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Article: How `contemptible and bland' Buckingham Palace was given the theme park treatment
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- December 20, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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BUCKINGHAM PALACE has been given a stunning Royals-R-Us fantasy
makeover by one of Britain's best-known architects, Sir Terry
Farrell, who hates the building because "it gives the wrong message
about the monarchy and treats us with contempt". He wants to
jackhammer and bulldoze "the White Cliffs of Windsor" into a kind of
open house.
His hate for the "hostile" complex of buildings is lavish. He
loathes the "bland" Edwardian frontage. Nor can he stand the way the
palace is surrounded by high walls, protecting internal gardens which
are technically ground belonging to the public. He wants a people's
palace that treats visitors as citizens rather than subjects. And he
admits that, when he was ...