View of the courtyard of Somerset House, Strand, City of Westminster through the carriage entrance from the Strand. A major thoroughfare, the Strand runs east to west from Trafalgar Square to Temple Bar. Named from the Old English 'strond', meaning the edge of a river, as before modern embankments and land reclamation it ran alongside the north bank of the River Thames. Between The Strand and the river, many historically important mansions were built from the twelfth to the seventeenth century. The first palace on this site was built by Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset in 1547, but after his execution in 1552 the property passed to the crown. In 1609 Inigo Jones was invited by James I's queen, Anne of Denmark, to redesign and renovate the palace and it was renamed Denmark House. This was used in the eighteenth century as grace and favour apartments and was eventually demolished in 1775. The new building was constructed between 1776-96 by Sir William Chambers. The Strand block has a nine-window wide front, with three central bays open as carriage arches leading into the quadrangle. In the distance is the block originally opening directly on to the Thames with water-gates. Three main storeys throughout and two and a half storeys of basements, and with a dome. The Royal Academy of Arts became the first resident in 1779, and other occupants have included the Admiralty and the Inland Revenue where it was based for 150 years. The building suffered bomb damage during World War II and in 1950, Sir Alfred Richardson undertook renovation work. The Courtauld Institute of Art moved into the North Wing in 1989 and remains there still. Somerset House is Grade I listed, number 1237041. In the centre of the quadrangle is a statue of King George III by sculptor John Bacon the elder, erected in 1780. A bronze standing figure with a lion set on a Portland Stone pedestal with reclining bronze figure of Father Thames, raised on a plinth in a balustraded parapet to a semi-circular well in front. It is Grade I listed, number 1237087.