Apsley House

Apsley House (102)

DOWNLOAD THIS AUDIO (0.51 MB)

DOWNLOAD ALL (72.16 MB)

HOTEL NEAR

Famous for being the residence of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who in 1815 defeated Napoleon in the famous Battle of Waterloo, this lavish home, on Hyde Park Corner, was designed by the architect Robert Adam and built between 1771 and 1778.

The origin of the name of the house must be found in its first owner, the Baron of Apsley, who entrusted the design to Robert Adam. The property passed into the ownership of Wellesley in 1807.

The current aspect of the mansion is due to the intervention of the architect Benjamin Dean Wyatt, who at the behest of the Duke of Wellington reformed the original building. The works consisted of enlarging and recovering the façade which until then was brick with Bath stone. The Corinthian portico also dates from this period.

These remodellings reflected the growing importance of the Duke of Wellington, who with his status of military hero added to a brilliant political career, reaching its peak in 1828 with his rise to the post of Prime Minister. The lavishness of the rooms is also due to the fact that until 1852 they were, every 18th of June, the setting for a magnificent banquet to celebrate the victory at Waterloo.

Although his descendants, who donated the house to the State in 1947, still live in some private rooms, you will be able to visit some of the luxurious interiors. It is decorated with numerous porcelain and metal trophies and decorations and precious metals that the duke accumulated during his glorious military career, as well as many works of art by great artists.

In the space of the central stairway of the house there is a colossal statue of Napoleon, Wellesley’s great enemy, sculpted by Antonio Canova. As well as this sculpture, you will also be able to see canvases painted by grand masters such as Rubens, Murillo, Goya or Velázquez.

To complete the visit, you can go to Wellington Arch, the triumphal arch erected in honour of this famous military officer and politician, which is also on Hyde Park Corner.

ALL POINTS OF INTEREST

INFORMATION

P&T London (0)

The Red Phone Boxes (84)

Changing the Guards Buckingham Palace (28)

The Yeomen Warders (21)

History of the city (1)

Saint Martin-in-the-Fields - Art (65A)

ESSENTIAL

Bank of England (55)

Chinatown (41)

Leicester Square (43)

Oxford Street (5)

Queen Victoria Memorial (68)

The Crown Jewels (20)

Trafalgar Square (4)

Big Ben (42)

Covent Garden (39)

London City Hall (107)

Pall Mall (26)

Regent Street (6)

The Shard (117)

Westminster Abbey (79)

Buckingham Palace (27)

Houses of Parliament (66)

London Eye (18)

Parliament Hill (16)

Saint Paul’s Cathedral (29)

The Yeomen Warders (21)

Westminster Abbey - Chapel Edward the Confessor - Chapel of Henry VII (80)

Changing the Guards Buckingham Palace (28)

Hyde Park (23)

London Tower (19)

Picadilly Circus (8)

Soho (7)

Tower Bridge (22)

Westminster Abbey as Necropolis (81)

INTERESTING

10 Downing Street (46)

Admiralty Arch (69)

Battersea Park (73)

Camden Market (78)

Columbia Road Flower Market (10)

Greenwich (108)

Horse Guards (95)

Leadenhall Building (109)

Millenium Bridge (111)

Parliament Square (83)

Richmond Park (13)

Royal Hospital Chelsea (72)

Saint Jame’s Park (94)

Smithfield Market (100)

St Mary-le-Bow (45)

The Barbican Estate (116)

The Old Vic (85)

Victoria Park (119)

Wembley Stadium (15)

20 Fenchurch Street (118)

Albert Memorial (74)

Bond Street (40)

Carnaby Street (106)

County Hall (62)

Guildhall and the Lord Mayor of the City (54)

Kensington Gardens (76)

Leadenhall Market (110)

Neal's Yard (112)

Petticoat Lane Market (97)

Royal Albert Hall (48)

Royal National Theatre (91)

Saint Martin-in-the-Fields (65)

Southbank Centre (63)

Stratford (113)

The Dome (50)

The Routemaster (90)

Wallace Collection (51)

Westminster Cathedral (67)

30 St Mary Axe - The Gherkin (2)

Alexandra Palace (17)

Borough Market (105)

Charing Cross (47)

Dr. Johnson's House (120)

Harrods Department Store (77)

Kensington Palace (75)

Madame Tussaud’s (38)

Notting Hill (11)

Portobello Road Market (12)

Royal Courts of Justice (57)

Royal Opera House (89)

Saint Pancras Station (92)

Southwark Cathedral (59)

Stratford - ArcelorMittal Orbit Center (115)

The Monument (82)

The West End Theatres (98)

Waterloo Station (88)

Winsor Castle (30)

Abbey Road (104)

Apsley House (102)

British Library (53)

Cleopatra’s Needle (64)

Globe Theatre (86)

HMS Belfast (99)

Lambeth Palace (61)

Marble Arch (71)

One Canada Square (3)

Regent’s Park (25)

Royal Exchange (56)

Saint Jame’s Palace (93)

Shepherd’s Bush (14)

Speaker’s Corner (24)

Stratford Sports Facilities (114)

The Old Curiosity Shop (58)

Tower 42 (103)

Wellington Arch (70)

MUSEUM

British Museum (31)

Madame Tussaud’s (38)

Natural History Museum (33)

Tate Britain (35)

Winsor Castle (30)

Churchill Museum (49)

Museum of London (101)

Science Museum (32)

Tate Modern (36)

Imperial War Museum (60)

National Gallery (34)

Sherlock Holmes Museum (87)

The Crown Jewels (20)

London Zoo (44)

National Portrait Gallery (96)

Sir John Soane’s Museum (52)

Victoria and Albert Museum (37)