Green Park Self-Guided WALK REEN P G AR K
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REEN P G AR K GREEN PARK 1 S SELF-GUIDED WALK E L F K -G L U A IDED W 2 10 3 9 8 7 6 4 5 THE GRANDEST PEOPLE IN THE LAND HAVE ENJOYED START: Ritz Corner (Green Park tube) THE GREEN PARK FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. KINGS AND FINISH: Memorial Gates (Hyde Park tube) QUEENS, PRIME MINISTERS AND ARISTOCRATS HAVE ALL STROLLED HERE AND ON THIS waLK YOU CAN FOLLOW DISTANCE: Approximately 1 mile IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS. YOU WILL ALSO SEE WHERE SOME DURATION: Allow an hour OF THEM LIVED AND FIND OUT HOW THEY ENJOYED REFRESHMENTS: Kiosks in the park THEMSELVES. THE paRK IS ALSO A PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE SAFETY: Look out for vehicles, cycles AND THE waLK INCLUDES MEMORIALS TO PEOPLE WHO and horses using some paths in the park SERVED IN TWO WORLD WARS AND TO BRITAin’s longest SERVING MONARCH. BRIEF HISTORY 1668 1730 1746 1749 1826-7 King Charles ll built a wall Queen Caroline created The park was officially Music for the Royal Fireworks King George lV re-landscaped round the park and called Queen’s Walk on the east renamed The Green Park by Handel performed to the park and opened it to it Upper St James’s Park side of the park celebrate the end of the the public Austrian War of Succession 1911 1994 2002 Queen Victoria Canada Memorial installed Memorial Gates dedicated Memorial unveiled GREEN PARK SELF-GUIDED WALK REEN P G AR K S E L F K TO START THE WALK -G L U A IDED W Go into the park at Ritz Corner on Piccadilly, a short distance from Green Park underground station. When you get just inside the park, stop next to a notice board on your left and look down the straight surfaced path ahead of you. 1 PATH FOR A QUEEN ▼ The Ritz Hotel The path is called Queen’s Walk and was built in 1730 for Queen Caroline, wife of King George ll. Caroline was a passionate gardener and she enjoyed walking along her path with members of the royal family. She also gave her name to the Queen’s Basin, a small reservoir built in 1720 on the right of Queen’s Walk to supply water to the royal palaces. The reservoir was later filled in but for many years the path round it was a stylish walking route for London’s grandest residents. The Queen’s Walk and Basin made this side of the park one of the capital’s most fashionable places, attracting aristocrats who built a row of fine mansions. The Ritz Hotel, on the corner of Queen’s Walk and Piccadilly, is one of the most recent of these great buildings. It was designed in 1905 to look like a French chateau but the outside hid a steel framework, the first time this building method was used in London. Recently, the Ritz Hotel bought William Kent House, the next building along Queen’s Walk. This house, started in 1740, is one of the oldest alongside The Green Park and was built for Henry Pelham, once a British Prime Minister. The architect was William Kent, who also ▲ Queen Caroline designed the Horse Guards building near Whitehall and Holkham Hall in Norfolk. Continue along Queen’s Walk with the park on your right until you reach Spencer House, a grand building on your left, next to a block of modern flats. Look for the statues rising above the roofline and a facade of pillars and arched windows. 2 SHOWCASE OF CLASSICAL DESIGN When Spencer House was built, it was regarded as the most ambitious town house ever seen in London. Today it is the capital’s only great 18th century private palace to survive intact and it remains a showcase of classical design. It was built from 1756-65 for John Spencer, an early ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales. The outside was designed by John Vardy, while most of the interior was by James Stuart, a pioneer of classical design. The Spencer family lived here continuously until 1895. It was later let to tenants, including Christies and the Ladies Army and Navy Club. J Rothschild Holdings took over the lease in ▲ Spencer House 1985. You can visit Spencer House every Sunday (except January and August). More details at www.spencerhouse.co.uk ▼ Bridgewater House Continue along Queen’s Walk to the next grand mansion after Spencer House. This is Bridgewater House. 