Queen Victoria's bathing machine (restored) They soon realised that the house was too small for their needs and decided to replace the house with a new, larger residence. The setting of the three-storey Georgian house appealed to Victoria and Albert, in particular, the views of the Solent reminding Albert of the Bay of Naples in Italy. Victoria had spent two holidays on the Isle of Wight as a young girl, when her mother, the Duchess of Kent, rented Norris Castle, the estate adjacent to Osborne. They wanted a home removed from the stresses of court life. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought Osborne House on the Isle of Wight from Lady Isabella Blachford in October 1845. The house is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England, and the landscaped park and gardens are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In 1989, the second floor of the house was also opened to the public. In 1986, English Heritage assumed management of Osborne House. In 1954, Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for the first floor rooms (the private apartments) in the royal pavilion to be opened to the public. In 1933, many of the temporary buildings at Osborne were demolished. Another section of the house was used as a convalescent home for officers. From 1903 to 1921, part of the estate around the stables was used as a junior officer training college for the Royal Navy, known as the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Following her death, King Edward VII, who had never liked Osborne, presented the house to the state on the day of his coronation, with the royal pavilion being retained as a private museum to Victoria. Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on 22 January 1901, aged 81. An earlier smaller house on the Osborne site was demolished to make way for the new and far larger house, though the original entrance portico survives as the main gateway to the walled garden. The builder was Thomas Cubitt, the London architect and builder whose company built the main facade of Buckingham Palace for the royal couple in 1847. Albert designed the house himself, in the style of an Italian Renaissance palazzo. The house was built between 18 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom.
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