Somerset House An Encyclopedia of British Royal Palaces and Royal Builders
Table Of Content
Offering a diverse and dynamic public programme of contemporary arts and culture, they are also a home to a large community of creative businesses, artists and makers, including Somerset House Studios. Some owners have converted their ancestral house into museums, events spaces or restaurants, and are open to the wider public; they have done so with the intention of maintaining and/or sharing their family histories or legacies. Chambers’ attention ranges from plans to ornamentation, from mouldings and cornices to the fireplaces and chimneys, in which the dimensions and ornamentation reflected social standing.
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Over the next 150 years, the Palace became a home for at least two princesses – Princess Elizabeth who moved in at age 20, staying until she became Queen Elizabeth I, and Princess Anne of Denmark, wife of James I. Construction began on the beautiful palace, which would be one of the most lavish in all of England. A sleek-yet-approachable bar on the roof of one of London’s most recognisable and impressive buildings?
Kaleidoscope: Q&A with photographer Teresa Eng
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Between her house and the Thames a garden was laid out with extraordinary waterworks, a fountain and a grotto. The platform for its work is a neoclassical building at the heart of London with a long history of influence, ideas and counter-perspective. It has always been open to the world, and this spirit of constant curiosity remains at its heart. Today, as host to the UK’s largest creative community working globally across art, technology, business and social enterprise, it continually draws in fresh ideas and new talent. It enables surprising alliances, convergences and chance encounters, which move people and disciplines outside of themselves. This constant sideways take is also felt in its public programming which brings subjects and methods together in experimental forms.
Experience our history in person
We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future. Somerset House pursues a spirit of ‘Step Inside, Think Outside’ for everyone, regardless of age, stage or background. Its energy is unending - intensifying creativity, multiplying opportunity, driving artistic and social innovation, sometimes personal transformation, all at once. And it is what makes the experience of visiting or working in Somerset House inspiring and energizing, urgent and exciting. As it is such a well-known and loved icon of London, Somerset House has featured as a film location in many movies, from James Bond to Sherlock Holmes.
Soane’s Designs for Combe House, Continued
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Part of me praises the composition of an image showing Tigrayan refugees huddled under the shelter of a tree, and the technical expertise necessary to capture the sunlight falling gracefully through the leaves. Another part of me feels monstrous for even thinking about questions of aesthetics when looking at an image of refugees. There’s no doubt that Salgado deeply cares about the people he’s photographing. The first occupants of Somerset House were the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Society, and the Society of Antiquaries. Increasingly, Somerset House also accommodated a number of government institutions, such as the Inland Revenue and the Navy Board. By the end of the twentieth century the building was deemed unsuitable for modern offices and one by one the government institutions vacated the building.
The End of the Palace
By this time, royal purses were also nearly exhausted by the constant expenses of war, and the decision was made to try to sell Somerset House. Unfortunately for Edward, just three years later he was the victim of a dramatic coup which culminated in his execution in the Tower of London in 1552. Somerset House is really an incredible sight to behold, but it’s even more spectacular when you know the history behind it. The story of Somerset House reads much like an epic saga, filled with lords, princesses and dramatic battles. Running for two weeks, the event sees the courtyard brimming with movie lovers from everyday Londoners (and visitors) to even a few famous faces.
The History of Somerset House
The Courtauld dates back to 1933 and has been busy amassing an impressive collection of artworks ever since. One of favourite galleries in London, there are more than 500 paintings and 26,000 other works, spanning from medieval times through to today. It’s not only in the summertime when Somerset House’s iconic courtyard is transformed into something spectacular. Each winter, the courtyard becomes a little slice of a winter wonderland, with its own skating rink.
Most of these were designed by the Florentine painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani and carved by a variety of sculptors. Between 1603 and 1692 Somerset House was the official residence of the Queen of England and for most of that period, as the home of Roman Catholic consorts, one of the most controversial buildings in Britain. The Courtauld Gallery, home to a wealth of 14th- to 20th-century art, is closed for renovations, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. If you’re looking for where Somerset House is, it can be a little tricky as there are actually four entrances.
Its present tenants are a mixture of various organisations, generally centred around the arts and education. Approximately 700 drawings of Sir William Chambers’ eighteenth-century design for Somerset House reside at Sir John Soane’s Museum. Yet, to start, it was not at all certain that Chambers would get the commission. At that point in his career he was Comptroller of the Works under King George III, a position that entitled him to oversee rather than to do. But when the appointed architect, William Robinson – someone so unremarkable that Edmund Burke, speaking in the House of Commons, called for magnificence in the project – conveniently died in 1775, the commission went to Chambers.
A staple summer experience, the series presents a trailblazing line-up of breakthrough music artists and established acts from across the globe. On the ground floor, the Doric order ties interior to exterior, to echo one of Chambers’ most famous interventions, the design of the three-lane vestibule at the entry from the Strand. The drawing, in Chambers’ hand, was modelled after Sangallo’s Palazzo Farnese in Rome. However, his design for the pairing of the columns in the vestibule breaks from Roman convention, and that of Palladio, referring instead to Lemercier’s design for the west wing of the Louvre. Both the vestibule and the Strand façade represented a strong yet elegant restraint, a regularity and a coherence that achieved the necessary grandeur.
Anna died in 1618 and her successor as Queen Consort, Henrietta Maria, took up residence in 1625. By the terms of her marriage treaty a Catholic chapel was to be built for her at Somerset House.This new building, designed by Inigo Jones, was not just a chapel for her private use, it was a small friary with a friary church attached. In rabidly Protestant London gripped by fear of popery the Queen and her chapel became targets of fierce opposition to the Crown. In 1642 as the Stuart regime collapsed Somerset House was amongst the first royal icons to be attacked. The royal chapel was sacked, the fittings burnt and the altarpiece by Rubens stabbed by a pike and thrown into the Thames.
In 1990 the Courtauld Institute moved its art collection to the empty north wing of Somerset House. Several more art galleries and other cultural institutions settled here as well. This prompted a major renovation of the building as well as a transformation of the courtyard, which was used as a parking lot, into a public space with a fountain display.
The terrace on the south side of the building, with views over the Thames, also opened to the public. From its 18th-century origins, Somerset House has been a centre for debate and discussion including the first home of the Royal Academy of Arts and other learned societies – an intellectual powerhouse for the nation. For over 200 years the building housed various government departments including births, marriages and deaths and the Inland Revenue until Somerset House Trust was established in July 1997 to conserve and develop Somerset House as an arts centre. After a campaign to open Somerset House to the public, they once again became a home for arts and culture in 2000. On James I accession in 1603 there was not only a monarch, but his wife and three healthy children all of whom needed accommodating.
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