Historedia
Episode 1 of 1

Construction of the King's Library

When
1823–1828
Where
British Museum site
Part of
Construction of the British Museum's new building begins

Work on the King's Library Gallery began in 1823, forming the east wing of the new British Museum building in London.

The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished to allow construction to begin. The King's Library, donated by George IV in 1823, necessitated new space. This phase, built between 1823 and 1828, was the first part of Smirke's 1823 plan to be constructed.

Sources

  1. British Museum Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
  2. Robert Smirke (architect) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.