"Somerset House, London, was built to house government offices and fills a huge site between the Strand and River Thames. The Strand facade is a modest nine bays in width, with an order (half-columns) above an arched rusticated basement in the manner of a sixteenth-century Italian palace. Beyond the facade opens a vast court twice its width. The long side and end elevations with their central unpedimented projections call to mind A.J. Gabriel's [Le Petit Trianon], for example, as well as buildings by Vanbrugh; despite their size they are relatively subdued. The dignified river facade, despite nineteenth-century modifications, still closely reflects Chambers's intentions. It is very long, nearly 200 m (600 ft), symmetrical, but broken into several subsidiary sections rather like Versailles. The outer sections have connecting water gates resembling Palladian bridges. The central inset colonnade with its pedimented attic above and dome behind provides a discreet central emphasis."

— Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. p1050, 1053.

Details

First occupied by students in May 1780. (1)

Waterfront facade 183 m (600 ft) long.