The Great Room is our flagship space, playing host to large conferences, dinners, award ceremonies, weddings and drinks receptions.

Steeped in history, this iconic room houses an impressive series of 18th-century paintings that provide a unique and memorable backdrop for all events. It is fully air-conditioned, with natural daylight streaming in from the glass-domed ceiling, and features full built-in AV.

Room capacity

• Reception: 200
• Theatre: 180
• Dinner: 130
• Cabaret: 80
• Boardroom: 35

About hiring this space

The Great Room is on the first floor and is often hired in conjunction with the Benjamin Franklin Room directly beneath it. This serves as the ideal meeting catering or pre- and post-reception drinks space to the Great Room.

Additionally, the Henry Cole Room, located next door to the Great Room, is the perfect green room or VIP room, allowing direct access to the stage for presenters and speakers. It is also often hired as an organiser’s office, break out room, or for storage. A further four interconnecting meeting rooms can be found on the first floor, lending themselves perfectly for breakout spaces for larger conferences and meetings.

Audio-visual inclusions

The Great Room has a high specification for in-house AV and lighting. There are 8 free standing speakers around the room which link the sound and lighting together. The stage is a permanent fixture and the optional screen measures 4 metres x 2.5 metres. Other features available in this room:

• Full video recording
• Live streaming
• Audio recording

Let us help you to connect and engage with your audience, physically and virtually, with a range of web streaming packages. 

A room rich with history

The Great Room was designed by the Adam brothers in 1774 and was originally used as an assembly room for the Society Members' discussions and debates and as a venue for the presentation of awards and prizes.

The breath-taking series of six paintings, ‘The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture’, is the final product of artist James Barry, taking a total of 23 years to complete. 

When hiring the Great Room, you are stepping foot inside the room that saw past RSA Fellow Alexander Graham Bell give one of the first practical demonstrations of his new invention, the telephone, in 1877.