The entrance facade
Built / Designed For: Queen Anne of Denmark
House & Family History: The Queen's House is one of the most important buildings in British architectural history and the first wholly classical building in England, a style introduced to Britain by Inigo Jones. This was Jones's first major commission after returning from his 1613–15 grand tour of Roman, Renaissance, and Palladian architecture in Italy, and was built as an adjunct to the Tudor Palace of Greenwich, previously known, before its redevelopment by Henry VII, as the Palace of Placentia. The advent of the English Civil War in 1642 meant that the Queen's House lost virtually all of its furnishings and interior fittings. Paintings commissioned by Charles I for the house from Orazio Gentileschi included a ceiling entitled "Allegory of Peace and the Arts," today at Marlborough House, and "Joseph and Potiphar's Wife," which is in the Royal Collection. When Queen Mary II founded Greenwich Hospital in 1692 as a permanent home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy, she insisted that the new buildings be erected so that the Queen's House had a direct view to the Thames; this was respected in all later rebuildings and the vista remains intact today. Between 1806 and 1933 the Queen's House served as the Royal Hospital School, used for the sons of seamen. In 1934 an Act of Parliament transferred ownership of the Queen's House to the new National Maritime Museum, who opened it to the public in 1937.
Comments: Clive Aslet, writing in "Landmarks of Britain: The Five Hundred Places that Made Our History," says of the Queen's House: "...[it] is not only completely unlike anything that had previously been constructed in England, but has no real parallel anywhere else in Europe either."
Architect: Daniel Asher Alexander
Date: 1807-10Architect: Inigo Jones
Date: 1616-35
Title: Landmarks of Britain: The Five Hundred Places that Made Our History
Author: Aslet, Clive
Year Published: 2005
Reference: pg. 166
Publisher: London: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 0340735104
Book Type: Hardback
Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - HARDBACK
Author: Colvin, Howard
Year Published: 2008
Reference: pg. 590
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300125085
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade I
Park Listed: Not Listed
Past Seat / Home of: Queen Anne of Denmark (consort of James I), 17th century. Queen Henrietta Maria (consort of Charles I), 17th century.
Current Ownership Type: Charity / Nonprofit
Primary Current Ownership Use: Museum
Ownership Details: Queen's House is part of Royal Museums Greenwich
House Open to Public: Yes
Phone: 02088-584-422
Fax: 02083-126-632
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.rmg.co.uk/queens-house
Historic Houses Member: Yes