Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning. Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by King George
John Nash (architect) Carmarthen, to where his mother had retired, her family being from the area. In 1785 he and a local man Samuel Simon Saxon re-roofed the town's church for 600 Guineas. Nash and Saxon seem to have worked as building contractors and suppliers of building materials. Nash's London buildings had been standard Georgian terrace houses, and it was in Wales that he matured as an architect. His first major work in the area was the first of three prisons he would design, Carmarthen 1789–92, this prison was planned by the penal reformer John Howard and Nash developed this into the finished