Buckingham Palace

Listen for a moment before you look. There is the crunch of gravel and the low hum of traffic around the roundabout. Somewhere a camera shutter clicks, and a child asks a question in a language you may not recognise. Then the façade comes into focus. It is a long, pale wall of stone, very calm and very even, with row after row of windows looking back at you. This is Buckingham Palace, and it is surprisingly quiet for a building that so many people come to see.

The front you are facing is newer than most visitors expect. It is not the face of a centuries-old castle. It dates mostly from the early twentieth century. In 1913, the architect Aston Webb refaced this East Front in pale Portland stone, a limestone quarried on the south coast of England. He completed the work in just a few months. Before that, the front had a softer Caen stone that crumbled and blackened in London's sooty air. So the clean, ordered wall in front of you is partly a repair job, and it was carried out at speed.

The story of this site begins with a much smaller house. In the early 1700s, the Duke of Buckingham built a large townhouse here. It stood at the edge of the city, among fields and gardens. It was called Buckingham House, and the name has stayed ever since. In 1761, King George III bought it as a private family home for his wife, Queen Charlotte. Many of their children grew up here. For a time it was known simply as the Queen's House. It was a comfortable residence then, not yet a palace.

Here is a story that many visitors miss. Before the Duke built his house, King James I had a mulberry garden planted near this spot in the early seventeenth century. He hoped to start an English silk industry, because silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. According to a popular tale, the wrong kind of mulberry was planted. Silkworms prefer the white mulberry, and the story says black mulberries went in instead. Whether or not that detail is true, the silk plan never succeeded. Mulberry trees still grow in the palace gardens today.

The real transformation came in the nineteenth century. King George IV wanted something grander. He hired John Nash, the architect who also shaped Regent Street and much of elegant Regency London. Nash enlarged the old house into a three-sided palace around a courtyard. The costs rose sharply, and Parliament grew angry about the spending. After George IV died, another architect, Edward Blore, took over and finished the building. It was a long and expensive project, and for some years nobody actually lived in it.

The first monarch to make this her home was Queen Victoria. She moved in during 1837, soon after she came to the throne, while she was still a young woman. The palace was not ready for her. Some chimneys smoked, and some of the drains and ventilation had problems. Her growing family soon needed more room. So in the 1840s, a new wing was built across the open side of the courtyard. That new wing is the East Front — the side you are looking at now.

That new wing closed the courtyard, and it created something important: the balcony. Look to the centre of the façade, at first-floor level. This is where the royal family appears at moments of national celebration, such as coronations, royal weddings and the end of wars. At the end of the Second World War, huge crowds filled the space where you stand. They called for the King and Queen to come out. In that moment, the balcony stopped being part of a private house. It became a public stage.

Here is a second surprise. The great white arch at the north-east corner of Hyde Park once stood in front of this palace. Marble Arch was designed by Nash as a grand ceremonial entrance to the courtyard. When the East Front was built, the arch no longer fitted the design. In 1851, it was taken down and rebuilt at the edge of Hyde Park, where it still stands today. So a piece of this palace now sits more than a kilometre away, beside one of London's busiest junctions.

Turn around and look at the white marble monument behind you. This is the Victoria Memorial. It was unveiled in 1911, ten years after the Queen's death. She sits facing down The Mall, the long, straight avenue lined with trees. At the top stands a gilded figure of Winged Victory, bright gold against the sky. Around the base are figures that represent ideas such as Truth, Justice and Motherhood. The memorial, The Mall and the refaced palace front were planned together as one ceremonial route.

The building behind the gates is much larger than it looks from the road. It is often said to contain 775 rooms. These include state rooms, offices and bedrooms for staff and guests. Many of those rooms are working spaces. They hold offices for the people who organise royal events, correspondence and state visits. Behind the palace lies a large private garden with a lake and lawns. Garden parties are held there in summer. Thousands of guests are invited to honour their work in public service and in their communities.

The palace has also known danger. During the Second World War, bombs struck it several times. One raid destroyed the private chapel. Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI, is often quoted as saying she was glad the palace had been bombed. She felt it meant she could look the East End in the face. The East End was the poor, heavily bombed area of East London. Later, the ruined chapel became the Queen's Gallery. Today it shows paintings and treasures from the Royal Collection.

Now look at the flagpole on the roof. The flag tells you something. When the monarch is in residence, the Royal Standard usually flies. This is a flag divided into quarters with lions and a harp. At other times you will normally see the Union Flag. Then look down to the forecourt and the sentry boxes. Soldiers of the King's Guard often stand there in red tunics and tall bearskin caps. Changing the Guard takes place in this forecourt on many days, with music, marching and very precise movements.

For most of the year, the palace remains a working building. Its doors open to paying visitors for a period in summer, when guests can walk through the State Rooms. Those rooms are full of gilding, deep red fabrics, chandeliers and paintings by artists such as Rembrandt and Rubens. In recent years, the palace has also been through a long programme of renovation. Workers have replaced old wiring, plumbing and heating that dated back many decades. It is part home, part office and part museum, all inside the same walls.

Before you leave, stand still for one more moment. Look up at the windows, and imagine the lamps behind them on a winter evening. Behind you, The Mall runs straight towards Admiralty Arch, and the trees of Saint James's Park move to your right. As you walk away, listen for the traffic and for the guards' boots on the gravel. Remember that this pale wall began as a nobleman's house at the edge of a field. Everything you see grew outward from that one simple home.