Hyde Park Corner

thumb|300px|Hyde Park Corner in 1842, looking east towards [[Piccadilly. On the left is Decimus Burton's Ionic Screen with Apsley House beyond. On the right is St George's Hospital with the Wellington Arch on the far side of Grosvenor Place.]]

Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to a major road junction at the south-eastern corner of Hyde Park. Until 1883, it was a T-junction where Piccadilly (east) and Knightsbridge (west) met Grosvenor Place (south).

thumb|Hyde Park Corner and Apsley House (pink) on an 1869 Ordnance Survey Map

In the 1820s, King George IV initiated the renovation of the Royal Parks in London and the creation of a ceremonial approach to Buckingham Palace. The architect Decimus Burton was commissioned to design the route and the monuments at Hyde Park Corner. These honoured the Duke of Wellington, hero of the Napoleonic Wars, who lived at Apsley House.

Burton's plan was for an Ionic Screen on the north side of the junction and a triumphal arch on its south side, across the entrance to Green Park. An existing carriage drive led round a bend and down Constitution Hill to the Mall and Buckingham Palace, where Nash's Marble Arch was to mark the entrance.

thumb|300px|Hyde Park Corner from the south-west c.1905; Wellington Arch is off to the right

Traffic congestion at the junction led to its expansion, first in the 1880s and then in the 1960s, taking land from Green Park and the gardens of Buckingham Palace. This gave it its present form of a large rectangular roundabout with, at its centre, a green space with many monuments. This was proposed in 1937 by the civil engineer Sir Charles Bressey and the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. thumb|left| [[Decimus Burton's Wellington Arch and Boehm's Statue of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner, 2008]]Dominating the space within the roundabout is the Wellington Arch, a huge triumphal arch surmounted by a sculpture, Peace descending on the Quadriga of War. When the roundabout was built, an underpass was created to take the east–west traffic between Piccadilly and Knightsbridge.thumb|Rehearsal for [[Trooping the Colour passing through Hyde Park Corner, 2003]]

Through all the changes, the ceremonial route has remained in use, complicating design of the junction. Mounted cavalry based at Hyde Park Barracks pass through the Ionic Screen and Wellington Arch to Constitution Hill on their way to Buckingham Palace.

History

thumb|Hyde Park Corner from [[John Rocque's map of 1746]]

The road to London from the west of England runs through Reading and Hounslow, reaching the centre along Piccadilly. Until 1825 there was a turnpike gate at Hyde Park Corner, between Grosvenor Place and Apsley House.

thumb|Hyde Park Corner in 1797, looking east. The original St George's Hospital is on the right. Apsley House is on the left, before Wyatt's changes in the 1820s.

Burton's original design for the arch was rejected because it was not sufficiently ostentatious.

thumb|Heavy traffic in front of Ionic Screen under control of police before introduction of gyratory flow in 1926

By the 1920s, congestion was again causing problems. In 1926 Hyde Park Corner was one of the first sites in London to have "gyratory traffic control", i.e. a one-way system, with traffic flowing clockwise. The roadways remained unchanged, but that across the junction for the ceremonial route ceased to be used by vehicles. At busy times the junction continued to be controlled by police on point duty. Traffic signals were installed in the 1930s.

In 1938 Sir Charles Bressey and Sir Edwin Lutyens proposed that the junction be converted to a large roundabout. Its "rectangular island, with its grass and trees, would form an admirable setting for monuments new and old". Bressey also proposed that Park Lane become the southbound carriageway and the East Carriage Drive the northbound carriageway of "a handsome and spacious boulevard".

thumb|Traffic under control of police at Ionic Screen after introduction of gyratory flow and arrow road markings. A removable barrier on the right blocks the ceremonial route across the junction. 1927 or 1928

Bressey's and Lutyens' plans were implemented between 1960 and 1962, along with an underpass between Piccadilly and Knightsbridge. Wellington Arch was left where it was and more land was taken from Green Park and the garden of Buckingham Palace to form the roundabout.

