Old Somerset House on the Strand, engraved by Jean Benoit Winckler (engraving)

Construction of this palace was begun in 1547 and still not finished by January 1552 when the Protector Somerset, uncle of Edward VI, was executed; although a courtyard house in the Tudor tradition, with a gatehouse to the Strand and a great hall opposite on the river front, the architecture departed from the old Gothic style of architecture and, instead, combined Doric and Ionic pillars in the most serious attempt at classical composition yet seen in England; in 1552 the palace was given to Princess Elizabeth as her London home; demolished in 1775 and replaced by the present Somerset House to the design of Sir William Chambers;