Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

For someone who loves English Baroque and Georgian architecture and for someone who also happens to be a naval geek there is perhaps one place that triumphs over all. Among my favorite places in London is that vast, monumental complex known as the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, sitting right on the southern bank of the Thames. It can be recognized from afar and it is perhaps one of those monuments that first displayed, at least in visual terms, the weight, power, and strength of the growing British Empire.

When the buildings were erected between 1696 and 1712, they were intended to serve as the Greenwich Hospital, as a home for disabled sailors, it operated until 1869. From 1873 to just 1998, the Royal Naval College was a training establishment for naval officers and was home to the Royal Navy’s staff college. 

The hospital was originally funded as the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich under the instructions of Queen Mary II who had been greatly touched by the sight of wounded sailors returning from the Battle of La Hogue in 1692. She ordered that the King Charles wing of the Greenwich Palace be turned into a hospital as a counterpart to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers. The great Baroque architect Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor worked on the project for free.

An early controversy emerged when it turned out that the new project would have blocked the view on the Queen’s House. Queen Mary II, ordered the buildings to be split in to, providing a riverside view on the house and Greenwich Hill. This gave the hospital its trademark look. Funds for the construction of the complex were raised through an endowment financed by merchants who had been convicted of smuggling, an additional sum was raised in 1705, once the terrible pirate Captain William Kidd had been hanged!

The first building to be completed was the King Charles Court, finished in 1705. Whereas the Queen Mary Court was completed in 1742. The Queen Anne Court and the King William Court were also completed after Wren’s death. The Queen Marty Court houses the hospital’s chapel, designed by Wren but rebuilt to a design of James “Athenian” Stuart between 1779 and 1789 following a terrible fire. The complex is vast, monumental despite the severe lines of English Baroque. The twin domes are somewhat remindful of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, making this one of Sir Cristopher Wren’s greatest works.

The beautiful Georgian chapel, dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul is a wonderful testimony to the style and churchmanship of that age. The understated elegance of English Neo-Classicism is very evident here. Its richly decorated ceiling with naval themes and motives on plasterwork by John Papworth, lead the eye towards the holy sanctuary where we can admire the beautiful altarpiece depicting Paul’s shipwreck in Malta by Benjamin West, known as the Raphael of America. 

The oak and mahogany pulpit is also a very fine addition to this beautiful and rational space. The Old Royal Naval College chapel is considered to be one of the finest 18th century interiors in existence. The chapel still offers old fashioned prayer book services such as Mattins and Evensong, they also boast a fine professional choir.

The King William Court houses the crowning jewel of the complex which is its Painted Hall, also informally known as Britain’s Sistine Chapel. It was originally painted by Sir James Tornhill who was probably Britain’s greatest Baroque artist, inspiring the likes of William Hogarth himself. 

The artist who shows his architectural background in his work dedicated the work to the co-regent King William III and Queen Mary II in the ceiling of the Lower Hall; and of Queen Anne and her husband Prince George of Denmark on the ceiling of the Upper Hall, finally the new Hanoverian dynasty with George I on the northern wall of the Upper Hall. 

The paintings serve as a political purpose, they represent an apotheosis of the reigning monarchs as well as displaying in a not too allegorical way, the sheer power of Britain’s navy. In a way this is the pictorial baptism of the British Empire. 

Unfortunately, it was deemed so good that the pensioned seamen were never allowed to use it as their own refectory! It was here that on January 5, 1805 the body of Lord Nelson did lay in state following his victory and death at Trafalgar. In 1824, a collection of naval art established here and later transferred to the nearby National Maritime Museum in 1936.

The oldest part of the complex is the Queen’s House, a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1636, during the reigns of Anne and Charles I, on the grounds of the Tudor Greenwich Palace,, while now it forms a central focus to the Old Royal Naval College. It is considered to be Britain’s earliest classical building. Its architect was the great Inigo Jones, who like Wren had worked on Saint Paul’s Cathedral, albeit on the previous one. It is inspired by Jones’ Grand Tour of Italy between 1613-1615 and the design is clearly derived from the architecture of Ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and Palladian Venice. The Tulip stairs and lantern are the first helical stairs constructed in England and are somewhat remindful of those seen in Italy.

The house was gifted to Henrietta Maria in 1629 by King Charles I, unfortunately much of it was damaged during the Civil War in 1642. Charles I was a great art collector and works commissioned for the house include an Allegory of Peace and the Arts by Orazio Gentileschi, now at Marlborough House, as well as a Finding of Moses at the National Gallery in London and a Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife still in the Royal Collection. Queen Elizabeth I was born in the Palace of Placentia which preceded this house and her wonderful Armada Portrait hangs in the gallery. The latest addition to the house came in 1807 when two flanking wings with colonnades were added. Wren’s Royal Observatory can be seen atop the hill.

A visit to this wonderful complex must end with a tour of the National Maritime Museum which celebrates Britain’s naval might. Nearby is also the beautiful Victorian clipper Cutty Sark which is worth a visit, as well as the lovely St. Alfege’s church by Hawksmoor. The monumental twin-domed buildings on the Thames remain a testament to the great taste of the time, the masterful skills of Sir Christopher Wren, and of Britain’s noble sea-history!