ARCHES

See Also: THE ARMY Horse Guards; BIRDS St James s Park, Birdcage Walk; COLUMNS; HERITAGE The Lost London, Euston Arch; MEMORIALS; ROYAL STATUES; SOCCER Wembley Stadium; WALLS & GATEWAYS The Temple Bar; MENU

Admiralty Arch

Admiralty Arch¹ (1910) was created as a memorial to Queen Victoria during the remodelling of The Mall.

The government put the Arch up for sale in 1996. Various former senior naval officers voiced their disquiet at this development. As a result, the Conservative Prime Minister John Major made it known that the building would remain in public ownership. In 2012 a lease on the building was offered for sale. No uproar was triggered.

Location: The Mall, SW1A 2WH (red, blue)

Website: https://admiraltyarch.primeinvestors.com

¹. Admiralty Arch can reasonably be mistaken for a very short viaduct.

Constitution Arch

Constitution Arch (1828) was designed by Decimus Burton as part of King George IV's efforts to beautify London. The structure was erected opposite the main entrance to Hyde Park. Its gated central passage is reserved for the use of the royal family.

Queen Victoria and Albert were given to displaying themselves to the people on London's streets. This they did by taking the air in open topped carriages. During these they would publicly exercise the right to pass through the arches.

In its original position, the Arch was topped by a statue of the 1st Duke of Wellington, the victor of the Battle of Waterloo (1815). (His grace's London townhouse, Apsley House, is to the north of the roundabout.) In 1883 the structure was moved to its present site and the duke's statue was posted to the Army town of Aldershot in Hampshire. Hyde Park Corner was restored to the commander's supervision five years later when an equestrian statue of him was erected.

In 1912 the statue of Peace in Her Chariot, cast in some sinister-looking metal, was placed upon the arch's top.¹

Location: Hyde Park Corner, W1J 7NT

See Also: CATS Working Cats, Police Cat; ESTATES The Crown Estate, Regent Street

Website: www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wellington-arch

¹. Ms Peace's bearing is such that she could give deportment lessons to the four horsemen of Apocalypse.

Hyde Park Corner Screen

The be-arched Hyde Park Corner Screen (1825) was also designed by Burton. The structure's original relationship to Constitution Arch was destroyed by the shifting of the latter in 1883.

Location: Hyde Park Corner, W1J 7NT (red, turquoise)

Website: www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1278089

Marble Arch

Like Constitution Arch, Marble Arch (1827) owes its existence to King George IV's wish that London should be more attractive than it was. Originally, the John Nash-designed structure was erected in front of Buckingham Palace. There is a story that it had not been designed on a sufficiently monumental enough scale to allow for the easy passage of carriages through its portal. Whether or not this was the case, in 1851 the structure was re-erected as an entrance to Hyde Park. In 1908 a roadway was cut to the south and west of it, thereby stranding it upon a traffic island.

Only senior members of the royal family and the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery may officially pass through the Arch.

Location: Marble Arch, W1H 7AP (purple, brown)

See Also: ESTATES The Crown Estate, Regent Street; MEMORIALS The Queen Victoria Memorial; MILITARY CUSTOMS Royal Salutes; PALACES Buckingham Palace; ROYAL STATUES King George IV Trafalgar Square; ROYALTY

Website: https://marble-arch.london/marble-arch-story

David Backhouse 2024