A complete overview of Windsor Castle's architecture

Jeffry Wyatville was an influential English architect known for his attention to detail. His notable works include transforming Buckingham Palace and constructing several Gothic-style country houses, showcasing his expertise in blending historical elements with modern design.

Edward Blore was a prominent architect and antiquarian known for his restoration work on historic buildings. He is recognized for his restoration of Lambeth Palace and his contributions to redesigning Buckingham Palace's east front, where he added the iconic central balcony.

Anthony Salvin was a skilled architect specializing in constructing and restoring castles, country houses, and churches. He is celebrated for his restoration work on Alnwick Castle and contributions to the reconstruction of the White Tower of London.

Hugh May was an esteemed architect during the Restoration era. He is remembered for his design of the rebuilt Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, a splendid example of classical architecture, which showcased his skill in creating harmonious and elegant spaces.

Perched high above the Thames River, next to the Saxon royal hunting ground, the castle was originally built to guard London's western side. William the Conqueror began building around 1070, and 16 years later, the castle was complete.

By the late 1100s, Henry II swapped the wood for stone. He built 2 sets of royal apartments within – a State residence in the Lower Ward and a smaller private residence in the Upper Ward. The original Norman keep was rebuilt as the Round Tower in 1170. Later, Henry III rebuilt Henry II’s buildings, including a new chapel.

In the 1350s, King Edward III decided to ditch the military fortification and turn Windsor Castle into a Gothic palace. He spent £50,000, more than any English king had ever spent on a single building. William of Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester, led the renovation in 1357. They built an inner gatehouse with round towers and created royal apartments with separate rooms for the king and queen.

Edward III sadly didn't live to see his work finished, but his grandson Richard II, kept the project going for six more years. Modern touches to the king and queen's rooms were carried out later, and Edward IV began the construction of the present St George’s Chapel in 1475.

By the Middle Ages, Windsor Castle was already a suitable royal residence. King Henry VII built a narrow range west of the State Apartments. His son, Henry VIII, built a gate named after himself and a wooden terrace overlooking the hunting grounds.

By the time Queen Elizabeth I took up residence at Windsor Castle, many parts of the castle needed repair. So, she spruced the place in the 1570s. She even added a long gallery overlooking the North Terrace. This gallery eventually became part of the Royal Library in the 19th century.

Charles II wasn't a fan of the old-fashioned royal palace. When he became king in 1660, he modernized the State Apartments with new interiors including expensive textiles and magnificent tapestries, making them the grandest baroque royal apartments in England in 1684.

The fancy apartments lasted for over a century until King George III brought in an architect to give the rooms a neoclassical look. A Music Room and Dining Room were added. In 1796, he appointed James Wyatt to transform the castle's exterior into a Gothic palace. Wyatt added a vaulted ceiling in the entrance hall and swapped out the Queen’s Stairs with the Grand Stairs.

King George IV continued his predecessor's transformation. His advisor, Sir Charles Long, wanted to exaggerate the castle's exterior. They raised the height of the Round Tower, added new towers and battlements, and added more details to the exterior masonry. Jeffry Wyatville extended the entrance hall to the George IV Tower and tore down the Grand Stair to create the Inner Hall.

George IV didn't live to see the whole project finished, but his successor, King William IV, kept things going. He added the Waterloo Chamber and extended St George's Hall. The Morel & Seddon firm supplied furnishings in the latest French Empire style. £300,000 was spent towards the end of 1828.

After George IV's comprehensive restoration, his successors did little to add to the castle. However, Queen Victoria, who came to the throne in 1837, installed a private chapel at the end of St George's Hall and rebuilt the Grand Staircase. The Royal Mews and the riding school were completed in the 1840s.

Queen Victoria made use of the Inner Hall for almost 30 years but in 1866, she instructed architect Anthony Salvin to close it off and build a smaller State Entrance Hall. The Inner Hall sat there for ages, used as a storeroom and collecting dust until they finally turned it into a temporary exhibition space in 1965.

On November 20, 1992, disaster struck. A fire tore through Queen Victoria's private chapel. The flames spread, engulfing the roof and ruining the ceilings in St George's Hall, the private chapel, and several rooms in the State Apartments including the Grand Reception Room, the State Dining Room, and the Crimson Drawing Room.

A Restoration Committee, led by the late Prince Philip, worked on the repairs and restoration. They rebuilt some of the worst-hit areas, like St George's Hall, in a modern gothic style. Other areas were fixed to look exactly how they had done before the fire. The restoration project was a huge success, commencing exactly five years after the fire.

