The Regent's Park

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit the The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

Details

Early C19 landscape park designed by John Nash as a setting for villa residences and subsequently, from 1835 onwards, opened as a public park. The grounds have seen continuous development into the late C20.

NOTE

This entry is a summary. Because of the complexity of this site, the standard Register entry format would convey neither an adequate description nor a satisfactory account of the development of the landscape. The user is advised to consult the references given below for more detailed accounts. Many Listed Buildings exist within the site, not all of which have been here referred to. Descriptions of these are to be found in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Regent's Park is situated to the west of London, c 1km west of Euston station and c 2km north of Green Park (qv).

The c 147ha of Regent's Park slopes gently to the south and is largely enclosed within a major road, the Outer Circle, this being separated from the park by chain-link fencing and privet hedges. The boundary to the north is made up from that part of Prince Albert Road which runs between the London Central Mosque to the west, and Gloucester Gate to the east. Between Chalbert Street bridge to the west, and St Mark's Bridge to the east, the strip of land between the Outer Circle and Prince Albert Road is principally taken up with Regent's Canal.

Regent's Park is largely laid to grass, much of which is set aside for recreational sports. The Bernard Baron sports pavilion situated in the centre of the park is a 1938 replacement for the one demolished in 1911. Since the early 1900s enclosures for children's playgrounds have been provided and these were added to in the 1930s.

A number of tarmacked paths which radiate from the entrances and from points within the site, cut across the grass. The most significant and widest of these is the Broad Walk. Set to the east of the Zoological Gardens, the walk passes over the Grand Union Canal, then runs south from the Outer Circle. After c 500m the walk divides around an ornate marble and granite drinking fountain (1896, listed grade II) before continuing for a further c 500m where it is crossed by Chester Road, which leads west to the Inner Circle. The final c 400m of the walk runs through the formal Italian Garden. Created in 1864 by William A Nesfield, at the direction of Prince Albert, the Garden had become grassed over by the late C20. By the 1990s proposals were in hand to restore both the Italian Garden and the informal English Garden to the east, the English Garden having been made at around the same time by Nesfield's son Markham, who used mounded grass and planting to create informal glades. The restoration of the Italian Garden was completed in 1996; the renewal of planting in the English Garden is (2000) ongoing.

To the north of the site, housing a collection of exotic animals and birds, are the Zoological Gardens (c 17ha). In 1828 the Royal Zoological Society rented a triangular plot of land of c 8ha to the north of the site. Few examples of the original animal buildings by Decimus Burton (1800-81) survive; those that do include the former Camel House, the Raven House (both listed grade II), and the Giraffe and Hippopotamus House (1830-1, listed grade II). The Zoological Gardens grew rapidly in popularity, expanding to the north of the canal and, in order to accommodate the ever-increasing collection of birds and animals, new buildings were made, one of the latest (1961-5) being the walk-in aviary by Lord Snowdon (listed grade II*). Other listed buildings within the Zoological Gardens include the Mappin Terrace (Belcher and Joass, 1913-14, listed grade I), and the Penguin Pool (Tecton 1934, listed grade I).

To the south-west of the Zoological Gardens is the Boating Lake. The c 8ha Y-shaped lake, situated to the south-west side of the park, is decorated with a number of islands, including two to the north-east arm, one to the north of the west arm, and two towards the centre. The east and west arms of the lake are crossed by ornamental footbridges, the southern arm being crossed by York Bridge (listed grade II) which carries cars between the Outer and Inner Circle. In 1930 a small children's boating pool was added c 50m to the west of the western arm of the lake.

