Buckingham House was acquired by King George III in 1761, as a private residence for Queen Charlotte. Nash was commissioned by George IV in 1825 to oversee its conversion into Buckingham Palace.
Nash's design included a large court – the 'cour d'honneur' – enclosed on three sides but open at the front. The state entrance to the court would be formed by the Marble Arch, which was to stand at the front of the palace. The external façade was designed in the French neo–classical style preferred by the former Prince Regent, whose extravagance was notorious. By 1829 the cost of the work had risen from the original estimate of £252,690, to £613,269 – and the work was still not finished. This caused much resentment, and following the death of George IV in 1830 Nash was left without a protector. He was dismissed from the project, and his career was effectively over. He retired to his home at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, and died in May 1835. He never received the knightood that was awarded to other architects of the time.
George IV's successor, William IV (his younger brother) hired Edward Blore to finish the work on the Palace.
Buckingham Palace remained unoccupied, and for the most part unfinished, until it was hurriedly completed upon the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Within a few years the palace was found to be too small for the large court and the Queen's expanding family. The solution was to enlarge the palace by enclosing the cour d'honneur with a new east range. This façade was remodelled in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb, and today it forms the principal front and public face of the palace – shielding the inner façades, which contain friezes and marbles that match and complement those of the arch. Unless we are privileged enough to be allowed into the court, we only see Nash's work in the rear and side elevations.
When work on the East range began in 1847, the Marble Arch was dismantled and rebuilt as a ceremonial entrance to the northeast corner of Hyde Park – where Park Lane becomes Edgware Road. The reconstruction was completed in March 1851. A popular story has it that the arch was moved because it was too narrow for the Queen's state coach to pass through; but in fact the gold state coach passed under it during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Park Lane was widened in the early 1960s, and the Marble Arch became stranded on a traffic island. More recently there has been speculation that it might be moved again, to a more convenient location (for example into Hyde Park), but as yet nothing has come of this.
© Macclesfield Quiz League 2019