In 2020, the Inner Hall was reopened, and a new path to the State Entrance Hall was created, used by Heads of State and visitors alike. Plus, you get to see the Long Walk, created by Charles II. Layers of paint from the ceiling of the Inner Hall were also removed, revealing intricate designs underneath, including works by Francis Bernassconi, a popular stuccoist (plasterer) from the Regency period.

Right in the heart of everything, you'll find the Middle Ward, built around a massive, man-made hill that stands 50 feet tall. This impressive mound was created using chalk dug up from the surrounding ditch. It's quite the sight! On top of this hill sits the Round Tower, an original 12th-century building raised 30 feet in height in the 1800s by Jeffry Wyatville to be taller and more impressive. They even added additional space inside in 1991-1993 for the Royal Archives.

There are two main ways to get into the Middle Ward. The western entrance is open, with a gateway that leads to the North Terrace. And on the east side, you'll find the Norman Gatehouse from the 14th century! This gatehouse is heavily vaulted, decorated with carvings and lion masks, a traditional symbol of majesty, and leads to the Upper Ward. The exterior of the gatehouse was remodeled by Wyatville, and the interior was heavily transformed for residential use in the 1800s.

On the north side, you'll find the State Apartments, while the private royal apartments and the King George IV Gate are on the south side. The Round Tower marks the western edge. There's a giant bronze statue of King Charles II on horseback made by Josias Ibach in 1679 under the Round Tower. The Upper Ward is adjacent to Hugh May's 17th-century terraces – the North Terrace overlooks the Thames River and the East Terrace, with George IV’s private rose garden, overlooks the Home Park.

The exterior of the walls in the Upper Ward is made of Bagshot Heath stone, while the inside is lined with regular bricks. For gothic touches, they used yellow stone from Bath. They also added flint to the mortar in the 1600s to make stones from different ages look alike. The Upper Ward was designed to be dramatic with its tall towers and battlements, inspired by the 18th-century picturesque movement. Restoration work after the 1992 fire showed that there are still parts of the original 12th-century walls!

The horseshoe-shaped building, the Horseshoe Cloister, housed church singers. It was restored by George Gilbert Scott in 1871, so not much of the original building is left. One of the oldest surviving parts of the Lower Ward is the Curfew Tower which has a dungeon, a sally port, castle bells from 1478, and a clock from 1689. Anthony Salvin added the conical roof in the 1800s. On the other side of the chapel are 16th-century buildings, including the Military Knights residence where the Order of the Garter Knights lives. There's also King Henry VIII's gateway with the coat of arms of his wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Built between the late 1400s and early 1500s in the Perpendicular Gothic style, inside you'll find ornately carved wooden choir stalls from the 1400s! These were expanded in the 1700s by Henry Emlyn with special brass plates that show the coat of arms of the Knights of the Garter from the last 6 centuries! There's a grand Victorian door and staircase on the west side. The east window is also Victorian with stained glass, but another oriel window built by King Henry VIII for his wife, Catherine of Aragon, on the north side is older.

Speaking of kings and queens, a few of them are buried here! Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Charles I, and even the late Queen Elizabeth II, all rest under the floor in the vault in front of the altar. Edward IV is buried nearby too. Historians say this chapel is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in all of England.

Wyatville designed each room differently with the most famous being the Rococo rooms. The Grand Reception Room is the biggest (100ft x 40ft), with a massive French Rococo ceiling and Gobelins French tapestries, decorated with gold leaf. The White, Green, and Crimson Drawing Rooms have 62 carved, gilded wooden panels illustrating weapons and war.

The Queen's Presence Chamber, the Queen's Audience Chamber, and the King's Dining Room remain untouched from the 1600s, designed by Hugh May alongside painter Antonio Verrio and carver Grinling Gibbons in a Baroque, Franco-Italian style.

Some rooms have a more Gothic design from the 1700s or the Victorian era, like the State Dining Room and Anthony Galvin's Grand Staircase. Giles Downes used the Downesian Gothic style to restore rooms after the 1992 fire. He built 3 rooms in this style: the Lantern Lobby, the private chapel, the Great Kitchen, and the new roof of St George's Hall.

There are also medieval features downstairs. The 14th-century Great Undercroft (193ft x 31ft) still survives. There's also the 14th-century Larderie passage hallway decorated with carved roses built by King Edward III.