Queen Mary University of London

The year is 1887, and Queen Victoria herself steps from her royal carriage right here on Mile End Road to open what locals called "the palace for the people." Standing before this red brick Victorian facade, you're looking at a building that started as pure social revolution - the People's Palace was designed to bring opera, science labs, and swimming pools to East London's working class, funded by a mysterious bequest from John Thomas Barber Beaumont who'd died nearly 50 years earlier. Walk through these grand entrance doors and you'll discover the crown jewel that most visitors completely miss - the Octagon, a soaring 23-meter circular library that's basically a miniature version of the British Museum's Reading Room. Look up at those cast-iron galleries wrapping around three stories, and you'll spot busts of Shakespeare, Milton, and Byron watching over students like literary guardians. Here's what'll blow your mind - on February 26th, 1931, a massive fire completely destroyed the concert hall where East Enders once heard world-class performances, but this building survived and got a royal upgrade when Queen Mary herself handed over the university charter in 1934. Today's Queen Mary University grew from those ashes, transforming this People's Palace into one of London's most diverse universities, where students from over 160 countries now study where Victorian factory workers once learned to read.