3 RENAISSANCE PALACE Bridgewater House looks like an Italian Renaissance palace and measures a massive 42m by 36m. It was built for the Duke of Bridgewater in the 1840s by Charles Barry, the interior designer of the Houses of Parliament. It once held the greatest private art collection in the world, including old masters by Raphael, Titian and Rembrandt, now on loan to the National Galleries of Scotland. Bridgewater House is privately owned and is not open to the public. ▲ Duke of Bridgewater GREEN PARK SELF-GUIDED WALK REEN P G AR K S E L F Continue along Queen’s Walk to the final building before you reach The Mall. This is Lancaster House. K -G L U A IDED W 4 HOME OF THE RICHEST MAN IN ENGLAND ▼ Lancaster House Lancaster House was once the most valuable private property in London and one of the capital’s finest mansions. It started life as York House in 1825 and was built for the Duke of York, probably the Grand Old Duke of York of the nursery rhyme. The Duke died before his house was ready and the architect, Benjamin Dean Wyatt, later finished it for the richest man in England, the Marquis of Stafford, who renamed the building Stafford House. When Queen Victoria visited from Buckingham Palace she said “I have come from my house to your palace”. In 1912, Lord Lever, the owner of the soap business, Lever Brothers, bought the house and gave it the present name after his home county of Lancashire. It is now managed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and used for conferences. ▲ Lancaster House interior Continue along Queen’s Walk to the junction with The Mall and turn right. Walk past a column inscribed with the name South Africa and continue until you reach a curved colonnaded walkway overlooking flower beds. Go up the short set of steps onto the walkway and continue round the curve until you get a good view of the stone memorial and Buckingham Palace behind it. If you want to avoid the steps, stay on the pavement, keeping the flower beds on your right. 5 ROYAL paLACE AND REMEMBERING A QUEEN ▼ Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace has been the monarch’s official London home since 1837. It was first built as a town house for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703. John Nash enlarged it into a palace 120 years later for King George lV. However the King died before the work was finished and the first monarch to live here was Queen Victoria. The State Rooms and Royal Mews are open to the public for part of the year. Check www.royalcollection.org.uk for opening times. You can watch Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace at 11.30am, daily from May-July and on alternate days for the rest of the year. See www.royalparks.org.uk Queen Victoria Memorial for the schedule. The guards are usually from the Foot Guard regiments: the Coldstream, Grenadier, Irish, Scots or Welsh Guards. In summer, the flowerbeds are traditionally planted with scarlet geraniums to match the guardsmen’s tunics. ▼ C hanging of the Guard at Buckingham Palace The gleaming white monument in front of Buckingham Palace is the Queen Victoria Memorial honouring Britain’s longest-serving monarch. The figures surrounding the statue of Victoria are symbols of British achievements of the time, including sea power, manufacturing, painting and architecture. The vast stone columns on the edge of the memorial gardens represent countries that were then part of the British Empire. The monument, gateways and gardens were designed in the early years of the 20th century by Sir Thomas Brock and Aston Webb. Continue along the walkway and go down a short set of steps to the ornate metal gates on your right. (If you are on the pavement, continue until you join the end of the walkway). Walk past the gates and a column inscribed Newfoundland. Turn right, back inside The Green Park and walk to the park side of the gates. GREEN PARK SELF-GUIDED WALK REEN P G AR K S E L F K -G L 6 GATES, ROYAL VIEWS AND A LOST RIVER U A IDED W The gates are part of a grand entrance to The Green Park called Canada Gate. ▼ Canada Gate They were installed in the early years of the 20th century as part of the memorial to Queen Victoria. The gates were a gift from Canada, celebrating its contribution to the then British Empire. The metalwork includes the crests of Canadian provinces. When you have admired the gates, turn round so that you have your back to them. The wide grass path lined with trees ahead of you is The Broadwalk. It was planted in 1905 to create a good view of the Queen Victoria Memorial from Piccadilly. It also marks the approximate course of the ancient River Tyburn that now flows under the park on its course from Hampstead to the River Thames. You can plot the course more exactly by looking for metal inspection covers and ventilation grills. The gates at the far end of The Broadwalk are the Devonshire Gates.