In the early years of the 19th century, the extravagant, spoiled and hard-partying Prince Regent had a surprisingly good idea. Encouraged by pals like Beau Brummell, and with the financial backing of the property developer James Burton, the future King George IV hired the architect John Nash to design a new London neighbourhood.
His vision was for a series of magnificent streets, many in terraces styled like modern sugar-coated palaces, on Crown-owned land just north of central London. These ‘Regency’ homes would encircle a brand new park which, modestly, the future King would name after himself.
The first major Regency streets – including Cornwall Terrace (which was designed by an original nepo baby, Decimus Burton, son of James), Sussex Place, Park Village east and west, Park Square and Albany Terrace – celebrate their bicentenary this year. Regent’s Park, 410 acres of formal gardens and open parkland, opened in 1835.
Rather like the future King, there was nothing bashful or unassuming about Regency architecture.
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