert on June 8 2007. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian

The cafe, with its stylish new furniture and net-and-ball carpet design, will give visitors a spectacular view across the Thames and the London skyline. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian

The gleaming exterior of the Royal Festival Hall in a rare moment of May sunshine. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian