Henry Holland began enlarging the original building for George, Prince of Wales, in 1787. John Nash redesigned and greatly extended it from 1815 to 1822, giving it its current appearance. By then the client was the Prince Regent, later George IV. The infobox gives completion as 1823.
The infobox calls the style Indo-Saracenic Revival, and the text also uses Indo-Islamic. Bulbous domes, minarets topped by chhatris and cusped arches are Mughal-inspired, and the exterior is often compared with the Taj Mahal. The Music and Banqueting Rooms have tented roofs that use laminated timber and iron connectors to span without central columns.
The Pavilion served as a military hospital for the Indian Army from December 1914 to January 1916, and then for British soldiers who had lost limbs. It is Grade I listed and gets about 200,000 visitors a year.
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