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England

Queen's House (Queens House) (The Queen's House)

  • 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: 1807-10
    Designed: Added side blocks and colonnades to House

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    Architect: Inigo Jones

    Date: 1616-35
    Designed: Began House for the Queen Anne of Denmark (1616-18); completed for Queen Henrietta Maria (1632-35).

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  • 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

  • "Our Mutual Friend" (1998 - BBC TV mini-series). "Longitude" (2000 - TV mini-series). "Little Dorrit" (2008 - TV mini series, using the spiral staircase as part of the Circumlocution Office Applications Dept.). "Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour of Europe" (2009 - TV mini series). "Bridgerton" (2020 - TV series, as the exterior of Somerset House).
  • 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