Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan.

  • Bryan, George
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The edifice was consequently begun in the year 1682, but was not completed till 1690. King Charles II., attended by a great number of the principal nobility and gentry, laid the first stone of this magnificent structure on the i6th of February, 1682. The whole expense of the building is computed to have amounted to 50,000. Sir Christopher Wren, to whose genius and abilities we owe the grandest edifices of which our metropolis can boast, gave the original design, and conducted the building to its completion. Chelsea Hospital is generally considered to be a fine specimen of Sir Christopher Wren’s professional abilities. It possesses a superior air of grandeur, more spacious arrangement of the principal parts, greater attention to the central points, for grace and effect, and a higher degi'ee of chastity maintained in the whole structure than any public design entered into by Sir Christopher Wren, or his immediate successors. At the grand entrance, from the King’s Road, are four de- tached stone piers, with lireaks, with an entablature, on which are military trophies. These piers, by their disposure, give three passes ; the iron gates much modernised; dwarf walls, having cornices in succession, containing small door-ways. Two lodges, right and left, carry on the line, containing four compart- ments, or blank windows each. The central approach, from the King’s Road to the north general front of the Hospital, including the Royal Avenue, has a very imposing effect, with trees on either side. It would be impossible to give in this work an architectural description of Chelsea Hospital, or of its arrangements. It is within the reach of every inhabitant of London, and now as our country friends have the benefit of frequent railway excursions, almost every person in the country, may at any time give this home of England’s worn out and gallant defenders a personal inspection. Still it is necessary that a general sketch of the building and grounds should be given. I have therefore extracted most of the following particulars from Mr. Gleig’s admirable work. Chelsea Hospital occupies, with the buildings, courts, gardens, and offices attached, an area of something more than 54 square acres. Its principal courts, or quadrangles, are three in number;