James Elmes

Metropolitan Improvements Or London In the Nineteenth Century

Jones & Co., 1847.

What a prospect lies before us. Splendour, health, dressed rurality and comforts such as nothing but a metropolis can afford are spread around us. "Trim gardens", lawns and shrubs; towering spires, ample domes, banks clothed with flowers, all the elegancies of the town, and all the beauties of the country are co-mingled with happy art and blissful union. They must surely all be the abodes of nobles and princes! No, the majority are the retreats of the happy free-born sons of commerce, of the wealthy commonalty of Britain, who thus enrich and bedeck the heart of their great empire

Elmes walked around the park in 1827, when it was still under construction. Pausing for a breather at the 'north east boundary' (the Zoo grounds were still being prepared), the prospect before him confirmed his belief that 'the public are beholden' to Nash 'for the most picturesque improvements that ever were bestowed upon their metropolis'. As a practising architect his particular interest was the buildings; the scenery was there to provide an attractive setting, as with Sussex Place:

The lake spreads its tranquil bosom before the facade, and reflects its eastern-like cupolas with pleasing effect. The varied plantations of the park, group with singular felicity, and the delightful season, that we are now enjoying, gives a double relish to the natural beauties of the place