KENSINGTON PALACE ARCHITECTURE: WREN, HAWKSMOOR, AND A PALACE MADE FROM A HOUSE

Kensington Palace is one of London's best-loved royal residences, and one of the most instructive — because it shows what the great architects of the English Baroque could do not when building from scratch, but when adapting and enlarging an existing house under pressure of time and budget. When William III and Mary II bought the modest Jacobean Nottingham House in 1689, they turned to Sir Christopher Wren to make it fit for a king and queen. Wren's clerk of works on the project was the young Nicholas Hawksmoor, at the very start of his official career. Between them, over the following decades, they turned a country house into a palace.

What makes Kensington unusual among royal palaces is its modesty and its intimacy. It was never a grand state palace on the scale of Versailles or even Hampton Court; it was a comfortable royal home, built quickly and cheaply in brick, extended piecemeal by successive monarchs, and adorned over time by some of the finest craftsmen and designers of the age. It has been a royal residence almost continuously ever since — the birthplace of Queen Victoria, the London home of Diana, Princess of Wales, and today the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Kensington Palace is Grade I listed, set in Kensington Gardens, and partly open to the public as one of the Historic Royal Palaces.

  • Written by Gavin Paisley, director & model-maker at Chisel & Mouse based in East Sussex, England.
  • Last updated: 26-Jun-26

Photograph by Diego Delso, licensed under CC BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons.

Kensington Palace facade architectural scale model

Looking for a Kensington Palace architectural model?

This building is also available as a Kensington Palace architectural model, interpreted and crafted by Chisel & Mouse.

View the Kensington Palace architectural model

What is Kensington Palace?

Kensington Palace stands at the western edge of Kensington Gardens in west London. It began life as Nottingham House, a Jacobean mansion built around 1605 and later owned by Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham, from whom it took its name.

In 1689, the newly crowned William III and Mary II — seeking to escape the damp and smoke of Whitehall, which aggravated the King's asthma — bought the house for £20,000 and commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to transform it into a royal residence with easy access to both Parliament and the cleaner air of the countryside. From that moment Kensington became a principal royal home, and it has remained in royal use, in one form or another, for more than three centuries.

Facts panel

Royal residence, west London. Transformed from Nottingham House from 1689.

  • Architects: Sir Christopher Wren (1689–1695); Nicholas Hawksmoor (clerk of works from 1689); later additions by Sir John Vanbrugh, William Benson, and William Kent; alterations by James Wyatt
  • Original house: Nottingham House, built c. 1605 for Sir George Coppin
  • Client: William III and Mary II (purchased 1689)
  • Wren's work: Clock Court, the South Front, and the King's Gallery, 1689–1695
  • Orangery: completed 1705, for Queen Anne (Wren and Hawksmoor, with Vanbrugh)
  • State Apartments: remodelled and decorated from 1718; ceilings and staircases painted by William Kent under George I
  • Address: Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX, England
  • Materials: Red brick with stone dressings
  • Architectural style: English Baroque
  • Original use: Country house, then royal residence
  • Current use: Royal residence; State Apartments open to the public (Historic Royal Palaces)
  • Designation: Grade I listed
  • Notable: Birthplace of Queen Victoria (1819)

Architect: Nicholas Hawksmoor (with Wren)

When William and Mary commissioned the work in 1689, Sir Christopher Wren led the design and Nicholas Hawksmoor was appointed clerk of works — the official responsible for translating the design into a built reality on site. The brief was urgent: the monarchs wanted to move in quickly, and Hawksmoor was instructed to build fast and economically, which is why the palace was built in brick rather than stone and was ready for the King and Queen to occupy by Christmas Eve 1689, just months after work began.

Hawksmoor's role at Kensington grew over the following years. He drew the design for the King's Gallery range in 1695–96, and he kept a substantial set of Kensington designs in his own possession to the end of his life. Later, under Queen Anne, Wren and Hawksmoor — with detailing by the young Vanbrugh — produced the celebrated Orangery. Kensington was, in effect, where Hawksmoor's official career began. For his full biography and his work across London, Greenwich, and Oxford, see our Nicholas Hawksmoor architect guide.

Architectural character: brick, restraint, and piecemeal growth

Kensington Palace is a lesson in restraint. Where Greenwich and the churches are monumental and theatrical, Kensington is domestic in scale and warm in material — red brick with stone dressings, comfortable rather than commanding. This was partly a matter of budget and speed, but it suited the building's purpose perfectly: a royal home rather than a stage for royal ceremony.

The palace grew piecemeal, with each monarch adding what they needed. Wren contributed the Clock Court, the South Front, and the long King's Gallery; Queen Anne added the Orangery and laid out gardens; George I commissioned the lavish decoration of the State Apartments. The result is not a single unified composition but an accretion of ranges and courts around courtyards — informal, irregular, and full of character, more like a great country house than a state palace.

