The rubble edges of a ruined window in the 14th century Bishop's Palace beside St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK, frame the cathedral’s central tower and its west front, rebuilt in purple sandstone in mixed styles and to poor technical standards in 1793 by celebrated Regency and Georgian neoclassical architect John Nash, designer of London’s Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch and Regent Street, and Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. The facade had to be remodelled in the 1860s when it began to lean outward and it needed further major repairs in the 1990s.
St Davids Cathedral, St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK: the rubble edges of an empty window in the ruined 14th century Bishops Palace frame the ancient cathedral tower and its west front, rebuilt in purple Cambrian sandstone in mixed styles and to poor technical standards in 1793 by celebrated neoclassical architect John Nash, then rebuilt in the 1860s after Nash’s construction proved unstable. Nash (1752-1835) was one of the most influential architects of the Regency and Georgian eras. He worked for the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and was solely or jointly responsible for designing many important buildings and streets in London, including Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch, Carlton House Terrace, Clarence House, the Royal Mews and Regent Street. Outside London, he designed the Royal Pavilion in Brighton as well as numerous stately homes and grand country houses all over England and Wales. St Davids Cathedral began to suffer from structural problems within 100 years of its foundation in 1181. The central tower collapsed twice and by 1789, the west front was leaning outward by one foot (.3m). John Nash’s solution, to rebuild the upper part of the facade was inherently flawed because his new structure was attached to existing nave walls that were also sloping west under pressure from the leaning central tower. Nash’s west front, unstable within a few decades, had to be remodelled between 1862 and 1870 by Victorian Gothic Revival architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. More recently, the west front has required further extensive repairs, for which the quarry that provided the original purple sandstone was reopened. The work was completed in 1998.
Size: 2615px × 3887px
Location: St Davids Cathedral, St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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