Marlborough House

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Marlborough House (south side)

Marlborough House is a mansion in the Westminster borough of London . It's on Pall Mall east of St James's Palace .

It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough , Queen Anne's confidante . The Duchess wanted her new home to be "strong, simple and comfortable and good". Christopher Wren , father and son, designed a brick building, which was completed in 1711. The building served as the London residence for the Dukes of Marlborough for over a century .

The house was taken over by the Krone in 1817. In the 1820s there were plans to demolish Marlborough House and replace it with a building with a terrace similar to that of Carlton House Terrace. This idea can be found in some contemporary maps, including the great 1830 Christopher and John Greenwood map of London, but it was never implemented. The house was used by members of the royal family. In 1853 Prince Albert set up the "National Art Training School" here, later the Royal College of Art . After the school moved in 1861, a number of rooms and a porch were added to the building for the Prince of Wales, designed by Sir James Pennethorne on the north side. He, who later became King Edward VII , lived there from 1863 to 1901 . At that time, Marlborough House was London's social hub.

In 1936 Marlborough House became the London residence of the Queen's widow, Maria von Teck , the widow of King George V. After Queen Mary's death in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II donated the building to the Commonwealth Secretariat , which it still uses today.

The almost cubic salon has wall paintings by Louis Laguerre showing the Second Battle of Höchstädt . The inserted dome roof is surrounded by paintings by Orazio Gentileschi , some of which are from the design of the Queen's House in Greenwich . Paired staircases flank the salon with other battle scenes by Laguerre. A late Art Nouveau and neo-Gothic memorial fountain by Alfred Gilbert (1926–1932) on Marlborough Road on the wall of the house commemorates Edward's wife, Queen Alexandra .

Marlborough House is usually open to the public on Open House Weekend in September. Guided tours for groups are also offered every Tuesday by prior arrangement.

The building has been a Grade I listed building since February 5, 1970 .

gallery

  • Originally Marlborough House was two stories. This picture from around 1750 shows the garden front

  • View of the front, before the renovation work according to plans by Pennethorne (illustration from the 1850s)

  • Painting by Thomas H. Shepherd

  • Front view

  • back

  • Layout

literature

  • Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: London vol. I, p 470f
  • Frayling, Christopher: The Royal College of Art, One Hundred and Fifty Years of Art and Design, p.35 & ff, 1987, Barrie & Jenkins, London, ISBN 0712618201
  • Marlborough House set (act. 1870s – 1901). Jane Ridley, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press

Web links

Commons : Marlborough House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 18 ″  N , 0 ° 8 ′ 10 ″  W.