[5] In 1697, Fortrey's descendants leased the building to Sir Richard Levett,[nb 1] a powerful merchant and the former Lord Mayor of London, who later left it to his daughter Mary.

William IV marked the site of the observations with a Thomas Tompion sundial in 1832, transferred from Hampton Court Palace to a plinth to the Dutch House's south-east.

Now aged 21, knowing little of his sisters and possibly wishing for a family rapprochement, he soon took a long lease on the old Capel House at Kew and in 1731 also purchased its contents from St André.

[14][15] There was also a stable block of an unknown date serving the White House, located a short distance to its north-east and demolished in the late 19th century.

Along with Cliveden, the White House became Frederick's main family country home, where he entertained poets such as James Thomson (author of The Seasons) and Alexander Pope (who had moved into the area in 1719 and built his eponymous villa at Twickenham).

She was advised by her husband's friend John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, and assisted by Sir William Chambers, one of the greatest masters of ornamental English gardening.

He also used the latter building to house some of his art collection, including a number of Canaletto's works and The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Zoffany, who lived nearby and is buried at St Anne's Church.

[23] This reflects the fact that the buildings and grounds were only leased by the royal family right up until 13 October 1781, when George III purchased the freehold from the Levetts for £20,000.

[27] Though Wyatt led the design, contributions were probably made by the king himself, who had been trained in architectural drawing as a boy at Kew by William Chambers.

He continued: On a former occasion I have viewed its interior, and I am at a loss to conceive the motive for preferring an external form, which rendered it impracticable to construct within it more than a series of large closets, boudoirs, and rooms like oratories.John Bew also included the Castellated Palace in his tourists' guide of 1820: [T]his Anglo-Teutonic, castellated, gothized structure, (which has never been completed, and probably never will be) must be considered as an abortive production, at once illustrative of bad taste and defective judgment.

"[28] The northern front was intended to be appropriated to the use of domestics; the whole building is rendered nearly indestructible by fire, by means of cast-iron joists and rafters, &c. The principal part is brick, stuccoed to resemble stone.

George made a final visit to Kew in 1806 to view works on the Castellated Palace and never returned, though the Dutch House was refitted in 1809 for his youngest daughter Princess Amelia, who had expressed a wish to move into it to convalesce from her tuberculosis.

En route she decided to spend a few days at the Dutch House, but since she was ill with dropsy she was unable to continue her journey and so the weddings took place in the drawing room there on 11 July 1818.

[4] The year before the demolition, an article stated: Innumerable are the instances of princes having sought to perpetuate their memories by the building of palaces, from the Domus Aurea, or golden house of Nero, to the comparatively puny structures of our own times.

As specimens of modern magnificence and substantial comfort, the latter class of edifices may be admirable; but we are bound to acknowledge, that in boldness and splendour of design, they cannot assimilate to the labours of antiquity, much of whose stupendous character is to this day preserved in many series of interesting ruins:— As a record of this degeneracy, near the western corner of Kew Green stands the [Castellated Palace] ... [its] north front possesses an air of solemn, sullen grandeur; but it very ill accords with the taste and science generally displayed by its nominal architect [George III].

The premature fate of [the new] Kew Palace renders it at this moment an object of public curiosity[34][35] George IV also planned to demolish the Dutch House, but this did not come to fruition.

Possibly influenced by having been married there in 1818, his brother William IV commissioned plans for adding a west wing to it and bringing it back into use, but this too did not come about.

This not only included physical restoration to the building, but also weaving of period draperies and other fabric décor carried out by master weaver Ian Dale of Scotland.

The building was used to hold a dinner hosted by Charles, Prince of Wales to celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on 21 April 2006 – a few days later it reopened as a visitor attraction.