Albany apartments

A heritage assessment supported the refurbishment at these exclusive apartments (adjacent to Royal Academy) which are a unique example of a type of domestic arrangement. The Albany was built in 1771–76 by Sir William Chambers for the newly created 1st Viscount Melbourne as Melbourne House. It is a three-storey mansion, seven bays wide, with a pair of service wings flanking a front courtyard. In 1802 it was converted by Henry Holland into 69 bachelor apartments (known as "sets"). This was achieved by subdividing the main block and its two service wings, and by adding two new parallel long buildings covering most of the garden, running as far as a new rear gate building on Burlington Gardens. Additions and removals altered the character of the individual sets over time but, in essence, the strong plan form is maintained for the main rooms. The Heritage assessment identified areas of significance that should be retained whilst proposals to ‘freshen up’ a “set” were reviewed. At the same time the opportunity to reintroduce missing architectural elements was realised.