| Apsley House | |
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 The front of Apsley House in 2005 | |
  Location within Central London | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Neo-classical |
| Location | 149Piccadilly London,W1, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′13″N0°09′06″W / 51.5035°N 0.1517°W /51.5035; -0.1517 |
| Client | |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects |
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| Website | |
| www | |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Reference no. | 1226873[1] |
Apsley House is the Londontownhouse of theDukes of Wellington. It stands alone atHyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner ofHyde Park, facing towards the large traffic roundabout in the centre of which stands theWellington Arch. It is aGrade I listed building.
Designed byRobert Adam in theneoclassical style, the house was built forLord Apsley in the 1770s. It was purchased byRichard Wellesley, in 1807, and passed to his younger brotherArthur, the 1st duke, in 1817. It was sometimes referred to asNumber One, London. It is perhaps the only preserved example of an English aristocratic townhouse from this period.
The house is also called theWellington Museum, its official designation under the Wellington Museum Act 1947. Run byEnglish Heritage, much of the house is open to the public as a museum and art gallery, exhibiting theWellington Collection, a large collection of paintings, other artworks and memorabilia of the career of the 1st Duke. The9th Duke of Wellington retains an apartment spanning the northern half of the ground floor the house for the Wellesley family's private use.[2][3] The practice has been to maintain the public rooms as far as possible in the original style and decor of the 1st Duke.
Apsley House stands at the site of an old lodge that belonged to the crown. During theInterregnum newer buildings were erected between what is now Old Park Lane and Hyde Park Corner. In the 1600s after theRestoration they were leased byJames Hamilton (died 1673) and renewed by Elizabeth his widow in 1692 on a 99-year lease (Hamilton Place takes its name from that family). Immediately before Apsley House was built the site was occupied by a tavern called the Hercules Pillars (immortalised byHenry Fielding inThe History of Tom Jones, a Foundling as the location whereSquire Western resides when he first journeys up to London).[4]
The house was originally built in red brick byRobert Adam between 1771 and 1778 forLord Apsley, theLord Chancellor, who gave the house its name. Some Adam interiors survive: the Piccadilly Drawing Room with itsapsidal end and Adam fireplace, and the Portico Room, behind the giantCorinthian portico added by Wellington.
The house was given the popular nickname of Number One, London, since it was the first house passed by visitors who travelled from the countryside after the toll gates atKnightsbridge.[5] It was originally part of a contiguous line of great houses onPiccadilly, demolished to widenPark Lane: its official address remains 149 Piccadilly, W1J 7NT.[6]
In 1807 the house was purchased by Richard Wellesley, the elder brother of the Arthur Wellesley, but in 1817 financial difficulties forced him to sell it to his famous brother, by then the Duke of Wellington, who needed a London base from which to pursue his new career in politics.[7]
Wellington employed the architectBenjamin Dean Wyatt to carry out renovations in two phases: in the first, begun in 1819, he added a three-storey extension to the north east, housing a State Dining Room, bedrooms and dressing rooms.[8] Thescagliola ornamentations, that resemblemarble inlays, were produced inCoade stone from the Coade Ornamental Stone Manufactory inLambeth.[9]
The second phase, started after Wellington had become Prime Minister in 1828, included a new staircase and the "Waterloo Gallery" on the west side of the house.[8] The red-brick exterior was clad inBath stone, and a pedimented portico added.[10] Wyatt's original estimate for the work was £23,000, but the need to repair structural defects discovered during the work led to costs escalating to more than £61,000.[8] Wyatt introduced his own version of French style to the interior, notably in the Waterloo Gallery and the florid wrought iron stair-rail, described byPevsner as "just turning fromEmpire to a neo-Rococo". Iron shutters and railings were also added to the house after the windows had been smashed during riots.[11]
The Waterloo Gallery is named after the Duke's famous victory over Napoleon at theBattle of Waterloo. The Waterloo Banquet was held annually to commemorate the famous victory of 18 June 1815. The first banquets were held in the Dining Room but in 1828 when Wyatt completed the Waterloo Gallery the banquet was moved there and became a much larger event, seating 74 as opposed to 36 in the dining room. The Duke'sequestrian statue can be seen across the busy road, cloaked and watchful, the plinth guarded at each corner by an infantryman. This statue was cast from guns captured at the battle.
| Wellington Museum Act 1947 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to transfer to the Crown Apsley House and the site, forecourt and garden thereof and certain chattels formerly belonging to the first Duke of Wellington; to provide for the use of Apsley House partly as a museum for the preservation and exhibition of the said chattels and other chattels associated with the said first Duke or his times and for other public purposes, and partly as a residence for the Dukes of Wellington; to amend the enactments relating to the Wellington estates, so as to provide for the automatic devolution of the property subject to the trusts thereof whenever there is a change in the person holding office as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer or Speaker of the House of Commons; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. |
| Citation | 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 46 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 31 July 1947 |
Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, gave the house and its most important contents to the nation in 1947, whilst retaining the right to occupy part of the building.[12] The house was refurbished by theMinistry of Works, with old gas lighting removed and replaced by electricity, and the house was opened as a museum in 1952 as part of theVictoria and Albert Museum.[13] In 2004 responsibility for the house was transferred toEnglish Heritage, against the wishes of the Wellington family.[14]
The Wellington Museum Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 46) preserves the right of the Wellesley family to retain a private residence within part of Apsley House"so long as there is a Duke of Wellington".[12]
According toLady Jane Wellesley, following the accession of her fatherValerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington to the Dukedom in 1972, he and his wifeDiana occupied part of the house situated on the ground floor which originally formed the private apartments of the first Duke.[3] This corroborates electrical plans of the House dating from the 1980s, which show the private sections of the house on the northern half of the building's ground floor.[15]
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