Google Street View of Somerset
House
Location: Somerset House, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Somerset House:
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The building, originally the site of a Tudor palace, was designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776, and further extended with Victorian wings to the north and south. The East Wing forms part of the adjacent King's College London.
History of Somerset House:
In the sixteenth century, the north bank of the Thames between London and Westminster was a favoured site for the mansions of the nobility.[citation needed] In 1539, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, obtained a grant of land at "Chester Place, outside Temple Bar, London" from King Henry VIII. When the boy-king Edward VI came to the throne in 1547, Seymour became Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector. About 1549 he pulled down an old Inn of Chancery and other houses that stood on the site and began to build himself a truly imposing residence, making liberal use of the other nearby buildings including some of the chantries and cloisters at St. Paul's Cathedral which were demolished at the behest of Somerset and other leading Protestant nobles as part of the ongoing Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was a two storey house built around a quadrangle with a gateway rising to three stories and was one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture in England. It is not known who designed the building.
Before it was finished, however, Somerset created too many enemies for himself in the Council.[citation needed] In the struggle for power he was overthrown and in 1552 and was executed at Tower Hill. "Somerset Place" then came into the possession of the Crown. The future Queen Elizabeth I lived there during the reign of her half-sister, Queen Mary I. The process of completion and improvement was slow and costly. As late as 1598 Stow refers to it as "yet unfinished"........Wikipedia >>
