Tulip Stairs London
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Tulip Stairs London
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Tulip Stairs, Queen's House. Greenwich, UK.
TheTulip Stairs are one of the original features of the Queen’s House. This ornate, wrought iron structure was the first geometric self-supporting spiral stair in Britain. It has long been described as showing tulips but they are probably lilies, the royal flower of France, in compliment to Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort for Charles I.
It is also the location of the Rev R. W. Hardy’s famous ‘ghost’ photograph taken in 1966, which appears to show two or three shrouded figures on the staircase – a phenomenon that has never been fully explained...
Built in the early 17th century, Queen's House was the UK's first truly classical building. It was designed by the architect Inigo Jones as a private house for Anne of Denmark, Queen consort of King James I.
Work on the house began in 1616, but just 3 years later Anne died and the building was thatched over at ground level. It remained that way until 1629 when Jones began work again under the direction of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. The building was finally completed in or around 1635 and it became an important residence for the Stuart Dynasty.
In 1642, the Civil War began and Queen Henrietta was exiled and Charles - executed. At that time the state seized his property and so also the Queen's House. Henrietta returned to the Queen's House after its restoration in 1660.
The design of Queen's House was something of an eye-opener in its day, an avant-garde building that was very much ahead of its time.
Inigo Jones had spent several years in Italy in the early 1600s, studying architecture, art, and philosophy. He was strongly influenced by the Renaissance style of building that he saw there. He was the first architect to introduce the classical design to England, with its emphasis on harmony and proportion. The symmetrical appearance of Queen's House was startlingly different from the red brick palaces more common at the time.
More images from London one copy-paste away at my gallery https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/london
Weston Westmoreland
Uploaded
September 20th, 2022
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