Carlton House Conservatory

View of the Conservatory, Carlton-House

Ackermann’s Repository September 1811 at 167-168.

It is natural to man to wish for variety; and architecture, like every other art, has paid tribute to the caprice of fashion. The taste for Gothic architecture has of late become so prevalent, that it is now employed for every purpose, having been gradually brought from our places of divine worship, to which our forefathers had confined it, to dwelling houses, and even the palaces of our princes.

In the present instance, we have before us, in the Conservatory lately built at Carlton-House, a most elegant specimen of what is technically denominated the florid style of Gothic architecture, of which the finest model in the world is the chapel of King Henry the Seventh at Westminster Abbey.

This building is seventy-two feet in length, twenty-three in breadth, and twenty high. It was begun about four years ago, and not long since completed, under the superintendence of Mr. Hopper. The selection and arrangement of its parts have been made with infinite judgment and taste; so that, notwithstanding their extreme richness, they are perfectly free from confusion. A great degree of cheerfulness pervades the whole, from the admission of the light by the roof.

In this Conservatory the royal proprietor entertained the most distinguished of his guests, on occasion of the magnificent fete given by him on the 19^th of June last. It was our original intention to exhibit this place in our engraving exactly as it then appeared, with all its splendid decorations and apparatus; but conceiving that these additions would only tend to conceal the beauties of the building itself, we deemed it preferable to represent our view of this elegant structure unencumbered with those ornaments.

The entertainment just alluded to, which surpassed in splendor any thing of the kind that ever took place in this country, originated from the desire of the Prince Regent to pay due respect to his royal parent, whose birth-day had passed without any mark of public celebration: and to combine with that object another scarcely less laudable, he intimated, in his cards of invitation, a wish that every person should come dressed in articles of British manufacture only. This desire was complied with and upwards of two thousand of the principal nobility and gentry in the kingdom partook of the ball and supper given by his Royal Highness.

In the splendid arrangements of this fete, the Conservatory was one of the most distinguished objects. It presented at one glance the fine effect of a lofty aisle in an ancient cathedral. The grand supper-table extended the whole length of the Conservatory, and across Carlton-House, to the length of two hundred feet. It was uncommonly well adapted for this truly princely entertainment, both for convenience and appearance, affording ample room behind the supporting pillars, with recesses for the attendants. These recesses, which are arched, were brilliantly illuminated with a profusion of variegated lamps; and on each of the ten pillars was a superb branch of four patent lamps. Down the center from the roof also were suspended several beautiful chandeliers and lustres.

The chief supper-table exhibited the grand service of massy gold plate. Here the skill of the confectioner and engineer were alike conspicuous; for amidst the most choice and delicious refreshments, a fountain of real water was introduced with the happiest effect, springing from a silver fountain at the head of the table. It ran in an irregular stream, about six inches above the surface between banks covered with green moss and artificial flowers, and in its current a number of gold fish sported up and down. At the head of the table, above the fountain, sat his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, on a throne of crimson velvet trimmed with gold, in such a situation that he could distinctly see and be seen from one end to the other of the tables carried through the library and the lower suite of rooms. The west end of the Conservatory, behind the Prince, was hung semi-circularly with crimson silk drapery, covered with transparent muslin, drawn into a variety of apertures for the splendid display of numerous gold vases, urns, massy salvers, and other articles of plate, adorned with admirable embossed work, and surmounted with a superb ancient urn, taken in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, from the Spanish admiral who commanded the fleet, presumptuously styled by the haughty Philip, the Invincible Armada. Above the whole of this superb display appeared a royal crown with his Majesty’s cypher, G.R. III., brilliantly illuminated.

Such is a very faint outline of the brilliant arrangements of the superb edifice, of which an interior view is here given. Though the liberality of the prince induced him afterwards to gratify the curiosity of the respectable part of the public with permission to view his apartments, decorated with the magnificent apparatus employed on the night of this fete; yet it is impossible for any one who was not present on that occasion, to form an adequate idea of the scene, when enlivened with all the beauty, fashion, splendor, taste, and elegance, of which the metropolis, or indeed the kingdom, could boast.