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    Roger Bowdler

    Roger Bowdler is an academic, architectural historian, author, consultant and a former Director of Listing at Historic England, and Commissioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
    Fig 2: The State Apartment, as remodelled by Robert Adam. The Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the Chelsea Pensioners. Photography by Will Pryce for Country Life Magazine. ©Country Life

    A third of a millennium since it opened, the Royal Hospital Chelsea's work is as vital as it ever was

    Roger Bowdler looks at the evolution of the Royal Hospital Chelsea as a working institution to the present day and, in particular, at the contribution of Sir John Soane.

    • Fig 2: Grinling Gibbons’s gilded figure of Charles II in Figure Court. The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and the home of the Chelsea Pensioners. Photography by Will Pryce for Country Life. ©Country Life

      The Royal Hospital Chelsea: Inside Christopher Wren's masterpiece in SW3

      This year is the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren. In the first of two articles, Roger Bowdler revisits the Royal Hospital Chelsea, one of his most celebrated creations, and the SW3 landmark whose grounds host the annual Chelsea Flower Show.

      By Roger Bowdler Published 16 July 23

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