ABSTRACT

Across the different building types, three styles of architecture were adopted in Early-Hanoverian London: the Baroque, the Palladian and the Neo-Classical. As for the monarchy, the Early-Hanoverians - faced with constitutional change - had little desire to demonstrate their opulence by developing sumptuous new palaces in London, particularly as there was already a plentiful stock of royal residences in or near the capital. Instead of ruling as absolute monarchs, the first two Hanoverian kings were willing to leave British domestic policy almost entirely to elected governments, and it is within this context and with the accumulation of funds derived from a maritime trade and the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions that the built environment of London was enhanced during the eighteenth century. Town planning in London took two forms. First, the implementation of public works schemes, and second the planned development of private estates.