This is the principal façade, the East Front; originally constructed by Edward Blore and completed in 1850, it was redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb. The sculpture and gates in the front have been changed from this view.

Blore's best-known but least characteristic work was the completion of Buckingham Palace in 1832-1850 following the dismissal of George IV's architect, John Nash, for extravagance. Blore was given the Buckingham Palace commission by the Office of Works because of his reputation for cheapness. The Builder (28 Aug 1847) remarked of his new front 'it does not pretend to grandeur, and magnificence, scarcely to dignity' and few regretted its refacing by Aston Webb in 1912-1913 (in the French classical style of Louis XVI). Albert, the Prince Consort, entrusted the south-west wing to James Pennethorne. One of Webb's most prominent urban-planning schemes in London was the Queen Victoria Memorial Scheme, won in limited competition in 1901, in which he widened and replanted the Mall in the fashion of a Parisian boulevard.