A watercolour of the facade of Buckingham Palace, under scaffolding. Annotated on verso 'No 4 Buckingham Palace / under scaffolding'.

By 1913, the smog and soot of industrial London had darkened the Caen stone façade of Buckingham Palace.  A new facade was designed by Sir Aston Webb, the architect also responsible for the Victoria memorial monument. Webb intially proposed that new facade be installed over a period of two years, with work carried out for three months each year, while the Royal Family were in residence elsewhere. After discussion with builders' firms, however, it was agreed that the work would be completed in just 13 weeks over the summer and autumn of 1913. 

To meet this deadline, 800 men worked in continous shifts day and night – aided by electric lights and flares. Work began on the 5th of August, 1913. 'Scarcely had the Queen’s flag been hauled down when Her Majesty departed for Cowes when quite an army of workmen appeared in front of the palace’ (The Kilburn Times, 15 Aug, 1913). The scaffolding, the main subject of this watercolour, was an 'elaborate' structure with 'six derrick cranes and five electric hoists, and two waygoods’ passenger lifts'. It was of great interest to passersby (The Builder, 14 Nov, 1913), and was featured in the Illustrated London News' Art Notes, where it was praised for its 'splendid economy' (16 Aug, 1913).