Some 100m to the east of the Boating Lake and set within the Inner Circle are Queen Mary's Gardens (c 7ha). To the south and south-west the ornamental gardens, largely laid out with roses introduced by Duncan Campbell c 1932, run east to a miniature lake with an island and a bridge. A central path leads north from ornamental gates (listed grade II), erected to commemorate King George V and Queen Mary's Jubilee in 1935, to a pool and fountain (listed grade II). The pool and fountain replaced the Royal Botanic Society's C19 conservatory which was demolished c 1932 as part of the work undertaken by Campbell. To the north-east and east of the central path the garden is decorated with an extensive rockery and water features. To the north-west is the open-air theatre and cafe. The latter, opened in 1932, was made on the site of the Royal Botanic Society's museum and secretary's house. Two sets of heavily gilded gates decorate the entrances to the gardens. The eastern gates, from Chester Road, were provided by Sigismund Goetze, a wealthy local artist, in 1932. Goetze also funded the Jubilee Gates which guard the entrance from south side of the Inner Circle and provided trees, hedging, and advice for Campbell's new design. Between 1838 and 1932 the gardens within the Inner Circle were leased to the Royal Botanic Society and laid out to demonstrate the visual qualities of plants. The plants were grouped according to their uses in medicine, agriculture, or manufacturing processes. In 1935 the gardens were re-opened as Queen Mary's Gardens.

OTHER LAND

Nash's original grand vision included a full circus to provide a grand entrance to the new Crown Estate at its south-east corner, but in the event only the southern semi-circle, Park Crescent, was realised. Work began in 1812 but the builder, Charles Mayor, went bankrupt when only six houses had been completed in the south-eastern quadrant. Work only recommenced in 1818. Map evidence indicates that the early layout of Park Crescent Gardens comprised a perimeter planting belt with inner path, with a statue of the Duke of Kent (d.1829; listed Grade II) at the centre of the south side of the gardens, terminating the vista down Portland Place. There are small lodges in the Greek Doric style at the north-east and north-west corners of the Garden matched, across Marylebone Road (beneath which runs a curving underpass, connecting the two Gardens), by identical lodges at the top corners of Park Square Gardens. All are of 1823-5 and by John Nash, and all are listed Grade II. Ventilating shafts of 1976 for the Fleet Line just inside the north edge of the Gardens are disguised as summer houses. The landscaping is informal, with shrubberies and mature trees around the perimeter, broad gravel paths, and a lawned interior.

The northern half of the planned circus was replaced by Park Square, with two terraces designed by Nash and built by William Mountford Nurse in 1823-5 facing each other across a grass square defined by iron railings of 1823-5 (listed Grade II) designed by John Nash. Map evidence shows that in the early C19 there was a narrow belt of planting around the edge of Park Square Gardens with a perimeter path around its inner edge. A path curved into the park joining the north-east and north-west gates, with a similar path linking the south-west and south-east gates. A further curving path linked the north and south paths, and there was some informal planting in the interior. The present path layout and planting, with shrubberies, a number of mature trees, and a lawned interior, is little if any different to this (the early mapping is too small-scale for detailed analysis) although a circular path had been added within the arc of the south path by the later C19. Two small lodges in the style of John Nash were built in the north-west and north-east corners of Park Square Gardens in the later C20 (pre-1968).

Both Gardens are private.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:

Regent's Park is included on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens for the following principal reasons:

* as a key element of John Nash's major improvement scheme of 1811-28 for north-west London which also included Regent Street;

* as one of the most ambitious urban parks of the early C19;

* for the specific interest of some of its designed landscape elements such as WA Nesfield's Italian Garden of 1864 and the near-contemporary English Garden by his son Markham;

* as the setting for a large number of listed structures within it including early C19 villas and those of the Zoological Gardens, and the surrounding terraces.

REFERENCES

A Saunders, Regent's Park: A Study of the Development of the Area from 1066 to the Present Day (2nd ed 1981)

J Summerson, John Nash (1980) The Regent's Park: Royal Parks Survey, (William Gillespie & Partners 1981) [Report contains numerous references and maps.]

Royal Parks Review, St James's and Green Parks, Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, (Royal Parks Review Group 1993), pp 41-84

Maps [reproduced in Gillespie & Partners 1981]

G Richardson, Marylebone Park Farm, 1794

J Nash, Plan for Marylebone Park, 1812

J Nash, Plan of The Regent's Park Estate belonging to His Majesty, 1827

Barnett and Britton, Survey of St Marylebone and Paddington, 1834

Plan of Regent's Park and Primrose Hill Estate belong to the Crown, 1850

W A Nesfield, Plan for Avenue Garden, 1864

OS 25" to 1 mile:

1st edition published 1870

2nd edition published 1895

Description written: September 2000

Register Inspector: LCH

Edited: January 2002

Amended: November 2008