Carlton House

Carlton House
Carlton House
General information
Architectural style	Georgian; Neoclassical;
Location	Westminster
Town or city	London
Country	United Kingdom

Carlton House,sometimesCarlton Palace,was a mansion in Westminster, best known as the town residence ofKing George IV,particularly during theregency eraand his time asprince regent.It faced the south side ofPall Mall,and its gardens abuttedSt James's Park^[a]in theSt James'sdistrict of London. The location of the house, now replaced byCarlton House Terrace,was a main reason for the creation ofJohn Nash's ceremonial route from St James's toRegent's ParkviaRegent Street,Portland Placeand Park Square: Lower Regent Street and Waterloo Place were originally laid out to form the approach to its front entrance.

History

An existing house was rebuilt in 1709 for Henry Boyle, createdBaron Carletonin 1714, who bequeathed it to his nephew, the architectLord Burlington.^[b]Burlington sold it in 1732 toFrederick, Prince of Wales,for whomWilliam Kentlaid out the garden. Frederick's widowAugusta, Princess of Wales,enlarged the house.^[c]

In 1783, Frederick's grandsonGeorge, Prince of Wales,was granted possession of Carlton House and£60,000 to refurbish it. The Prince had the house substantially rebuilt by the architectHenry Hollandbetween 1783 and 1796.^[1]By the time the Prince of Wales and Henry Holland parted company in 1802, Carlton House was a spacious and opulent residence, which would have been designated apalacein many countries. From the 1780s it was the centre of a glittering alternative court to that of the Prince's parents at St James and Buckingham House.^[2]After he became Prince Regent the house was altered and redecorated to suit an even larger amount of usage as a palace in all but name. On 19 June 1811 the Regenthosted a grand receptionostensibly to honourLouis XVIIIand the exiled French royal family, but largely to celebrate the establishment of his own Regency.^[3]

One of the most splendid apartments in the palace was the crimson drawing-room, in whichPrincess Charlottewas married, in 1816, toPrince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.^[4]

In 1820, on the death of his father,George III,the Prince Regent becameKing George IV.The first proclamation of the accession was made on the steps of Carlton House.^[2]

George IV deemed that Carlton House, the official royal residence ofSt. James's Palace,and his parents' Buckingham House were all inadequate for his needs. Some consideration was given to rebuilding Carlton House on a far larger scale, but in the end Buckingham House was rebuilt asBuckingham Palaceinstead. Carlton House was demolished in 1826 and replaced with two grand white stuccoed terraces of expensive houses known asCarlton House Terrace.The proceeds of the leases were put towards the cost of Buckingham Palace.^{[citation needed]}

Architecture

Plan showing the main floor and the suite of reception rooms on the lower ground floor

When the Prince of Wales took possession in August 1783,Sir William Chamberswas appointed as architect, but after a first survey, he was quickly replaced by Henry Holland. Both Chambers and Holland were proponents of the French neoclassical style of architecture, and Carlton House would be extremely influential in introducing the Louis XVI style to England.

Holland began working first on the State Apartments along the garden front, the principal reception rooms of the house. Construction commenced in 1784; when these rooms were visited in September 1785 by the usually criticalHorace Walpole,he was impressed, writing that when completed, Carlton House would be "the most perfect in Europe".

There is an august simplicity that astonished me. You cannot call it magnificent; it is the taste and propriety that strike. Every ornament is at a proper distance, and not one too large, but all delicate and new, with more freedom and variety than Greek ornaments; and, though probably borrowed from theHotel de Condéand other new Palaces, not one that is not rather classic than French.^[5]

The chimney-pieces were added 1783 to 1785 by the London sculptorThomas Carter the Younger.^[6]

Construction at Carlton House came to a halt at the end of 1785 due to the Prince of Wales's mounting debts, with his unpaid bills following his secretmorganaticmarriage toMrs. Fitzherbertamounting to £250,000.^[7]Parliament appointed a commission to investigate the huge cost overruns at Carlton House, and to draw up estimates on how much would be needed to complete the project. In May 1787, the Prince of Wales contritely approached his father,King George III,and persuaded him to provide the money to finish the house. When work resumed in the summer of 1787, with a budget of £60,000 to finish the house, it was with the assistance of many of France's leading furniture makers and craftsmen, under the design supervision of the Parisianmarchand-mercierDominique Daguerre, interior decorator forMarie Antoinette,who acted as the agent through whom furniture byAdam Weisweilerwas imported.

