Modern London owes a great deal to the Victorians. Many of the best green spaces, museums and structures around the capital that attract millions of visitors every year were the result of their tireless drive to improve and beautify the city.
Happily, you can benefit from this Victorian zeal and find a clutch of Victorian history close to The Montcalm London Marble Arch.
You can’t talk about Victorian history in Marble Arch without addressing the arch itself – it just wouldn’t be right.
Marble Arch might look lonely today, sitting all alone in its current position, but this isn’t the original site where the structure was intended to reside. The original plan was to have the arch outside of Buckingham Palace – under serious renovation at the time – but rising costs and delays nixed this plan.
In fact, the arch’s plan and design were in place before Victoria’s ascension to the throne, but it only saw completion in a hurry to get it ready for this date. It’s a glorious structure and, during ceremonial processions, only members of the Royal family and the King’s troop are allowed to pass under the arch. The arch is just a two-minute walk from The Montcalm London Marble Arch, so make sure you see it!
Covering 270 acres, Kensington Gardens is a vast green space featuring stunning water features, sculpted grounds and incredible vistas. But that’s not the only thing that makes the gardens and attendant palace special – it was also one of Queen’s Victoria’s favourite places in the world. And it’s easy to get to from our many 5 star luxury hotels London.
Originally, Kensington Gardens was the western end of Hyde Park, until Henry VIII took it for himself as a prime hunting ground back in the 16th century. Zip forward a few hundred years, and Queen Victoria spent most of her formative years living in the palace. It was also the place where she met Prince Albert and, eventually, married him.
You can see the traces of Victoria’s grief all around the place, as she struggled to overcome the early death of her husband. The most stunning example is the Albert Memorial, standing more than a hundred feet high and featuring a sculpture of young Albert surveying the grounds. It’s a beautiful place and more than worth the ten-minute trip from Montcalm’s 5 star luxury hotels London.
Although the Natural History Museum does predate the Victorians as an institution, the way it looks today is all thanks to the Victorian era.
Before the mid-1850s, London’s Natural History Museum had an unwelcome reputation for being a dark and dingy place, as well as having a knack for losing exhibits and collections.
Wanting to define then-modern London, Victoria threw open competition as to who could create the best museum design for a new site in South Kensington. The task eventually fell to Alfred Waterhouse. The result is a classic Victorian Romanesque design, explicitly chosen to resist the sooty, grimy air of the capital.
Today the museum sees more than four million visitors every year, and it’s a stunning example of the area’s enduring Victorian influence.
List of Victorian Buildings and architecture of London are:
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