Some of the most popular listed buildings in London
In this blog we are going to be taking a look at some of the UKs most popular grade 1 listed buildings. But, before we ger started, what is a grade 1 listed building? If a building is listed grade 1, this is because the site is of exceptional national, architectural or historical importance. There are over 9,000 grade 1 listed buildings in England, and the city of London contains 589 of these buildings. Furthermore, here are some of the most popular ones –
Buckingham Palace (London) –
Firstly, let’s start with one of the most iconic and popular landmarks un the UK. During the second world war, which broke out in 1939, the palace was bombed 9 times. The most serious incident destroyed the palaces chapel in 1940. After that, the palace was designated a grade 1 listed building in 1970, protected for many future generations to admire.
Admiralty Arch (London) –
Admiralty Arch located at the end of the mall, was commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria. It was designed by Aston Webb, is now a Grade I listed building. In addition, in 2012, the government sold the building for £60m, for a proposed development of a luxury hotel.
Spencer House (London) –
Spencer House is a historic town house in the St James area of Westminster. The house is Grade 1 listed on the National Heritage List for England. In 1758 Spencer House was designed to have authentic Greek details in the internal decoration, and it became one of the first examples in London of the neoclassical style.
Palace Of Westminster (London) –
Finally, the houses of parliament were first classed as a grade 1 listed building in 1970. Sir Charles Barry the architect of the Palace of Westminster uses the perpendicular Gothic style, which was popular in the 15th century.