The finest single set-piece is the Orangery (1705), a garden building of unusual refinement for what is, in essence, a greenhouse: airy, light, and elegantly detailed, with carvings by Grinling Gibbons, it was used by Queen Anne for summer entertaining and survives as one of the most charming buildings of its date in England.

Photograph by Diego Delso, licensed under CC BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons.

Interiors: William Kent and the State Apartments

The interiors that visitors admire today owe much to William Kent, the painter, designer, and architect who, under the patronage of George I from around 1722, transformed the State Apartments. Kent filled the rooms with painted ceilings, trompe-l'oeil staircases, and fine furniture, giving the palace the refined early-Georgian character that survives in the grand rooms. The contrast between the plain brick exterior and the richly decorated interior is one of the surprises of a visit.

History: from William and Mary to the present day

Kensington was a principal royal residence throughout the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Queen Mary II died at the palace in 1694, William III in 1702, Queen Anne in 1714, and George II — the last reigning monarch to live there — in 1760. In 1819, the future Queen Victoria was born at Kensington, and she spent her childhood there before acceding to the throne and moving to Buckingham Palace.

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries the palace has remained a working royal home, divided into apartments. It was the London home of Diana, Princess of Wales, and is today the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, alongside other members of the Royal Family. The State Apartments and the gardens are open to the public, managed by the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces.

Cultural significance

Kensington Palace occupies a particular place in British affection — less grand than Buckingham Palace, less ceremonial than Windsor, but more human in scale and more continuously lived in. It is bound up with the personal histories of the monarchy: Victoria's confined childhood, Diana's residence and the sea of flowers that surrounded its gates in 1997, and the royal family of the present day. Architecturally, it is the great surviving example of the Baroque art of adaptation — of how Wren and Hawksmoor could take an ordinary house and, without grandeur or vast expense, make it royal.

The model-maker's lens

  • Focus — the brick palace front, capturing the warm, domestic character that distinguishes Kensington from London's grander stone palaces.
  • Detail — the brickwork with its stone dressings and the regular rhythm of windows; at model scale, the texture and colour of the brick are what give the piece its identity.
  • How it reads at small scale — very well; Kensington's appeal is in proportion, material, and quiet dignity rather than dramatic ornament.
  • How to display — as a freestanding royal-residence piece; it sits naturally alongside other London landmarks, and tells a story of the Baroque at its most domestic.

View the Kensington Palace architectural model

Visiting Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace is partly open to the public, managed by Historic Royal Palaces. Visitors can tour the King's and Queen's State Apartments, see changing exhibitions, and walk the surrounding gardens, including the sunken garden and the Orangery, now a café. The palace stands in Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX, a short walk from High Street Kensington and Queensway Underground stations. Parts of the palace remain private royal residences and are not open to visitors. Current opening times and tickets are available from the Historic Royal Palaces website.

Frequently asked questions about Kensington Palace

Who designed Kensington Palace?

Kensington Palace was transformed from the earlier Nottingham House by Sir Christopher Wren from 1689, with Nicholas Hawksmoor as clerk of works. Later additions and decoration were carried out by Sir John Vanbrugh, William Benson, and the designer William Kent.

When was Kensington Palace built?

The original Nottingham House dates from around 1605. William III and Mary II bought it in 1689 and had Wren and Hawksmoor enlarge it into a palace; the first phase was built so quickly that the monarchs moved in on Christmas Eve 1689. Additions continued through the early eighteenth century.

Was Kensington Palace really built from an existing house?

Yes. It began as Nottingham House, a Jacobean mansion. Rather than demolish it, Wren and Hawksmoor enlarged and adapted it — building in brick for speed and economy — which is why the palace has the irregular, accreted character of a great house rather than a single unified palace.

Where is Kensington Palace?

It stands in Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX, in west London, a short walk from High Street Kensington and Queensway Underground stations.

What style is Kensington Palace?

It is English Baroque, but in an unusually domestic, restrained form — red brick with stone dressings rather than the monumental stone of Greenwich or St Paul's. The State Apartment interiors were later decorated in the early-Georgian taste by William Kent.

Can you visit Kensington Palace?

Yes. The State Apartments and gardens are open to the public and managed by Historic Royal Palaces. Parts of the palace remain private royal residences, including the home of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and are not open to visitors.

Related architectural landmarks

You may also be interested in:

Sources and further reading

  • Wikipedia — 'Kensington Palace' — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Palace
  • Historic Royal Palaces — hrp.org.uk — history of Kensington Palace
  • Historic England — National Heritage List for England, Kensington Palace (Grade I)
  • The Architectural Drawings of Sir Christopher Wren (All Souls College, Oxford) — on Hawksmoor's role at Kensington