The Wellington Arch, also known as the Constitution Arch or (originally) as the Green Park Arch, is a Grade I-listed triumphal arch by Decimus Burton that forms a centrepiece of Hyde Park Corner in central London, the road junction near the south-eastern corner of Hyde Park. The Arch stands on a large green-space traffic island with crossings for pedestrian access. The arch was built between 1826 and 1830 directly opposite Burton's Ionic Screen as part of a majestic approach route from Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace. In 1882–1883 it was taken down and rebuilt a short distance away, facing west, at its current site at the top of the Constitution Hill. As a result of a moratorium on expenditure from 1828, all the intended sculpture was omitted from the arch when it was built. A public subscription was raised in 1837 for an equestrian statue of the 1st Duke of Wellington, to be placed on the arch. In 1846, over the vehement objections of Burton, a colossal equestrian statue by the sculptor Matthew Cotes Wyatt was installed on the arch, leading to the name by which the arch is known. When the arch was rebuilt in 1882-83, Matthew Cotes Wyatt's colossal statue was not reinstated. It was held in storage in London until 1885, when it was moved to Aldershot and re-erected. Since 1912 the sculpture Peace descending on the Quadriga of War by Adrian Jones, a bronze of the Goddess of Victory Nike riding a quadriga (an ancient four-horse chariot), has surmounted the arch.
Construction
Even before the Battle of Waterloo had been fought, proposals were being made for a triumphal arch at Hyde Park Corner. One, by the architect William Kinnard, was remarkably similar to the final form which the Wellington Arch was to reach 100 years later (except that George III was atop the quadriga rather than Nike).
Both the Wellington Arch and Marble Arch (originally sited in front of Buckingham Palace) were planned in 1825 by George IV to commemorate Britain's victories in the Napoleonic Wars. During the second half of the 1820s, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests and the King resolved that Hyde Park, and the area around it, should be renovated to match the splendour of rival European capital cities, and that the essence of the new arrangement would be a triumphal approach to the recently completed Buckingham Palace.The committee of the project, led by the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, and advised by Charles Arbuthnot, President of the Board of Commissioners of Woods and Forests, selected Decimus Burton as the project's architect. In 1828, when giving evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the Government's spending on public works, Arbuthnot explained that he had nominated Burton "having seen in the Regent's Park, and elsewhere, works which pleased my eye, from their architectural beauty and correctness". Burton intended to create an urban space dedicated to the celebration of the House of Hanover, national pride, and the nation's heroes. The renovation of Hyde Park, Green Park, and St James's Park began in 1825, with the demarcation of new drives and pathways, subsequent to which Burton designed new lodges and gates in the classical style, viz. Cumberland Gate, Stanhope Gate, Grosvenor Gate, the Ionic Screen at Hyde Park Corner and, later, the Prince of Wales's Gate, Knightsbridge. There were no authoritative precedents in the classical style for such buildings, which required windows and chimney stacks. In the opinion of architectural historian Guy Williams, "Burton's reticent treatment of the supernumerary features" and of the cast iron gates and railings was "greatly admired".At Hyde Park Corner, the King required "some great ceremonial outwork that would be worthy of the new palace that lay to its rear". He accepted Burton's proposal for a gateway, a classical screen and a triumphal arch. Those approaching Buckingham Palace from the north would pass first through the screen, then through the arch, before turning left to descend Constitution Hill and enter the forecourt of Buckingham Palace through John Nash's Marble Arch. The screen became the neoclassical Ionic Screen at Hyde Park Corner, which delighted the King and his Committee, and which Guy Williams describes as "one of the most pleasing architectural works that have survived from the neo-classical age". The triumphal arch became the Wellington Arch, originally immediately opposite the Ionic Screen as the entrance to Green Park but now at the western end of the road down Constitution Hill; it has been described as "one of London's best loved landmarks". Burton's original design for the triumphal arch was modelled on the Arch of Titus at Rome, the source for the central and side blocks of the Ionic Screen. It therefore cohered perfectly with the Screen, but was rejected by the Committee because it was not sufficiently ostentatious. Burton created a new design, "to pander to the majestic ego". This was much larger and modelled on a fragment found in the Roman Forum. It was accepted on 14 January 1826, and subsequently became the present Wellington Arch. The arch has a single opening, and uses the Corinthian order. Overspending on Buckingham Palace led to a moratorium in 1828 on public building work, with the consequence that most of the intended exterior ornamentation and all the decorative sculpture was omitted. The original plans are shown in the 1827 engraving at the start of this section.
Sculpture of the triumphal arch
When it was built, the arch was left without decorative sculpture. In 1837 a public subscription was raised for an equestrian statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, to be placed on top of the arch. The organiser was Sir Frederick Trench, with his patron John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland. They selected as sculptor Matthew Cotes Wyatt, of whom F. M. O'Donoghue wrote in the Dictionary of National Biography "thanks to royal and other influential patronage, Wyatt enjoyed a reputation and practice to which his mediocre abilities hardly entitled him". Burton repeatedly expressed his opposition to the proposal "as plainly and as vehemently as his nature allowed" over subsequent years. The statue would "disfigure" his arch, for which it was much too large. Contrary to all classical precedent, it would have to be placed across, instead of in line with, the roadway under the arch.
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