Page:London in 1856 by Cunningham, Peter.djvu/57



Town Palaces are four in number, viz., Buckingham Palace, in which her Majesty resides; St. James's Palace, in which she holds her Drawing-rooms; the beautiful fragment of the Palace of Whitehall, used as a Chapel Royal, but better known as Inigo Jones's Banqueting-house; and the Palace at Kensington, in which her Majesty was born.

1. BUCKINGHAM PALACE, in St. James's Park, was commenced in the reign of George IV., on the site of Buckingham House, by John Nash, and completed in the reign of William IV., but never inhabited by that sovereign, who is said to have expressed his great dislike to the general appearance and discomfort of the whole structvire. When the first grant to George lV. was given by Parliament it vras intended only to repair and enlarge old Buckingham House; and therefore, the old site, height, and dimensions were retained. This led to the erection of a clumsy building, and was a mere juggle on the part of the king and his architect—knowing as they did that Parliament would never have granted the funds for an entirely new Palace. On her Majesty's accession several alterations were effected by Mr. Blore—a dome in the centre, like a common slop-basin turned upside down, was removed, and new buildings added to the S.; her Majesty entering into her new Palace on the 13th of July, 1837. Other and more extensive alterations have since taken place by the removal of a Marble arch, and the erection, at a cost of 150,000l., of an E. front, under the superintendence of Mr. Blore. The chapel on the S. side, originally a conservatory, was consecrated in 1843. The Grand Staircase is of white marble, with decorations by L. Grüner. The Library is generally used as a Waiting-room for deputations, which,