The Guildhall School of Music first opened its doors on 27 September 1880, it was initially housed in a disused warehouse in the City. With 62 part-time students, it was the first municipal music college in Great Britain. The School quickly outgrew its first home, however, and in 1887 it moved to new premises in John Carpenter Street in a complex of educational buildings built by the Corporation of London to house it and the City’s two public schools.

The new building was completed by 9 December 1886 and the then Lord Mayor of London, Sir Reginald Hanson attended the opening ceremony. Teaching continued under the first Principal of the School, Thomas Henry Weist Hill and his team of 90 professors. 

Sir Horace Jones built the new facility, which had a Common Room for Professors and 45 studios, each encased by a one-foot thick sheet of concrete to ‘deaden the sound.’ There was a grand piano and an upright piano in each room. There was also an Organ room and a ‘Practice’ room, which was actually a tiny concert hall used for orchestra and choir rehearsals. The fortnightly School concerts were held in the ‘Practice’ room.

Initially, all tuition was part-time, but after public demand, full-time courses were added in 1920. Speech, Voice, and Acting departments were added, and the School’s name was changed to “and Drama” in 1935. The School relocated to its current location in the heart of the City of London’s Barbican in 1977, and the City of London continues to own, fund, and administrate it.

In 1993, the City of London leased an adjacent courtyard of buildings that had been the heart of Samuel Whitbread’s first brewery in the 18th century, and refurbished and repurposed it to furnish the School with Sundial Court, its Hall of Residence. Sundial Court is a three-minute walk from the School and offers 178 students self-catering single-room accommodation. In 2001 the Secretary of State, Baroness Blackstone, announced that the Barbican Centre, including Guildhall School, was to be Grade II listed.

The School is a member of Conservatoires UK, the European Association of Conservatoires and the Federation of Drama Schools. It formed a creative alliance with its neighbours the Barbican Centre and the London Symphony Orchestra to create the world’s leading centre for performance, training and education in the performing and visual arts.

In 2005 the School was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its unrivalled development and outreach programme, Guildhall Connect, and in 2007 it won a further Queen’s Anniversary Prize in recognition of the work of the Opera Programme over the last two decades. The School was rated No. 1 specialist institution in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2013 and 2014.

The £90 million makeover of the nearby Milton Court site was the most major investment in the Guildhall School’s future. In addition to theatrical classroom and administration offices, the facility, which opened in autumn 2013, has three new performance venues: a concert hall (608 seats), a theatre (223 seats), and a studio theatre (up to 128 seats).

Guildhall is also a component of Culture Mile, a new home for contemporary culture that runs from Farringdon to Moorgate in the old core of London’s working capital. With innovative collaborations and thrilling events, the City of London Corporation, the Barbican, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Museum of London are bringing the region to life.