National Maritime Museum

The Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones and begun in 1616, was completed in 1637. It forms the central block of the museum complex, connected by colonnades to flanking wings.

The Queen's House is a two-storey structure with seven windows on the north-west front. It is topped by a fairly low-pitched leaded roof with square chimney stacks featuring rebated angles. The first floor is rendered in stucco with stone dressings, while the ground floor is rusticated stone. The principal façade is articulated by a moulded architrave, frieze, dentil cornice, and balustraded parapet with pilasters between bays. Windows are sashes fitted with glazing bars; those on the first floor have moulded architraves and cornices.

The north front features a double curved stair ascending to a balustraded terrace. At basement level, positioned between the stair wings, is a round-arched entrance with moulded architrave and keystone. The south front comprises a slightly projecting central section with an open five-bay gallery on the first floor, divided by Ionic columns. Balustrades to the first-floor windows match that of the gallery. Ground-floor windows have plain reveals with triple keystones and segmental arched entrances set beneath the colonnades at the east and west sides.

The interior is relatively plain and solid, though original features survive including doors and doorcases, marble fireplaces, and the celebrated Tulip Staircase, so named for the tulip flowers depicted in the wrought-iron balustrade. Notable enriched ceilings remain, particularly in the galleried hall (geometrical with very high raised borders) and the later east bridge room (geometrical with a quatrefoil centre and very rich raised borders).

The east and west wings were designed by David Alexander and constructed between 1807 and 1816. The road fronts display Palladian proportions across two storeys, an attic storey, and basement. The roofs are moderately low-pitched and slated. The walls are stuccoed with stone dressings. The front elevation features a Doric order of six attached columns, the outer ones square, supporting an entablature and blocking course. Above the three central bays is an attic storey with four pilasters rising to a small cornice and blocking course that breaks forward around them. Balustraded parapets flank either side and extend along the first portion of the returns. The ground floor is banded and rusticated with a cornice, and stands above a projecting rusticated stone basement with a plain plinth. Window openings have moulded reveals; the attic and first floors contain replaced sashes with glazing bars, whilst ground-floor windows sit within moulded architraves and basement windows feature large keystones, all fitted with sashes and glazing bars.

The inner returns are articulated by three projecting features, each composed of four Doric pilasters supporting an entablature and blocking course, with balustraded parapets at the ends. Fenestration on the returns mirrors that of the front elevations, except at the Romney Road end where basement windows are round-arched. The ground floor is rusticated, and the basement is heavily rusticated, with vermiculate treatment to the southern projections. The rear elevation comprises eight bays, whilst the front has ten bays.

The west wing forms the left element of a symmetrical arrangement of three western blocks, with the furthest west wing mirroring its design. The centre block of this arrangement contains the museum entrance and rises two storeys over an attic and basement, with four windows. Doric attached columns rest on a projecting rusticated basement and support an entablature and balustraded parapet. The columns are paired at the angles and at either side of the centre bay, which is further emphasised by pairs of projecting detached columns. A tall central entrance arch rises above first-floor level and carries a mask on the keystone and Royal arms in the tympanum. Above the entablature, a recessed panel displays Naval arms under a cornice and pediment.