Carlton House
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The house was first built at the beginning of the 18th century for Henry Boyle, Baron Carlton, and passed into royal ownership when it was purchased in 1732 by Frederick, Prince of Wales. His grandson had the house substantially enlarged by the architect Henry Holland between 1782 and 1796. The location of the house was one of the main reasons for the creation of John Nash's ceremonial route from St James to Regent's Park via Regent Street, Portland Place and Park Square: Lower Regent Street and Waterloo Place formed the approach to its front entrance.
Carlton House was a spacious and opulent residence that would have been called a palace in most countries, but when the Prince Regent became King George IV in 1820 he deemed that his own residence, the official royal residence of St. James's Palace and his father George III's Buckingham House were all inadequate for his needs. Some consideration was given to rebuilding Carlton House on a far larger scale, but in the end Buckingham House was rebuilt as Buckingham Palace instead. Carlton House was demolished in 1825 and replaced with two grand white stuccoed terraces of expensive houses known as Carlton House Terrace. The proceeds of the leases were put towards the cost of Buckingham Palace.
The Carlton House writing table has straight legs with drawers in the frieze and a superstructure that wraps round the back, fitted with tiers of drawers. The name is contemporary: the cabinet-making firm of Gillow included one, with a sketch, in their in-house Cost Books, 1797. The original, no doubt made for the Prince Regent's use at Carlton House, has not been identified (Gloag p 730).
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References
- John Gloag, A Short Dictionary of Furniture rev. ed. 1969.
- John Summerson, Georgian London (Barrie & Jenkins, 1986 ed.)
External link
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