Wellington Arch

In 1824 the Office of Woods and Forests asked the young Decimus Burton for new railings and gates for the royal parks. His first proposal was a fairly modest gate into Green Park, facing a longer screen leading into Hyde Park. An informal government committee, however, judged that this "Green Park Arch" would in practice serve as an outer entrance to Buckingham Palace, which John Nash was then remodelling for George IV, and should therefore be more ornate than the facade opposite. Burton then drew a true triumphal arch, with far richer sculpture and a gilded quadriga on top; his estimate, sculpture excluded, was approved in May 1826.

The cost of the arch, however, exceeded Burton's estimate, and the Treasury refused to fund the sculpture, in part because Buckingham Palace's rebuilding had overrun its budget enormously. The arch was left finished in its structure but without most of the decoration planned for it.

In the 1830s a committee was formed to promote a national memorial to Wellington. In May 1838 its inner circle secured approval for a giant equestrian statue of the duke on top of the arch, diagonally across from Apsley House, his London residence, and for their chosen sculptor, Matthew Cotes Wyatt. The statue went up in 1846, nominally as a trial, and was met with derision: it was judged ugly and out of all proportion to the arch. The government demanded its removal, but Wellington declared that he would see this as a sign of royal disfavour and would feel bound to resign every public office he held, the command of the army among them; given his prestige, the Queen and the government backed down.

By the 1870s Hyde Park Corner was notorious for its traffic jams. In 1880 the new Liberal government adopted a scheme for a new road that would cut across the corner between Piccadilly and Grosvenor Place; this required the arch to be moved a little way south-east, so that it faced Constitution Hill. Dismantling began in February 1883. Wyatt's statue was not put back: it was re-erected near the Garrison Church at Aldershot, where it still stands. By around 1885 the arch stood again on its present site; the south pier served as a park-keeper's residence and the north pier as a police station.

With no statue on it after the move, the arch received Adrian Jones's quadriga in 1912. Jones, a sculptor of animals who had been an army veterinary captain, had shown a plaster group entitled "Triumph" at the Royal Academy in 1891, and the Prince of Wales had suggested it as an ornament for the rebuilt arch. No funds were available at first, but a banker, Sir Herbert Stern, eventually made an anonymous gift of about £20,000, and the bronze version was set up in January 1912. From 1901 to 1912 the ways leading to Buckingham Palace were remodelled and the arch was set between new piers and gates. The present roundabout, built in 1960-62, led to the removal of those Edwardian gates and left the arch on an island, cut off from Constitution Hill; the south pier was hollowed out to ventilate an underpass. English Heritage took over the arch in 1999, had it repaired and opened it to the public in 2001.

It is a single-opening triumphal arch of Portland stone: the opening is flanked by coupled fluted Corinthian columns and pilasters, under a heavy cornice. It first stood facing the screen entrance to Hyde Park, also designed by Burton; since it was moved in the 1880s it has faced Constitution Hill. It was originally called the "Green Park Arch".

Sculpted plaques are surmounted by Adrian Jones's bronze group, placed there in 1912: the Angel of Peace descending on a four-horse Chariot of War. This quadriga is presented as the largest bronze sculpture in Europe.

The interior of the arch can be visited: it holds displays on its history and, on the ground floor, a shop. Balconies look out over central London and, beyond the royal parks, as far as the Houses of Parliament.

The arch stands on the Hyde Park Corner island, opposite Apsley House. English Heritage runs it; admission is charged, free for its members, and tickets can be bought online or on arrival.

With good timing you can watch the Household Cavalry ride under the arch on their way to Horse Guards Parade for the Changing of the Guard, or back.