The Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace

After a fire damaged part of Cardinal Wolsey's Whitehall Palace, James I set about building a new royal palace on the site. The plans were drawn by Inigo Jones and included those for the Banqueting House which was but a small portion of the plan. Later plans, drawn by Webb, show that the completed palace would have far exceeded the Louvre, Paris, in extent. These were never executed, however. The building stands as evidence of a full understanding of Vignola's and Palladio's architecture transplanted into an English city scene.