The Hyde Park Barracks are located in Knightsbridge

Knightsbridge

Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

 in central London

Central London

Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...

, U.K. on the southern edge of Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

. Historically they were often known as Knightsbridge Barracks and this name is still sometimes used informally. Hyde Park Barracks is three quarters of a mile from Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

, close enough for the officers and men of the Household Cavalry

Household Cavalry

The term Household Cavalry is used across the Commonwealth to describe the cavalry of the Household Divisions, a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state.Canada's Governor General's...

 to be available to respond speedily to any emergency at the Palace.

The first buildings on the site were constructed for the Horse Guards

Horse Guards

Horse Guards or horse guards can refer to:* A Household Cavalry regiment:** Troops of the Horse Guards Regiment of the British Army from 1658-1788** The Royal Horse Guards, which is now part of the Blues and Royals...

 in 1795, and a riding school and stables designed by Philip Hardwick

Philip Hardwick

Philip Hardwick was an eminent English architect, particularly associated with railway stations and warehouses in London and elsewhere...

 were added in 1857. These buildings were replaced with new ones by Thomas Henry Wyatt

Thomas Henry Wyatt

Thomas Henry Wyatt was an Irish British architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870-73 and awarded their Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1873...

 in the 1880s, which in turn were demolished to make way for modern buildings designed by Sir Basil Spence

Basil Spence

Sir Basil Urwin Spence, OM, OBE, RA was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Modernist/Brutalist style.-Training:Spence was born in Bombay, India, the son of Urwin...

, and 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, 94 metres (308 ft) tall 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

The London Hilton on Park Lane

The London Hilton on Park Lane is a hotel situated on Park Lane, overlooking Hyde Park in the exclusive Mayfair district of London. It is tall and has 28 storeys and 450 rooms. It was completed in 1963 and was designed by William B. Tabler Architects. It is a concrete framed building, and it is...

. It has been described as "dramatically modern and uncompromising", but many people have viewed it less favourably; it was voted number eight in a Country Life

Country Life (magazine)

Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...

 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

50 Queen Anne's Gate

102 Petty France is an office block on Petty France in Westminster, London, overlooking St. James's Park, which was designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, with Sir Basil Spence and completed in 1976. It was well-known as the main location for the UK Home Office department between 1978 and 2004...

, which towers above St. James's Park

St. James's Park

St. James's Park is a 23 hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London - the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less.- Geographical location :St. James's...

".

Hyde Park Barracks is the base for the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is a ceremonial cavalry regiment of the British Army. It is classed as a regiment of guards, and carries out mounted ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions. These include the provision of the Sovereign's Escort, most commonly seen at the present...

, which is horsed and carries out mounted (and some dismounted) ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. These duties include the provision of a Sovereign's Escort, most commonly seen at the present Queen's Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and the Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points...

) in June each year. Other occasions include those during State visit

State visit

A state visit is a formal visit by a foreign head of state to another nation, at the invitation of that nation's head of state. State visits are the highest form of diplomatic contact between two nations, and are marked by ceremonial pomp and diplomatic protocol. In parliamentary democracies, heads...

s by visiting Heads of State, or whenever required by the British monarch. The regiment also mounts the Queen's Life Guard at Horse Guards

Horse Guards

Horse Guards or horse guards can refer to:* A Household Cavalry regiment:** Troops of the Horse Guards Regiment of the British Army from 1658-1788** The Royal Horse Guards, which is now part of the Blues and Royals...

, which consists of one squadron from each regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

.

External links

• Knightsbridge Barracks at the Survey of London
  Survey of London
  The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of the former County of London. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Arts-and-Crafts architect and social thinker, and was motivated by a desire to record and preserve London's ancient monuments...