Garden Details
Marlborough House
Returning for the first time since 2017.
The Garden
Visitors are advised that this garden does not permit picnics, entry will be granted to working assistance dogs only and there are no WC facilities at this garden.Marlborough House is a former town mansion and genuine 'hotel particulier', built to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, and still possessing much of its original garden. It was commissioned by the first Duke of Marlborough, but the idea for a town house was that of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who secured the lease of the site from Queen Anne.
Wren was chosen in preference to Sir John Vanbrugh as architect, although the Duchess fell out with Wren during construction and supervised the completion of the house herself. She laid the foundation stone in 1709, and it was completed in 1711. The actual design was probably drawn by Wren's son under his father's supervision.
Sarah died there in 1744, and the Dukes of Marlborough had the house until 1817, after which it was given to Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and then to William IV's consort Queen Adelaide. The Queen Dowager continued to spend time here after William's death, and gave a wedding banquet for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. After Queen Adelaide's death it was settled on the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, and was substantially altered by Sir James Pennethorne, chief architect at the Office of Works. It continued in royal occupation into the 1950s, by George V, Queen Alexandra, and finally Queen Mary who came to Marlborough House in 1936 on the death of George V and died there in 1953.
Marlborough House became the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1959. It has been the venue for independence negotiations and many Commonwealth conferences, including Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings.
The garden appears on Horwood's plan of 1746 as divided into large rectangular garden plots. This layout was simplified by the late 18th Century, with the creation of large round and oval shrubberies sprinkled over an extensive lawn. Today the garden is largely maintained in its 18th Century format with a number of large plain expanses of lawn intersected with gravel paths. At the southern and western boundaries, bordering The Mall and Marlborough Road respectively, the lawns bank upwards. Against these walls are formal beds and gravel paths. At the eastern boundary is a less formal extensive shrubbery, with a woodland path and a pet cemetery where gravestones include Queen Alexandra's dogs Muff, Tiny and Joss, and Benny the Bunny. In front of the east wing of the house is a revolving timber summerhouse with a thatched roof, commissioned by Queen Mary, the last royal resident of the house. In the south-east corner of the garden is a brick-built gazebo. A sheltered area of the garden is planted with shrubs from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Trees found in the gardens include horse chestnut, sycamore, London plane, red oak, magnolia grandiflora, pin oak, evergreen oaks planted as a screen before the memorial to Queen Alexandra was sited, maidenhair and common lime.
The wall is the site of two monuments - Sir Alfred Gilbert's Art Nouveau memorial to Queen Alexandra (opposite St James's Palace courtyard) and, on the corner, a plaque to Queen Mary by Sir W Reid Dick.
Gardens Manager: Claire Midgley-Adam MVO
Further information on London Parks & Gardens Inventory
Visitor Information
- Open
-
Saturday 10:00–17:00
- Entrance
- From Marlborough Road
Nearest postcode: SW1Y 5HX - Buses
- Map of nearby bus stops
- Station
- Green Park
- Cycle hire station
- St. James's Square (Map)
- Dogs
- Working assistance dogs only
