The Hyde Park Barracks are in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

, on the southern edge of Hyde Park. They were often known as Knightsbridge Barracks and this name is still sometimes used informally. The barracks are from

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the 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 r ...

, enabling the officers and soldiers of the Household Cavalry to be available to respond speedily to any emergency at the Palace, practice drills at

Horse Guards Parade Horse Guards Parade is a large Military parade, parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at British national grid reference system, grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the K ...

or beyond and conduct other more ceremonial duties.

History

Its first buildings were constructed for the Horse Guards in 1795, and a riding school and stables designed by Philip Hardwick were added in 1857. These were replaced with new ones designed by

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects for 1870–1873 and being awarded its Royal Gold Me ...

on which construction started in 1878 and was completed in May 1880. These were in turn demolished to make way for modernist buildings by Sir Basil Spence, completed in 1970. It was built to accommodate 23 officers, 60 warrant officers and non-commissioned officers, 431 rank and file, and 273 horses. The most prominent feature is a 33-storey, residential tower, which is one of the two most prominent modern buildings as seen from Hyde Park along with the London Hilton on Park Lane. It was built by Sir Robert McAlpine between 1967 and 1970. The barracks are the base for the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, which is horsed and carries out mounted (and some dismounted) ceremonial duties on state and royal occasions in London. These duties include the provision of a Sovereign's Escort, most commonly seen at the Sovereign's Birthday Parade (

Trooping the Colour Trooping the Colour is a ceremonial event performed every year on Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of Household Division, to celebrate the King's Official Birthday, official birthday of the British sovereign, though t ...

) in June each year. Other occasions include important ceremonies that take place during

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

s by visiting

heads of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

, or whenever required by the British monarch. The regiment also mounts the King's Life Guard at Horse Guards, which consists of one squadron from each regiment. In April 2024, horses belonging to the barracks escaped, bolting after being spooked by construction noises. The horses collided with pedestrians and vehicles. Two of the horses reached as far as

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...

. The horses involved recovered from their injuries and, after a short break with the Horses Trust, all were due to return to ceremonial duty. On 1 July 2024, three horses bolted from their riders with one of the horses receiving minor injuries. None of the horses were involved in the previous April 2024 incident.

Reception

The building has been described by the magazine, '' Country Life'', as "dramatically modern and uncompromising", but many people have viewed it less favourably; it was voted number eight in a ''Country Life'' poll of Britain's "top ten eyesores". Lord St John of Fawsley remarked that "Basil Spence's barracks in Hyde Park ruined that park; in fact, he has the distinction of having ruined two parks, because of his Home Office building, which towers above St. James's Park". Critic A. A. Gill described the Barracks as the ugliest building in London, and said that Spence "managed to construct vertical bomb damage out of horizontal bomb damage."'I did not want this to be a mimsy-pimsy building', Spence is reported as saying. 'It is for soldiers. On horses. In armour'. He also felt that a tower would cut out less light to the park than a slab block, and would block fewer upper-storey views of the Royal Park from buildings to the south. In 2015 the C20 charity which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage applied to have the building listed. Their bid was endorsed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

, but was rejected by Culture minister Tracey Crouch.

Based units

The following notable unit is based at Hyde Park Barracks.

British Army

Household Cavalry * Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

References

{{Commons category, Hyde Park Barracks, London

External links