Apsley House
Apsley House is internationally famous as the home of the First Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) and of his descendants. Originating in a fashionable house of the 1770’s built to the designs of Robert Adam, the house was remodelled and enlarged for the Duke in the mid-19th Century by Benjamin Dean Wyatt.
The family of the present Duke retains most of the basement, more than half of the ground floor on the north side of the building, the whole of the second and third floor. The remainder is presented to the public as a series of historic interiors, as a museum space commemorating the Duke of Wellington, and as the home of an internationally important collection of painting and sculpture, notably sculptures by Canova and paintings acquired by the first Duke from the Spanish Royal Collection.
The impressive exterior, behind elaborate iron railings, owes its appearance to the reconstruction of the building by Benjamin Wyatt with a symmetrical neoclassical south façade under a high four-column portico.
The whole exterior is faced in Bath Stone.