DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67417#0138
102
HAMPTON COURT
silent,” treating all persons alike gravely, and only
intent upon affairs. The crowd of courtiers who
thronged about him at Whitehall, the noise and
bustle of London, were alike distasteful to the cold,
grave man. He soon made up his mind to spend
the greater part of the year at Hampton Court,
and when his ministers remonstrated on the incon-
venience occasioned by his prolonged absence from
town, he asked them querulously if they wished to see
him dead. Since, however, the palace was ancient
and destitute of modern conveniences, the King
determined to build new rooms for his own resi-
dence without delay, and entrusted the task to Sir
Christopher Wren, the Surveyor-General, who was
already engaged in the important task of rebuild-
ing St. Paul's Cathedral.
Early in April the work was begun, and when
Evelyn came to Hampton Court in July the old
Cloister Green Court had already been demolished
and “ a great apartment and spacious garden with
fountains were beginning in the Park at the head
of the canal.” 1 This was Wren’s noble quadrangle
known as the Fountain Court, with the grand east
front facing the canal in the Park, and the south
facade looking down on the terrace and Privy
Garden. These two fronts, which Defoe justly
praises as the largest and beyond comparison the
finest of the kind in England, were built of warm
red brick, with windows, balustrades, and other
ornamental details of Portland stone. At the same
time Wren erected the Great Staircase, leading to
1 “ Diary,” iii. 2 7.
HAMPTON COURT
silent,” treating all persons alike gravely, and only
intent upon affairs. The crowd of courtiers who
thronged about him at Whitehall, the noise and
bustle of London, were alike distasteful to the cold,
grave man. He soon made up his mind to spend
the greater part of the year at Hampton Court,
and when his ministers remonstrated on the incon-
venience occasioned by his prolonged absence from
town, he asked them querulously if they wished to see
him dead. Since, however, the palace was ancient
and destitute of modern conveniences, the King
determined to build new rooms for his own resi-
dence without delay, and entrusted the task to Sir
Christopher Wren, the Surveyor-General, who was
already engaged in the important task of rebuild-
ing St. Paul's Cathedral.
Early in April the work was begun, and when
Evelyn came to Hampton Court in July the old
Cloister Green Court had already been demolished
and “ a great apartment and spacious garden with
fountains were beginning in the Park at the head
of the canal.” 1 This was Wren’s noble quadrangle
known as the Fountain Court, with the grand east
front facing the canal in the Park, and the south
facade looking down on the terrace and Privy
Garden. These two fronts, which Defoe justly
praises as the largest and beyond comparison the
finest of the kind in England, were built of warm
red brick, with windows, balustrades, and other
ornamental details of Portland stone. At the same
time Wren erected the Great Staircase, leading to
1 “ Diary,” iii. 2 7.