St James'S Palace St James'S Palace, Garden Walls, Marlborough Gate Etc

St James's Palace

A royal palace built circa 1533–35 for Henry VIII on the site of the hospital of St James. The building consists of extensive ranges arranged around four courts, constructed principally in Tudor brickwork with diapering and stone dressings, beneath slate, tile and lead roofs. Later buildings are mostly executed in Tudor style with crenellated parapets.

The north range, facing St James's Street, comprises irregular three-storey ranges forming the north sides of Colour Court and Ambassadors' Court. A Tudor gatehouse features polygonal corner turrets and a four-centred archway opening through to Colour Court. Square-headed stone Tudor windows with three arched lights are characteristic of this elevation. The Tudor north window of the Chapel Royal has been remodelled with multiple lights. A four-centred stone archway provides access to Ambassadors' Court. Later alterations from the 17th and 18th centuries introduced recessed glazing bar sash windows with flat gauged arches and a Tuscan porch to the west end return.

Colour Court retains Tudor ranges in the north half of the quadrangle, with corner stair turrets and a 16th-century building on the east side. On the west side, flanking the lower part of the Chapel Royal, stands a Tuscan colonnade of circa 1717–18.

The Chapel Royal, positioned between Colour Court and Ambassadors' Court, follows a college chapel-like T-plan and dates from the 1530s. It was largely redecorated circa 1836, though the panelled ceiling retains painted Renaissance motifs dated 1540.

Friary Court to the south contains Tudor buildings in the north-west corner, including an original stone mullioned-transomed oriel bay window to the Armoury Room on the first floor. The court was reduced in extent to the east following a fire in 1809 and subsequently rebuilt with four-centred arcades in yellow brick, returning to Marlborough Road.

Engine Court to the west contains 17th-century and later ranges. The south side holds late 17th-century and Queen Anne State Apartments designed by the Office of Works under Sir Christopher Wren, with the Banqueting Room to the north. The South range of State Apartments facing St James's Park dates from circa 1703, presenting a three-storey elevation with basements. Of its 17 windows, the two westernmost bays are facsimile additions. The range is executed in red brick with rubbed dressings. Ground-floor windows are flush-framed glazing bar sashes with flat gauged arches. Tall first-floor windows serving the main apartments are architraved with cornices; the second floor features blind window panels beneath a crenellated parapet. Lead rainwater heads are embossed with lions' heads.

Ambassadors' Court originally comprised two courts, later unified into one. Irregular two and three-storey 17th-century ranges occupy the court, including a five-bay range to the south with rainwater heads dated 1697. West of this stands the former State Kitchen of circa 1716–19, probably by Vanbrugh, distinguished by a vaulted interior and a western extension of similar date. The north side of the Court to the West dates from the late 17th century, featuring architraved sash windows and early 19th-century Tudor arcading across the ground floor.

The State Apartments interiors are accessed through the south-west corner of Colour Court by a grand scissors staircase, an early 18th-century enlargement of Wren's original staircase with a Kentian arch between the two parts. The Banqueting Hall west of the staircase was redecorated in 1821–23. The Guard Room to the east retains Tudor walls and a Tudor fireplace. The Armoury and Tapestry Rooms preserve their Tudor fireplaces and were redecorated by William Morris and his firm in 1866–67. Beyond these lie the Wren State Rooms, which underwent alterations by William Kent in 1821–23 and again for William IV. The Throne Room overmantel is carved by Grinling Gibbons. A fine secondary staircase at the west end of the range features a wrought-iron balustrade by William Kent.