The ceremonial route now passes across the centre of the roundabout. Traffic lights are used to control flows round the roundabout and also to allow pedestrians (and cavalry from Hyde Park Barracks) to pass to and from the central area; there are also pedestrian underpasses. Hyde Park Corner tube station, served by the Piccadilly line, is at the north-west corner of the junction.

Improvements by Decimus Burton

During the second half of the 1820s, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests and King George IV resolved that Hyde Park, and the area around it, must be renovated to the extent of the splendour of rival European capital cities, and that the essence of the new arrangement would be a triumphal approach to Buckingham Palace, which had been recently completed.thumb|1813 proposal by William Kinnard for a triumphal arch across Piccadilly at Hyde Park Corner. Apsley House can be seen through the arch.Even before the Battle of Waterloo had been fought, proposals were being made for a triumphal arch at Hyde Park Corner. One, by the architect William Kinnard, was remarkably similar to the final form which the Wellington Arch was to reach 100 years later.

The committee of the project, led by the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, and advised by Charles Arbuthnot, President of the Board of Commissioners of Woods and Forests, selected Decimus Burton as the project's architect. In 1828, when giving evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee, Arbuthnot explained that he had nominated Burton 'having seen in the Regent's Park, and elsewhere, works which pleased my eye, from their architectural beauty and correctness'.

The renovation of Hyde Park, Green Park, and St James's Park, began, in 1825, with the demarcation of new drives and pathways. Burton designed new lodges and gates, ― Cumberland Gate, Stanhope Gate, Grosvenor Gate, the Hyde Park Gate/Screen at Hyde Park Corner, and, later, the Prince of Wales's Gate, Knightsbridge ― in the classical style. There were no authoritative precedents in the classical style for such buildings, which required windows and chimney stacks. In the words of Guy Williams, 'Burton's reticent treatment of the supernumerary features' and of the cast iron gates and railings, was 'greatly admired'. He accepted Burton's proposal for a sequence in which those approaching from the north would pass first through the screen, then through a triumphal arch, before turning left to descend Constitution Hill and enter the forecourt of Buckingham Palace through John Nash's Marble Arch. which was much larger and modelled on a fragment found in the Ancient Roman Forum. This was accepted on 14 January 1826, and built 1826 - 1830 opposite the Ionic Screen.

Burton repeatedly expressed his opposition to the proposal "as plainly and as vehemently as his nature allowed" over subsequent years. The statue would "disfigure" his arch, for which it was much too large. Contrary to all classical precedent, it would have to be placed across, instead of in line with, the roadway under the arch.

Burton's objections were endorsed by most of the aristocratic residents of London.

Burton's great-nephew Francis Fearon compiled and published a pamphlet that advocated that if the arch was moved, Wellington's statue should not go with it: the arch should be "relieved once and for all of its unsightly load". It was moved to Aldershot in 1885 and re-erected.

right|thumb|Peace descending on the Quadriga of War by [[Adrian Jones (sculptor)|Adrian Jones]]

Burton's arch remained bare for 30 years. In 1913 the sculpture Peace descending on the Quadriga of War by Adrian Jones was placed on it. Jones's statue is based on a smaller original which caught the eye of Edward VII at a Royal Academy exhibition. The sculpture depicts Nike, the winged goddess of victory, descending on the chariot of war, holding the classical symbol of victory and honour, a laurel wreath. The statue is the largest bronze sculpture in Europe.

Post-war redevelopment

In 1938 Sir Charles Bressey wrote in The Highway Development Survey 1937:<blockquote>Hyde Park Corner

The confused and shapeless road intersection at Hyde Park Corner carries the largest volume of traffic to be found anywhere in London. The increase recorded between the years 1919 and 1935 amounted to 125 per cent. The congestion frequently cause vexatious delays. A scheme for the simplification of traffic movements, by the formation of a dignified and symmetrical plaza, was illustrated by a model displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1937, as a result of collaboration between Sir Edwin Lutyens and myself.

