Marble Arch

At the western end of Oxford Street stands Marble Arch, with its Carrara marble cladding and sculptures celebrating Nelson and Wellington. It was designed by John Nash in 1827 as the entrance to a rebuilt Buckingham Palace, but the arch was moved here in 1851, after – it is said – a fuming Queen Victoria found it to be too narrow for her coach. Now given a £2m revamp, it’s been joined by renovated water fountains and gardens that contain an ongoing series of public sculpture commissions.