The Hall of Carlton House

When completed, Carlton House was approximately 202 feet (62 m) long, and 130 feet (40 m) deep. Visitors entered through ahexastyleportico of Corinthian columns, which led to a foyer that was flanked on either side by anterooms. The building was unusual in that visitors entered on the main floor, in contrast to most London mansions and palaces of the time, which followed the Palladian architectural concept of a low ground floor (or rustic) with the principal floor above.

From the foyer, visitors would enter the two-story top-lit entrance hall, decorated with Ionic columns of yellow marblescagliola.Beyond the hall was an octagonal room that was also top lit. The octagonal room was flanked on the right by the grand staircase and flanked on the left by a courtyard, while straight ahead was the main anteroom. Once in the anteroom, visitors could turn left into the private apartments of the Prince of Wales, or right into the formal reception rooms: Throne Room, drawing room, music room and dining room.

Carlton House, Circular Room

The lower ground floor comprised a suite of low-ceilinged rooms, including a gothic dining room, a library for the Prince, a Chinese drawing room, and aperpendicular gothicconservatory constructed of cast iron and stained glass. This suite of rooms was equipped with folding doors which when opened created anenfiladeof eight rooms terminating in the conservatory allowing, on one occasion, the entire length to be set out as a single banqueting table. The ground floor rooms gave directly onto the garden facing the Mall, which had a landscaping scheme by the fashionable designerHumphry Repton.An earlier garden design byWilliam Kenthad been undertaken for the Prince's grandmotherPrincess Augustabut had been swept away.

The main staircase, fromPyne's Royal Residences(1819)

Besides the French decor and furniture, Carlton House was hung with a collection of works of art, of which many collected by the Prince are now in theRoyal Collection.The Prince patronized contemporary artists such asReynolds,Gainsborough,andStubbs.With theThird Marquess of Hertfordand Sir Charles Long acting as his art advisors, the Prince also boughtOld Masterpaintings byRembrandt,Rubens,Van Dyck,CuypandJan Steen.An 1816 inventory of Carlton House showed 136 pictures in the State Rooms, a further 67 in the Prince of Wales's private suite, and another 250 in other parts of the house.^{[citation needed]}

Demolition

Following the death of his father, the new King George IV turned his attention from Carlton House to renovating and greatly enlarging Buckingham House as his primary London residence. This coincided with alterations to the planning of Regent Street, and in order to link Regent Street with the Mall, Carlton House was, notwithstanding the huge and controversial expenditure on it, entirely demolished. TheDuke of York Stepsand the twin Carlton House Terraces stand on its site.

Most of the furniture, carpets, and artworks in the house were moved to the re-named Buckingham Palace or to other Royal residences. Many architectural features were reused since several Royal residences were being built or remodelled at the time, including Buckingham Palace andWindsor Castle,althoughRoyal Lodgeand possibly theBrighton Pavilionmay have received items. Chimney pieces installed at Buckingham Palace are identifiable as having come from Carlton House, as are many doors at Windsor Castle. To save costs in the construction of the newNational Galleryin Trafalgar Square, the bases and capitals of exterior columns at Carlton House were reused for the porticos at the east and west entrances, the columns themselves having deteriorated where they were stored in St James' Park.^[8]

The house's name persists in the form of theCarlton House desk,which has straight legs with drawers in the frieze and a superstructure that wraps round the back, fitted with tiers of drawers. The name is contemporary and in 1797 was recorded in the in-house cost books of the cabinet-making firm of Gillow, with a sketch. The original, made for the Prince Regent's use at Carlton House, has not been identified.^[9]

