View across Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, looking east from the western side of the square. Trafalgar Square was planned as part of the redevelopment of the West Strand Improvements by John Nash following the passing of the Charing Cross Act of 1826. Although it was to be another 30 years before the square was completed, it occupies the area of the former Great Mews of the Crown Stables. Charles Barry was the architect, although he opposed the decision to erect Nelson's Column on the site - he was overruled. The whole square is Grade I listed, number 1001362. In the northwest corner of the square is an empty plinth. It was originally intended for an equestrian statue of William IV, but insufficient funds were raised so it remained bare for 150 years. Since 1998, the Fourth Plinth Project (now Commission), commissioned modern art works to occupy the plinth on a temporary basis. The National Gallery, on the northern side, was built 1832-38 by William Wilkins, to house The Angerstein Collection of paintings purchased by the government for The Royal Academy. The central Corinthian portico is raised on a podium wall with flanking steps and set back behind the portico pediment is a stone cupola dome. The secondary Corinthian porticoes have parapets raised over a central bay. The terminal pavilions have pairs of giant pilasters surmounted by small octagonal stone cupolas with pierced work openings. It is Grade I listed, number 1066236. On the northeast corner of the square is the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The earliest reference to the church is from 1222, and Henry VIII rebuilt it in 1542 to keep plague victims in the area from having to pass through his Palace of Whitehall. By 1710 the walls and roof were in a state of decay, and in 1720, Parliament passed an act for the rebuilding of the church allowing for a sum of up to £22,000, to be raised by a rate on the parishioners. The current church was built 1722-26 to a neoclassical design by James Gibbs in Portland Stone with a staged tower and steeple rising above a Classical Corinthian portico. It is Grade I listed, number 1217661. In the square is an equestrian statue of statue of George IV by Sir Francis Chantrey and T. Earle. A bronze statue cast in 1829 for the Marble Arch in its original setting as the entrance to Buckingham Palace, and moved to this site in 1843. It is Grade II* listed, number 1275350. Along the north side of the square are raised flower beds which have since been removed. In the foreground on the pavement is a 'Sandbin'. In the nineteenth century, sand was used to deaden the noise of carts and to reduce the risk of horses slipping on cobblestones.