History
Carlton House (1814-1818)
The building, commonly called the "polygon building" at the time, was designed as a temporary bell-tent-shaped ballroom. [3] The first event held in the structure was a magnificent celebration in honour of the Duke of Wellington on 21 July 1814, a grand fête attended by over 2,000 guests that inaugurated the building's brief but glorious life at Carlton House. [4] The Rotunda's tent-like form, with its canvas-covered roof supported by Nash's innovative timber structure, created a luminous space for the celebrations marking the allied victory. The building's structural system was remarkable. Nash and his assistant William Nixon had pioneered a self-supporting catenoidal roof employing laminated timber construction with specialised iron connectors—an innovative divided tie-beam truss system, likely the first of its kind in Britain. [5] The radial arrangement of 24 principal rafters met at a central ring beam, creating what one contemporary described as "a very strong roof, independent of any central support." [6] This structural approach would influence Nash's later work, notably the tented roofs of the Music and Banqueting Rooms at Brighton Pavilion, which employed similar laminated timber techniques. [7] The Prince Regent ordered the removal of the Rotunda from the grounds at Carlton House in 1818. [8]
Transfer to Woolwich (1818-1820)
John Nash initially hoped to convert the structure into a church, even preparing "a design and calculation" for this purpose, as the structure "was designed to house a large number of people, and was internally uninhibited by columns, so that sight and sound lines would have been excellent." [9] However, the Prince Regent directed that it be re-erected on Woolwich Common for use as a museum by the Royal Artillery. [8] The transfer was facilitated by Benjamin Bloomfield, 1st Baron Bloomfield, the Prince Regent's Private Secretary and Keeper of the Privy Purse, with approval from Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, the Master-General of the Ordnance. [10] The reconstruction was supervised by Benjamin Charles Stephenson, Surveyor-General of the Office of Works, with Lt-Colonel John J. Jones of the Royal Engineers serving as Commanding Engineer. [11]
The Rotunda's relocation to Woolwich was closely connected to the Royal Military Repository, which had been founded in 1778 by Captain William Congreve (1742-1814) of the Royal Artillery. Congreve created the Repository as "a school of methods of mounting and dismounting ordnance" after his experiences "as a lieutenant firework in Canada during the Seven Years War (1756-63)" convinced him of "the need to train the artillery how to manoeuvre heavy ordnance in difficult conditions." [12] Congreve conceived of forming "as extensive a collection as possible of everything tending to improve the science and practice of artillery, and to explain its progress." [13]
After the elder Congreve's death in 1814, his son Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet (1772-1828) succeeded to all his father's appointments, including Commandant of the Royal Military Repository and Superintendent of Military Machines. The younger Congreve was instrumental in bringing the Rotunda to Woolwich, having been "closely involved in the series of celebratory events marking the peace of 1814 and had masterminded the Grand National Jubilee on 1 August of that year." [14] When the Prince Regent decided to dismantle the Rotunda, the Historic England report notes that "Congreve's wish to obtain it must also have been considered something of an ideal arrangement by the Office of Works, in that it would save its staff the trouble of storing or selling the materials." [15] On 7 December 1818, Congreve requested the building be erected "on the brow of the Hill at the eastern boundary of the Repository Grounds, that spot being the most convenient as well as the most picturesque situation for it." [16] When the building was re-erected in Woolwich (1819-1820), it underwent significant modifications to make it permanent. The original boarded outer walls were replaced with brick, and a central sandstone Doric column was added—though Nash's original roof structure had been designed to be self-supporting without it. [17] The structure initially retained its canvas-covered wooden roof. The canvas was replaced with lead during renovations in 1862-1863, adding considerable dead weight to the roof structure. [18]
Museum Use (1820-2001)
When it opened as a museum in 1820—one of the earliest of its kind in the world [19] —the younger Congreve set out its aims as providing "practical instruction for the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Men of the Regiment of Artillery, both on the great scale and with the aid of Drawings and Models." [20] Congreve added his own model of St James's Park and Carlton House Gardens during the 1814 celebrations (showing the Rotunda in its original position) to the museum's collection, along with his celebrated rockets and other inventions. [21] In 1973 the Rotunda was designated as a Grade II* listed building. [2] The Rotunda was used as the Royal Artillery Museum until 1999, when it closed to the public. [22] The building continued to house the museum's reserve collection until 2010. [23] In 2001, a new museum branded as "Firepower: The Royal Artillery Museum" opened at the nearby Royal Arsenal, bringing together the collections from the Rotunda with the regimental history collection. [24] All Firepower's buildings were once part of the Royal Laboratory Department, which controlled the manufacture of ammunition; they are for the most part Grade II listed. Firepower closed in July 2016. [25] Following the 2016 closure, the collection was moved to Larkhill in Wiltshire. [26]
Since 2001
The Rotunda structure has not been in use since 2001 and has been on Historic England's Heritage at Risk list since 2007. [27] By 2020, water ingress through the failing roof had caused significant structural damage. Historic England's condition survey identified extensive decay in the timber roof structure, with props supporting failed members. The canvas covering had been removed, leaving the lead roof exposed to further deterioration. With electrics untested since 2009 and heating systems non-functional, the building was described as being in "very bad" condition. A 2020 repair estimate exceeded £2.6 million. [28] In November 2023, the adjacent Repository Woods were included on a Historic England list of ten London sites designated as 'at-risk'. [29] In 2023 the owners, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, was given permission to undertake some repairs to problems with the listed building caused by the roof leaking for several years. [30] In 2020, the Ministry of Defence announced plans to sell much of the Woolwich Barracks site, with a target date of 2028, though the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery would remain at Napier Lines. [31] In February 2025, Greenwich Council launched a public consultation on the future development of the site, which closed on 17 March 2025. The consultation identified the Rotunda as being of "exceptional historical and architectural significance" whilst noting its poor condition. [32]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
