York House, St. James's Palace

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York House is a historic wing of St James's Palace, London. It was built for Frederick, Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his marriage in 1736, on the site of a suttling-house belonging to the Guards, and faces Ambassadors' Court and Cleveland Row. It is the north-western part of the palace. Prince Frederick occupied it for about a year, until his quarrel with the King drove him from Court.

In 1795 Princess Caroline resided here preparatory to her marriage with the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, subsequently King of Hanover, lived here for a great many years; and the Duchess of Cambridge was identitfied with it from 1851 until her death in 1889. Later occupants included the future George V and Princes Charles, William and Harry, who used it before moving to Clarence House.

The plan of the building is as follows: a suite of somewhat low-pitched rooms on the ground-floor, several drawing-rooms on the first floor, a corridor in the rear, and the servants' rooms on the top story; all facing Cleveland Row. The ceilings of the top floor are low; height having been sacrificed to that of the drawing-room floor, during the nineteenth century a common practice in London mansions.

The appellation York House has been applied at various times to other houses occupied by various Dukes of York, including those now known as Cumberland House, Dover House, Lancaster House and The Albany.

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