Kensington Palace, the birthplace of the Queen: being an historical guide to the state rooms, pictures and gardensLaw, Ernest
History
Kensington Palace, the birthplace of the Queen: being an historical guide to the state rooms, pictures and gardens
Law, Ernest
Kensington Palace (London, England) -- Guidebooks; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
It is not, however, the exterior of this building, but the interior,
which will arouse in those who behold it the greatest admiration, for it
is here that we can appreciate Wren's imaginative and constructive
genius at its very best. The longer we know and contemplate it, the more
supremely beautiful does it strike us, both in the mass and in its
details. We will not describe it with any minuteness; but content
ourselves with recording that the central portion of each wall, is
treated more elaborately than the rest, being ornamented with Corinthian
columns, supporting a richly carved entablature. The rest of the walls,
both between the windows on the south side, and on the unbroken surface
of the opposite north side, are panelled in deal wood, with beautiful
carved cornices above. At each end, both east and west, there is an
arch, flanked with panelled niches, and surmounted by festoons of
Gibbons' carving. These, we may observe in passing, proved, after being
cleaned, to be so worm-eaten, as to necessitate their being
repainted--mere staining not being sufficient to prevent their falling
to pieces. They are now in fact, held together by the coatings of new
paint.
The dimensions of this main portion of the interior are: 112 feet long
and 24 feet wide between the brick walls, three inches less each way
between the woodwork. The height to the ceiling is 24 feet 6 inches, and
to the top of the cornice 22 feet 9 inches.
=The Alcoves of Queen Anne's Orangery.=
Fine, however, as is the main and central portion of this interior, the
alcoves, into which we pass through the arches at each end of it,
impress us still more with their admirable proportions, their supreme
grace of design, the exquisite beauty of their decorative detail.
Their shape is circular, with fluted Corinthian columns, supporting
highly-carved architraves and cornices, and flanking the entrances, the
windows opposite these and on the south, and the panelled spaces on the
north wall. There are also intervening niches with semicircular heads,
springing from richly carved imposts. The ceilings, which are circular,
rising in coves from behind the cornices, are "saucer-domed."
The dimensions of these alcoves are: east one, diameter, 24 feet, west
one, 24 feet 4-1/2 inches; height to the centre of the dome, 24 feet 2
inches, to the top of the cornice 20 feet.
=Restoration of Queen Anne's Orangery.=
The whole of this beautiful interior, however, now presents a very
different appearance from what it did when taken in hand about a year
ago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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