Fencing Match betweenChevalier de Saint-Georgesand 'La chevalière D'Éon' on 9 April 1787, in Carlton House, painting by Charles Jean Robineau

Cultural references

Oscar Wildemakes reference to Carlton House in his 1890 novelThe Picture of Dorian Gray.In chapter 11, as the protagonist looks over portraits of his ancestors, he writes, "What of the second LordBeckenham,the companion of the Prince Regent in his wildest days... [t]he world had looked upon him as infamous. He had led the orgies at Carlton House. "

Carlton House is referenced in the first episode of the 1979 television miniseriesPrince Regent,in which George IV, then-Prince of Wales (portrayed byPeter Egan), commissions Henry Holland to refurbish it. When King George III refuses to allow the Prince to go to Germany for his desired military education, he demands Holland refurbish Carlton House with lavish extravagance with neither regard of cost nor his father's wishes.

In the novelSharpe's RegimentbyBernard Cornwell,the titular character is presented tothe Prince Regentinside Carlton House.

Notes

^Years laterThe Mallwas driven through the former gardens, to provide a ceremonial route betweenBuckingham Palaceand Admiralty Arch, which now leads intoTrafalgar Square.
^Burlington employedHenry Flitcroftto unify the garden front and reface it in stone (Stroud 1966,p. 61).
^The neighbouring structure had been the London house of the Prince's friendGeorge Bubb Doddington, Lord Melcombe.

Citations

^"Henry Holland | British architect".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved11 May2020.
^^a ^bWalford, Edward. "Carlton House",Old and New London:Volume 4. London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1878. 86-99. British History OnlineThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
^Smith, E.A.George IV.Yale University Press, 1999. p.132
^Chambers, James (2007).Charlotte and Leopold.London: Old Street Publishing. pp.164–167.ISBN 978-1-905847-23-5.
^Horace Walpole to the Countess of Upper Ossory, 17 September 1785,Walpole 1848,p. 246
^Gunnis 1954,p. 86.
^Stroud 1966,p. 68.
^"Hidden Stories: A Closer Look at the National Gallery Building"(PDF).National Gallery.
^Gloag 1969,p. 730.

References

Gloag, John (1969).A Short Dictionary of Furniture.
Gunnis, Rupert (1954).Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660 to 1851.
Stroud, Dorothy (1966).Henry Holland, His Life and Architecture.
Summerson, John,Georgian London(Barrie & Jenkins, 1986 ed.)
Walpole, Horace(1848).Letters addressed to the Countess of Ossory, from the year 1769 to 1797.

External links

51°30′22″N00°07′54″W/ 51.50611°N 0.13167°W/51.50611; -0.13167

[1] Years laterThe Mallwas driven through the former gardens, to provide a ceremonial route betweenBuckingham Palaceand Admiralty Arch, which now leads intoTrafalgar Square.

[2] Burlington employedHenry Flitcroftto unify the garden front and reface it in stone (Stroud 1966,p. 61).

[3] The neighbouring structure had been the London house of the Prince's friendGeorge Bubb Doddington, Lord Melcombe.

[4] "Henry Holland | British architect".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved11 May2020.

[bho-5] Walford, Edward. "Carlton House",Old and New London:Volume 4. London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1878. 86-99. British History OnlineThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.

[6] Smith, E.A.George IV.Yale University Press, 1999. p.132

[7] Chambers, James (2007).Charlotte and Leopold.London: Old Street Publishing. pp.164–167.ISBN 978-1-905847-23-5.

[8] Horace Walpole to the Countess of Upper Ossory, 17 September 1785,Walpole 1848,p. 246

[FOOTNOTEGunnis195486-9] Gunnis 1954,p. 86.

[FOOTNOTEStroud196668-10] Stroud 1966,p. 68.

[11] "Hidden Stories: A Closer Look at the National Gallery Building"(PDF).National Gallery.

[FOOTNOTEGloag1969730-12] Gloag 1969,p. 730.

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