From government offices to a palace for the arts
»Shameful!«, said educated men who had travelled abroad. Foreign cities had imposing public buildings, but London was an unassuming clutter. A plan was made to build an edifice worthy of important offices and institutions. For this purpose, the court architect Sir William Chambers regretfully demolished a historic but dilapidated palace in 1775: the first Somerset House, built 200 years earlier for the guardian of the young King Edward VI and later the residence of princesses and queens, where the body of Oliver Cromwell lay in state in 1658.
Chambers’ new building on the Thames adhered to the rules of classical architecture, as it was to accommodate the Royal Academy, the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, in which the most prominent artists, scientists and historians of the kingdom were organised. Under their critical gaze, he designed architecture that was more for the intellect than the heart. In addition to learned societies, part of the Navy Office occupied the new Somerset House, which therefore had a watergate allowing access from the river.
Info
Address Corner of The Strand and Lancaster Place, WC2R 1LA | Public Transport Temple (Circle, District Line) | Hours Courtyard Mon–Sun 7.30am–11pm, Courtauld Gallery Mon–Sun 10am–6pm| Tip Simpsons-in-the-Strand, an expensive restaurant with an imposing interior, has been famous for its roast beef since 1828 (100 Strand, tel. 020/78369112).
To the first part of the building, completed in 1801, east and west wings had been added by 1856. For decades, this huge complex housed the Inland Revenue and the Registry Office: »No fewer than 1600 officials are employed, with salaries amounting in the aggregate to 350,000 pounds«, as the 1905 Baedeker guide meticulously noted. The last of them moved out in 2009. Somerset House is now home to the Courtauld Gallery with its exquisite collection of French Impressionists and post-Impressionists Works, temporary exhibitions, and the London Fashion Week. The great courtyard, once a car park for civil servants, is now open for all kinds of entertainment, from mid-November until early January for ice skating, and in summer for concerts. 55 fountains set into the paving delight young visitors by sending jets of water high into the air.
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