Proposed design for Buckingham House

Proposed design by Sir John Soane for Buckingham House

With London's rapid growth throughout the nineteenth century the appearance and design of the principal royal residence, Buckingham House (the red brick building behind the proposed new palace), occupied the attention of the country's leading architects. In this design Sir John Soane proposed a vast building straddling Constitution Hill - between the actual location of the Palace and Hyde Park Corner. In the event the royal commission was given to John Nash, who transformed Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace in the late 1820s.