The rectangular island which forms the principal feature of the scheme, would be flanked on the north by Piccadilly, on the west by Grosvenor Place, on the east by a direct continuation of Hamilton Place, and on the south by a road across the acute-angled corner of Buckingham Palace Garden. The rectangular island, with its grass and trees, would form an admirable setting for monuments new and old...

Park Lane

Park Lane ... in its present state, is ill adapted to receive any additional influx of traffic... The form which I recommend that the improvement should take is the creation of a twin carriageway road by the inclusion in Park Lane of the "ring" road which now lies within the Park railings. By this means a handsome and spacious boulevard would be created, the two carriageways being separated by a strip of grass and trees...</blockquote>

Although Bressey's and Lutyens' plans were not implemented for more than twenty years, the die had been cast. A 1951 London road atlas showed the proposed roundabout at the southern end of the dual carriageway north of Apsley House and its connexion to Piccadilly through the site of the mansions to its east. One of these had been destroyed and another seriously damaged by bombing in the war.

thumb|Construction of underpass at Hyde Park Corner, 1962Before work could begin, an Act of Parliament was required to take land from the Royal Parks. The Park Lane Improvement Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz. 2. c. 63) was duly passed. An east-west vehicular underpass was added to Bressey's plans between Piccadilly and Knightsbridge, along with pedestrian underpasses to the central area.

thumb|North-east corner of roundabout, looking over [[New Zealand War Memorial, London|New Zealand War Memorial to Constitution Hill, 2010]]

The work was carried out between 1960 and 1962, with the underpass opening on 17 October 1962. Duke of Wellington Place, which had been the name of the hypotenuse of the triangle was now assigned as the name of the eastern and southern sides of the rectangle. The ceremonial route across the roundabout was given the name Apsley Way.

When it was opened, traffic lights controlled entry to the roundabout but not around the roundabout. In the 1990s, traffic lights were added on the roundabout. Those before the junctions with Constitution Hill and Knightsbridge make it easier for pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders to reach the island by surface crossings.

thumb|[[Queen Elizabeth Gate with Hilton Hotel, 2009]]

The InterContinental London hotel was built between Hamilton Place and the new route of Park Lane to the east of Apsley House, opening in 1975. In 1993 the Queen Elizabeth Gate was installed behind Apsley House to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

As well as the Wellington Arch, the centre of the roundabout includes an equestrian statue of Wellington by Joseph Edgar Boehm—unveiled in 1888—the Machine Gun Corps Memorial, the Royal Artillery Memorial, the Australian War Memorial and the New Zealand War Memorial.

Other monuments in the vicinity of Hyde Park Corner include Adrian Jones's Monument to the Cavalry of the Empire (off the west side of Park Lane), Alexander Munro's Boy and Dolphin statue (in a rose garden parallel to Rotten Row, going west from Hyde Park Corner), the Wellington Monument (Statue of Achilles), off the west side of Park Lane, and a statue of Lord Byron (on a traffic island opposite the Wellington Monument).

"Hyde Park Corner" is often erroneously used for Speakers' Corner, at the north-eastern corner of Hyde Park.

In popular culture

The 1935 film Hyde Park Corner takes its name from the area, where it is set.
"Hyde Park Corner" was used as a codeword to announce to the government the death of King George VI in 1952.
"Hyde Park Corner" was the second episode of the first season of the Netflix series The Crown. It covered the death of George VI and the accession of Elizabeth II.

Gallery of memorials

File:Australian War Memorial, Hyde Park Corner - geograph.org.uk - 1463114.jpg|Australian War Memorial

File:Byron Statue Park Lane.jpg|Statue of Lord Byron

File:Statue of the Duke of Wellington - geograph.org.uk - 397832.jpg|Equestrian Statue of the Duke of Wellington

File:DavidLondon.JPG|Machine Gun Corps Memorial

File:NZ war memorial, London.JPG|New Zealand War Memorial

File:Royal Artillery Memorial, outside Aspley House, London.JPG|Royal Artillery Memorial

</gallery>

References

A Sculpture Walk in Hyde Park