Burlington House

House built by Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, on the north side of Piccadilly, London, 1665-68. It was remodelled and refaced for the 3rd Earl (the architect) by Colen Campbell in 1715-16. The house was bought by the Government for £140,000 in 1854, and leased, with a garden behind it, to the Royal Academy in 1867.

Campbell's facade survives underneath a top storey and new portico designed in 1867 by Sydney Smirke (1798-1877), the younger brother and pupil of the architect Robert Smirke.

In 1869 the Royal Academy of Arts opened exhibition galleries and schools over the garden site. The interior of the Academy contains original decorations by Sebastiano Ricci, as well as the Academy collections of Diploma works, artists' relics and the celebrated Michelangelo Tondo. The Academy holds major exhibitions in its 13 halls, in addition to its annual summer exhibition.

The buildings on Piccadilly and surrounding the forecourt, in the Italian Renaissance style, erected 1869-72, now provide accommodation for the examining body of London University, and for the following societies: The Royal Society, Society of Antiquaries; Royal Astronomical, Linnaean, Geological and Chemical Societies.