Victoria Visits the Wellington Arch

When we returned to London from our three-day trip -- one each in Cambridge, at Houghton Hall, and at Holkham Hall, I had a busy agenda for the remaining few days of our trip.  Poor hubby Ed suffered every day from that very sore foot, aching now in addition to blisters, scrapes and -- well, you get the picture.  I always gave him the option of staying put at the hotel, but he stoically limped onward.

Despite the fact that I had visited Apsley House several times, with Kristine, with Pat, my sister-in-law, and others, Ed had never been there.  So that was second on my list, just behind the Wellington Arch, which I'd never visited.  I'd walked past it plenty of times, but it had not been open before. A bit of web checking told me that the Arch recently opened exhibition space, at that time devoted to a study of the many past and current attempt to SAVE British heritage, particularly by protecting buildings and open spaces. 

The Wellington Arch website is here.



Soapbox alert!!!  It doesn't take much beyond a glance at the London skyline to see how contemporary skyscrapers overpower and almost obliterate the beautiful early 20th century view of St. Paul's Dome and the many graceful steeples and spires.  Okay, call me a traditionalist (Guilty!) but I wish the powers-that-be could have kept the tall buildings in groups away from the City, Mayfair and Westminster. Alas, it is far too late.


View from the Wellington Arch (including a few stray smudges)
 
I have nothing against tall buildings -- I live in one.  But if they had been clustered in various neighborhoods away from the center of London, the beautiful skyline would have been preserved.  True of a few cities, Washington, D C for example.  No high rises downtown, all clustered in the surrounding communities to preserve the views of the Capitol and other monuments. End of soapbox. Please resume your usual activities.
 
 
 
At the height of the Roman Empire, triumphal arches were built to commemorate great events. Think of Rome's Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Titus, and so on.  The French started building one in 1806 to mark Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Austerlitz, but it remained unfinished for thirty years, now known as the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile in Paris.  Not to be outdone, the Prince Regent, later King George IV, wanted to memorialize British victory over France.
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Wellington Arch; Apsley House at the far right
 
Both the Wellington Arch (aka the Green Park Arch and the Constitution Arch) and the Marble Arch were affected by political arguments over cost, design and placement in the 19th century.  Both were moved from their original positions and both stand relatively isolated in the middle of traffic circles surrounded by buses, autos, lorries and other noisy vehicles. Traffic too often trumps landscape. Whoops, soapbox again.
 
 
One of the gates, cast in iron by Joseph Bramah and Sons, restored recently
 
The Wellington Arch was designed by Architect Decimus Burton (1800-1881), as his name indicates, the tenth child in his family.  He worked with his father, also an architect and John Nash as well.  He also designed the Hyde Park screen next to Apsley House.
 
The Hyde Park Screen, 1825
 
 
This picture shows the screen in relation to Apsley House;
 the Wellington is Arch off the picture to the right
 
A few years ago, English Heritage took over the Wellington Arch and changed it from a small police into to a small gift shop with an exhibition space above.  There is access to the viewing balcony at the top as well, all by elevator.  Ed's sore foot appreciated that particularly!
 
 
View down Constitution Hill towards Buckingham Palace
 
The Exhibition:  Pride and Prejudice: The Battle for Betjeman's Britain
 
John Betjeman (1906-1984) was Britain's Poet Laureate in addition to being a popular radio and tv commentator and an avid campaigner for the protection of architectural heritage.  Below, the maquette for his statue located in St. Pancras Station, one of the buildings he successfully fought to save.
 
John Betjeman (maquette) by sculptor Martin Jennings, 2006
 
Coade Stone Lion Mask
 
The rosette above came from the Classic Bridge at Chiswick, designed by James Wyatt in 1774;
Coade Stone is artificial, often used by leading architects for statues and ornaments.
 
 
Devonshire House, before and during demolition
 
For more information on this exhibition, click here
 
A group hoping to honor the Duke of Wellington erected a gigantic equestrian statue on top of the arch in 1846.  Being out of all proportion to the arch, the statue caused great criticism and even laughter.
 
view, about 1860
 
In 1882-83, The arch was dismantled and rebuilt in its present traffic-bound position. The Statue was moved to Aldershot (after much discussion) where it can be seen today.
 
A few years later, in 1899, Adrian Jones (1845-1938) designed the Quadriga, four horses driven by a boy and crowned by the Angel of Peace.  It was completed in 1912.
 
 

From the front and from the back
 
 
Wellington on Copenhagen holding his telescope
 
 Erected in 1888, the statue on the Arch grounds, across the road from Apsley House, was sculpted and cast in bronze by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890).  Boehm was a favorite artist of the royal family and a teacher of sculptress Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848-1939), Queen Victoria's fourth daughter.

 
The figures at the four corners of the red granite plinth are guardsmen from
Wellington's troops: a Grenadier, a Welsh Fusilier, a Royal Highlander, and an Inniskilling Dragoon.
 
 
 
 
As I mentioned before, the Wellington Arch and the equestrian statue stand in the middle of a traffic circle, joined to the adjacent streets and the Hyde Park Corner Tube stop by underground walkways.  The white tile walls are decorated with scenes of Wellington and his troops.  Below, a few examples as we walked -- or I walked and Ed limped -- to visit Apsley House.
 
 
 
 
 



 Next, Victoria and Ed visit Apsley House