Apsley House
Apsley House is the London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing towards the large traffic roundabout in the centre of which stands the Wellington Arch. It is a Grade I listed building.
Apsley House
149 Piccadilly
London, W1
United Kingdom
- Robert Adam (original building)
- Benjamin Dean Wyatt
(19th-century renovations)
1226873[1]
Designed by Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, the house was built for Lord Apsley in the 1770s. It was purchased by Richard Wellesley, in 1807, and passed to his younger brother Arthur, in 1817. It was sometimes referred to as Number One, London. It is perhaps the only preserved example of an English aristocratic townhouse from this period.
The house is also called the Wellington Museum, its official designation under the Wellington Museum Act 1947. Run by English Heritage, much of the house is open to the public as a museum and art gallery, exhibiting the Wellington Collection, a large collection of paintings, other artworks and memorabilia of the career of the 1st Duke. The 9th Duke of Wellington retains half the house for the family's private use. The practice has been to maintain the public rooms as far as possible in the original style and decor of the 1st Duke.
Wellington Museum Act 1947
An Act to transfer to the Crown Apsley House and the site, forecourt and garden thereof and certain chattels formerly belonging to the first Duke of Wellington; to provide for the use of Apsley House partly as a museum for the preservation and exhibition of the said chattels and other chattels associated with the said first Duke or his times and for other public purposes, and partly as a residence for the Dukes of Wellington; to amend the enactments relating to the Wellington estates, so as to provide for the automatic devolution of the property subject to the trusts thereof whenever there is a change in the person holding office as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer or Speaker of the House of Commons; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 46
31 July 1947