Plans to demolish a grade I-listed crescent designed by Buckingham Palace architect John Nash were never going to be uncontroversial. But PDP London has redressed a botched 1960s rebuild and restored many of the original architectural features
Trying to get any grade I-listed building demolished and rebuilt is a tall order. The challenge is even greater when dealing with an iconic crescent by one of Britain’s most renowned architects.
The distinctive curved and elegant colonnaded Park Crescent, south of London’s Regent’s Park, built during the early 1820s, was designed by John Nash, the leading Regency and Georgian architect of the time. Park Crescent was a key part of Nash’s masterplan for central London and was conceived as a full circus along with Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus. But this vision was curtailed due to financial constraints, and instead a park completed the crescent’s remaining semi-circle.