The Astoria is a house boat turned recording studio owned by David Gilmour, guitarist of Pink Floyd. It is moored on the River Thames near Hampton Court. Gilmour purchased the boat in 1986, because he "spent half of [his] life in recording studios with no windows, no light" but on the boat there are many windows, with beautiful scenery on the outside". The boat was built in 1910-1912 for impresario Fred Karno, who wanted to have the best houseboat on the river. He designed it so that there could be an entire 90-piece orchestra playing on the deck of the ship. The two most recent Pink Floyd albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell were recorded on the boat, as well as some David Gilmour solo material including his latest album On an Island. It was featured on the 2005 documentary Three Men in a Boat.
