Queen’s House and the Tulip Staircase

Queen’s House

It was at this house where the famous Tulip staircase ghost photograph was taken.

Queen’s House is located in Greenwich, London. King James l commissioned the architect Inigo Jones to design a home for his wife Anne of Denmark in 1616.

Jones’ design represented a shift in English architecture. It was the first neoclassical building in England. It contrasted starkly with the then prevalent Elizabethan architecture, which often showcased red bricks, turrets, and towers.

This new home was the King’s way of apologizing. He had cussed in front of his wife after she accidentally killed his favorite dog during a hunt. Anne was never to live in the home. She died in 1617 when only the first floor was complete.

In 1629, Charles l, King James’ son, commissioned work to resume on the home for his French wife, Henrietta Maria. It was completed in 1836. But she did not live in the House for very long.  She was forced to flee to France during the Civil War. While in exile, she heard her husband had been executed.

Henrietta returned to England after her son Charles ll was restored to the throne. She lived at Queen’s House until 1662.

Anne of Denmark and Henrietta Maria

In 1805, George lll gave the House to a charity. It became the Royal Naval Asylum for orphans of seamen.

In 1934, the building housed the National Maritime Museum. Today it is owned by the Royal Museums of Greenwich and has an art gallery that displays works by Gainsborough, Reynold, Turner, and Hogarth.

In the 1960s, the Queen’s House became famous when a ghost was photographed on the Tulip staircase that is just to the left of the home’s Grand Hall.

The motif on this staircase’s iron handrail is actually lilies, not tulips.

Tulip staircase first self-
supporting staircase in England.

The retired Reverend Ralph Hardy and his wife from White Rock, BC, Canada, were visiting the Queen’s House when they took a photograph of this beautiful staircase in 1966.

It was not until they returned home and had their film developed they discovered something was amiss with the photo they took of the stairs. There was an unexpected image.

It was a shrouded figure that appeared to be ascending the stairs in pursuit of another figure. The reverend and his wife insisted the staircase was clear when they took this photo.

Image Hardy’s captured.

Experts from Kodak examined the original negative and concluded it had not been tampered with.

Seven members of England’s Ghost Club visited the House a year later and investigated. They held a séance but found no conclusive evidence.

But other witness reports indicate the Queen’s House is haunted. Current stories include people hearing phantom footsteps and seeing dark entities near the Tulip Staircase.

Doors are heard slamming, and choral chanting by children is heard. Tourists report being pinched by an unseen hand.

One pale female apparition is seen at the bottom of the staircase frantically cleaning up blood from the floor. The story goes that a maid 300 years ago was thrown from the highest banister, plunging 50 feet to her death.

A gallery assistant reported a recent sighting in 2002. He was enjoying a tea break with two colleagues when he saw the door to the Bridge Room close by itself.

“Then he saw a woman glide across the balcony, and pass through the wall of the west balcony.”

This assistant stated he could not believe his eyes. He said he went very cold and that the hair on his neck and arms stood up.

He and his colleagues then dashed to where they could see the Queen’s Bedroom. They all saw something pass through the anteroom and then out through the wall.

He stated this female apparition was dressed in a white-grey crinoline dress.