Editing John Nash (architect) (section)

== Architect to the Prince Regent ==
[[File:Eastern block of Park Crescent, August 2021.jpg|thumb|right|[[Park Crescent, London|Park Crescent]], [[Regent's Park]]]]
Nash was a dedicated [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]]{{sfn|Davis|1966|pp=20–21}} and was a friend of [[Charles James Fox]] through whom Nash probably came to the attention of the Prince Regent (later King [[George IV]]). In 1806 Nash was appointed architect to the [[Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases]].{{sfn|Summerson|1980|p=56}} From 1810 Nash would take very few private commissions and for the rest of his career he would largely work for the Prince.{{sfn|Summerson|1980|p=73}} His employment by the Prince Regent enabled Nash to embark upon a number of grand architectural projects.{{sfn|Caves|2004|p=480}}

His first major commissions in (1809–1826){{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=130}} from the Prince were [[Regent Street]] and the development of an area then known as [[Marylebone]] Park. With the Regent's backing, Nash created a master plan for the area, put into effect from 1818 onwards, which stretched from St James's northwards and included [[Regent Street]], [[Regent's Park]] (1809–1832){{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|pp=158-161}} and its neighbouring streets, terraces and crescents of elegant townhouses and villas. Nash did not design all the buildings himself. In some instances, these were left in the hands of other architects such as [[James Pennethorne]] and the young [[Decimus Burton]].

Nash went on to re-landscape [[St. James's Park]] (1814–1827),{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=197}} reshaping the formal canal into the present lake, and giving the park its present form. A characteristic of Nash's plan for Regent Street was that it followed an irregular path linking [[Portland Place]] to the north with [[Carlton House, London]] (replaced by Nash's Carlton House Terrace (1827–1833){{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=296}} to the south. At the northern end of Portland Place Nash designed [[Park Crescent, London]] (1812 and 1819–1821),{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|pp=183-184}} this opens into Nash's [[Park Square, London]] (1823–24),{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|pp=251-252}} this only has terraces on the east and west, the north opens into Regent's Park.

The terraces that Nash designed around Regent's Park though conforming to the earlier form of appearing as a single building, as developed by [[John Wood, the Elder]], are unlike earlier examples set in gardens and are not [[Orthogonality|orthogonal]] in their placing to each other. This was part of Nash's development of planning, a most extreme example of this was found when he set out Park Village East and Park Village West (1823–34) to the north-east of Regent's Park,{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|pp=256-262}} here, a mixture of detached villas, semi-detached houses, both symmetrical and asymmetrical in their design are set out in private gardens railed off from the street, the roads loop and the buildings are both classical and gothic in style. No two buildings were the same, and or even in line with their neighbours. The park villages can be seen as the prototype for the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] suburbs.{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|2002|p=382}}

[[File:Brighton - panoramio (5).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Royal Pavilion]], Brighton]]
Nash was employed by the Prince from 1815 to develop his Marine Pavilion in Brighton,{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=201}} originally designed by [[Henry Holland (architect)|Henry Holland]]. By 1822 Nash had finished his work on the Marine Pavilion, which was now transformed into the [[Royal Pavilion]]. The exterior was based on [[Mughal architecture]], giving the building its exotic form, the [[Chinoiserie]] style interiors are largely the work of [[Frederick Crace]].{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=202}}

Nash was also a director of the [[Regent's Canal]] Company set up in 1812 to provide a [[canal]] link from west London to the [[River Thames]] in the east.{{sfn|Summerson|1980|p=72}} Nash's master plan provided for the canal to run around the northern edge of Regent's Park; as with other projects, he left its execution to one of his assistants, in this case [[James Morgan (engineer)|James Morgan]]. The first phase of the Regent's Canal was completed in 1816 and finally completed in 1820.{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=177}}

Together with [[Robert Smirke (architect)|Robert Smirke]] and Sir [[John Soane]], he became an official architect to the [[Office of Works]] in 1813{{sfn|Summerson|1980|p=96}} (although the appointment ended in 1832) at a salary of £500 per annum (£57,810 in 2020 money).{{sfn|Stroud|1984|p=98}} Following the death in September of that year of [[James Wyatt]], this marked the high point in his professional life. As part of Nash's new position, he was invited to advise the Parliamentary [[Commissioners' church|Commissioners]] on the building of new churches from 1818 onwards.{{sfn|Port|2006|p=59}} Nash produced ten church designs, each estimated to cost around £10,000 (£1.2 million in 2020 money) with seating capacity for 2000 people;{{sfn|Port|2006|p=65}} the style of the buildings were both classical and gothic. In the end, Nash only built two churches for the Commission: the classical [[All Souls Church, Langham Place]] (1822–24), terminating the northern end of Regent Street, and the gothic [[St Mary, Haggerston|St. Mary's Haggerston]] (1825–27), bombed during [[The Blitz]] in 1941.{{sfn|Port|2006|p=81}}

[[File:The West Facade of Buckingham Palace, seen from The Palace Gardens.jpg|thumb|right|West front of [[Buckingham Palace]]]]
Nash was involved in the design of two of London's theatres, both in [[Haymarket (London)|Haymarket]]. The King's Opera House (now rebuilt as [[Her Majesty's Theatre]]) (1816–1818) where he and George Repton remodelled the theatre, with arcades and shops around three sides of the building, the fourth being the still surviving Royal Opera Arcade.{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|pp=206-207}} The other theatre was the [[Theatre Royal Haymarket]] (1821), with its fine hexastyle [[Corinthian order]] [[portico]], which still survives, facing down [[Charles II Street]] to [[St. James's Square]], Nash's interior no longer survives (the interior now dates from 1904).{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|pp=230-231}} 

In 1820 a scandal broke, when a cartoon was published{{sfn|Summerson|1980|p=151}} showing a half-dressed King George IV embracing Nash's wife with a speech bubble coming from the King's mouth containing the words "I have great pleasure in visiting this part of my dominions". Whether this was based on just a rumour put about by people who resented Nash's success or if there is substance behind is not known. Further London commissions for Nash followed, including the remodelling of Buckingham House to create [[Buckingham Palace]] (1825–1830),{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=274}}
and for the [[Royal Mews]] (1822–24){{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=244}} and [[Marble Arch]] (1828).{{sfn|Mansbridge|1991|p=300}} The arch was originally designed as a [[triumphal arch]] to stand at the entrance to Buckingham Palace. It was moved when the east wing of the palace designed by [[Edward Blore]] was built, at the request of [[Queen Victoria]] whose growing family required additional domestic space.  Marble Arch became the entrance to [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] and the [[Great Exhibition]].