BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20462, 4 February 1932, Page 2

BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

THE PRESENT 1 PHASE. (By T.C.L.) •• Buckingham House having been purchased for a royal house it might have been thought that its chequered career had ended. - This" - was - not. the. case;George IU V by whom the mansion was purchased, really intended it as a "town house" to which he and Queen Charlotte could retire when tired of the pomp and formality . of • their' official residence, St.; James' Palace. George HI. had many "alterations made to the i house, including a "superb library, | stored in the; most ample manner;" In- ! deed, the increase of his: library became one of the King's hobbies. Other ! additions were made, including a riding school, and for 20 years Buckingham House was the real home of Britain's "farmer King." • fourteen -years after its;' purchase Buckingham House was settled on Queen Charlotte by Act Of Parliament in exchange for Somerset House, and from that time tho mansion was.known as "Queen's House." In 1818 Queen Charlotte died, and Buckingham House : automatically became the property of the Prince Regent. Seven years later Gobrge IV. decided to pull down Queen's House aad : *M'iM J *Hhnse!f a■MeW-'-palace: ' But Parliament had found much' money I io liquidate his Majesty's debts, and [ point-blank refused vote the,money | for the erection of a new;.palace.-George i IV. was*'annoyed, but not. defeated. With the connivance of an-. architect (John Nash) "repairs ~<w ere shown to necessitate, alterations,.and by-the time; preparations for these were complete there was not much left of the "Queen's House." A- new building was necessary, -and, with! Hash as designer, the. great - work was begun in 1825. » It cost nearly half a "million, but before the new palace was completed George IV. died. Out of the chicanery.; and extravagance one good thing emanated, f The: "superb library" established - by 111. was given to the nation byhissou r and was the nucelus of the" British Museum. William IV. completed the new palace liis brother had commenced but he ridiculed the Nash design, and he never lived in the palace himself. Queen Victoria's Protest. It was - left to Queen -Victoria, • to establish it firmly as the reigning monarch's official London residence. Three weeks after her accession Victoria drove in state to the new palace, which she decided should be known as Buckingham Palace, though many urged her to call her London home "The Queen s Palace." But the palace was ugly, un- | comfortable, and badly arranged. Wh®n Victoria was wife and mother as well as Queen she wrote some plain memoranda about the design of a palace in which there was a "total want of accommodation for our little family, which is fast growing up" with only attics for nurseries and schoolrooms and with an exterior a "disgrace to the country." The Queen's protests were well founded. A- new east front was built, the "Marble Arch" entrance removed to Hyde Park, and the kitchens and--do-mestic apartments were all rearranged and improved. All through her long reign improvements, large and small, went on, and it wan with general apJ probation that King Edward VII. signified his intention to live in the Palac§. Though his sojourns there were neither many or lengthy it was at Buckingham Palace the "Peace-maker" died. : With its occupancy by King George V. and Queen Mary, further renovations became necessary ... and- these, included the entire rebuilding of the front of the Palace. It had always been.regarded as the most vivid and unworthy-of Nash's pretentious - designs, and- when the memorial to Queen Victoria was erected in front of the Palace the incongruity of the front 'was worse than ever. Refronting was decided upon and that and other alterations were' completed only nine month® beforo .the Great War broke out. The visitor to the Palace is less impressed by the beauty of the design

than he is by the spaciousness of ''jjjjgß structure and the general of the building and the sußotmunKgardens, the entrances to v&c&tSjH hidden from public gaze by thejHH frontage; l At garden parties the TiMBMh ■ passes through the; courtyard toJHIH. great hall,'or salon> and oat--park-like, grounds, -which the ijiiddKif England insteaflß -T>otng s ija ( Jkfc centre of the world's gjKM est metropolis, so quiet and private Baß sylvan are the surrounding. TBI « "iuhttfrtttiiita *wH| attend a Royal reception, be mounts t«|a great stairway and , passes thnjHgß spacious Italia and reception rooxQgnßV wide corridors, all appropriateljMKp®> rated, the schemes of followed being .quiet, and dign4§|MHK||: : being nothing garish or case with the in t eriozs ihe French and otjier 'palaces.. Art : TreaaureKs;f'^H^^H| The art treasures ofe incomparable. On its of the finest examples: painting. Portraits 'by Byck, Lely, : French art in examples Watteau; the "art of . interpreted by the Wilkie, Morland" and>Conab»life^^MH^K|; mens of the "Victorian era"by,g^Mjß: ; : of their craft, such as Collier and Fi'des. Classic 4 '*WOT§|||R * Velasquez,- Baeburn, Bapliael and Turner are wonders to be founds until! is overwhelmed with the I istry of which he can catch Collections of china, aC and makes, are encloaei cabinets of inlaid Woods ;the world's masters, •priato ■ position• chandotiflJS -9CBHHII glass scintillate electric light_ thick carpets deaden the noase, eager, interested visitor bs lia ■about -enjoying; the.aesthetic jr j The Palace > is.-aitt^pM^ ol ?- nation's art Kings and Queens who handed down Ito; those over whom) they But.'the art •thing more • than' thsti^ - , they asset, and a priceless asset, of ■ jSBH tion, of which they are 'ggfrgafßi.-gSSjMB visible evidence. - -'.'S'-mSuBR \ t*" \