It consisted of fifty-six villas and a zoo – which is still there – but by the time George IV became King costs had skyrocketed and only eight villas were built. With the draftsman James Morgan, Nash began an elaborate plan for the development of the whole area. The land remained rural countryside until the 19th century when John Nash was Architect to the Woods and Forests Department, and friend of the Prince of Wales, the future King George IV.
King Charles II had the whole area “disparked” and toward the end of the 17th century Lord Arlington was given one of the first private leases. Over the years, King Henry Vlll hunted there, Queen Elizabeth I used it for entertaining dignitaries and King James I offered it as collateral to raise money to go to war. Half a century before the Norman Conquest the land belonged to the Abbey of Barking. The house stands behind fifteen-foot high iron gates on land that was once part of a “great forest, with wooded glades and lairs of wild beasts, deer both red and fallow, wild bulls and boars”. James’s – occupying twelve and a half acres on the northwest side. A map of Regent’s Park shows Winfield House – the residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Court of St.
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