It was faced with stone, and enlarged by the Wyatts in 1828, and in 1830
the Crown sold its interest in the building for L9,530. Further
alterations were made in 1853. In the west gallery was held annually the
Waterloo Banquet during the great Duke's life, and his study is still
preserved intact. The house contains a good collection of pictures and
many relics of the Napoleonic era.

Hyde Park Corner was the entrance to London until 1825, when the
turnpike was removed. Cottages existed here in 1655. It is now an open
triangular space, much enlarged when a portion of Green Park was thrown
into the roadway in 1888. In the centre, about 1828, was erected a
triumphal arch, an imitation of the arch of Titus at Rome. This, in
1846, was surmounted by a colossal equestrian statue of the Duke of
Wellington by Matthew Wyatt, which, in 1888, was removed to Aldershot,
and the arch shifted to the top of Constitution Hill. The vacant space
is now occupied by an equestrian statue of Wellington by Boehm.

In 1642 one of the forts for the defence of London against the Royalists
was erected on the ground opposite the present Apsley House.

The prolongation of Piccadilly to the westward is known generally as
Knightsbridge, as far as the stone bridge which spanned the Westbourne
at the present Albert Gate. Edward the Confessor granted the land to
the Abbey of Westminster, and it was disafforested in 1218. After the
Reformation Knightsbridge was preserved to the Abbey, and still belongs
to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. In 1725 the name was applied to
the fields as far south as the King's Road (Eaton Square), but after the
building of Belgravia it was restricted to the street fronting Hyde
Park. Facing Hyde Park Corner is St. George's Hospital, established in
1733; the residence of the Earls of Lanesborough previously occupied the
site. The present building was erected from designs by William Wilkins,
R.A., in 1828, and enlarged in 1831, 1859, and 1868. In the latter year
the south-west wing was added. The question of the removal of the
hospital is exciting much attention at present. In connection with the
hospital is Atkinson Morley's Convalescent Hospital at Wimbledon. The
following celebrated doctors have been attached to this hospital:
Matthew Baillie, 1787-1800; John Hunter, 1768-93; Sir Benjamin Brodie,
1808-40; Sir Prescott Hewett, 1848-91.

Facing Hyde Park a row of well-built private houses now forms St.
George's Place (