51°30′47″N0°09′32″W / 51.51317°N 0.15888°W /51.51317; -0.15888
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TheMarble Arch is a 19th-century whitemarble-facedtriumphal arch inLondon,England. The structure was designed byJohn Nash in 1827 as the state entrance to thecour d'honneur ofBuckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well-known balcony.[1] In 1851, on the initiative of architect and urban plannerDecimus Burton, a one-time pupil of John Nash, the arch was relocated to its current site, near the northeast corner ofHyde Park, so that expansion of Buckingham Palace could proceed.
The arch gives its name to the area surrounding it, particularly the southern portion ofEdgware Road and also to theunderground station. The arch is not part of the Royal Parks and is maintained byWestminster City Council.
Nash's three-arch design is based on that of theArch of Constantine in Rome and theArc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris.[2][3] The triumphal arch is faced withCarrara marble with embellishments of marble extracted from quarries nearSeravezza inTuscany.
John Flaxman was chosen to make the commemorative sculpture. After his death in 1826, the commission was divided between SirRichard Westmacott,Edward Hodges Baily andJ. C. F. Rossi. In 1829, abronze equestrian statue of George IV was commissioned from SirFrancis Chantrey, with the intention of placing it on top of the arch.[4]
Construction began in 1827, but was cut short in 1830, following the death of the spendthrift King George IV – the rising costs were unacceptable to the new king,William IV, who later tried to offload the uncompleted palace ontoParliament as a substitute for the recently destroyedPalace of Westminster.[5]
Work restarted in 1832, this time under the supervision ofEdward Blore, who greatly reduced Nash's planned attic stage and omitted its sculpture, including the statue of George IV. The arch was completed in 1833.[1]
Some of the unused sculpture, including parts of Westmacott's frieze of Waterloo and the Nelson panels, were used at Buckingham Palace. His victory statues and Rossi's relief of Europe and Asia were used at theNational Gallery. In 1843 the equestrian statue of George IV was installed on one of the pedestals inTrafalgar Square.[1]
The white marble soon lost its light colouring in the polluted London atmosphere. In 1847,Sharpe's London Magazine described it as "discoloured by smoke and damp, and in appearance resembling a huge sugar erection in a confectioner's shop window."[6]
The arch is 45 feet (14 m) high,[7] and measures 60 by 30 feet (18.3 by 9.1 m) east-west by north–south.[1]
Buckingham Palace remained unoccupied, and for the most part unfinished, until it was hurriedly completed upon the accession ofQueen Victoria in 1837. Within a few years, it was deemed that the palace was too small to accommodate 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 is today the principal front and public face of the palace and shields the inner façades containing friezes and marbles matching and complementing those of the arch.
When building work began in 1847, the arch was dismantled and rebuilt byThomas Cubitt as a ceremonial entrance to the northeast corner ofHyde Park at Cumberland Gate.[8] The reconstruction was completed in March 1851.[1] A popular story says that the arch was moved because it was too narrow for the Queen's state coach to pass through, but, in fact, theGold State Coach passed under it duringElizabeth II's coronation in 1953.[9]
Three small rooms inside the rebuilt arch were used as a police station from 1851 until at least 1968 (John Betjeman made a television programme inside it in 1968 and referred to it as a fully functional police station).[10] It firstly housed officers of theRoyal Parks Constabulary and later theMetropolitan Police. One policeman stationed there during the early 1860s wasSamuel Parkes, who won theVictoria Cross in theCharge of the Light Brigade in 1854, during theCrimean War.
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Park Lane was widened as part of the Park Lane Improvement Scheme of the London County Council, and the Marble Arch became stranded on a traffic island. The scheme required an act of Parliament – thePark Lane Improvement Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz. 2. c. 63) – and during the passage of this act the possibility of providing an underpass instead of a roundabout was dismissed due to excessive cost and the need to demolish buildings on Edgware Road.[11] As part of the scheme, gardens were laid out around the arch on the traffic island.[12] The works took place between 1960 and 1964.[13]
Still Water, a large bronze sculpture of a horse's head byNic Fiddian-Green, was unveiled on the same traffic island a short distance from the arch in 2011.
In 2005 it was speculated that the arch might be moved across the street to Hyde Park, or to a more accessible location than its position on what was then a large traffic island.[14]
In 1900, theCentral London Railway openedMarble Arch tube station across the road from the arch. The station is now on theCentral line of the London Underground.
Having a tube station means that the arch gives rise to a colloquial, entirely modern London "area", with no parishes or established institutions bearing its name. This generally equates to parts in view of the arch ofMayfair,Marylebone and often all of St George's Fields, Marylebone (west of Edgware Road) all in the City of Westminster, London, W1H.
The area around the arch forms a major road junction connectingOxford Street to the east,Park Lane (A4202) to the south,Bayswater Road (A402) to the west, andEdgware Road (A5) to the north-west. The short road directly to the north of the arch is also known as Marble Arch.
The former cinemaOdeon Marble Arch was located directly adjacent to the junction. Before 1997 this had the largest cinema screen in London. The screen was originally over 75 feet (23 m) wide. The Odeon showcased70 mm films in a large circle-and-stalls auditorium. It closed in 2016 and was demolished later that same year.
The arch also stands close to the former site of theTyburn gallows (sometimes called "Tyburn Tree"), a place ofpublic execution from 1388 until 1793.
In 2021 theMarble Arch Mound, a temporary viewing platform, was opened at the site.[15]
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Citations
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