Noordeinde Palace: Main facade, with one of the wings and statue of Prince William of Orange

Noordeinde Palace is one of the three official palaces of the Dutch royal family. Prince Frederik Hendrik substantially enlarged the manor house of 1533 (which had once been a medieval farmhouse), then known as the Oude Hof. In 1640 he commissioned Pieter Post to enlarge and embellish his mother's 16th-century house on the Noordeinde (now the Paleis Noordeinde), after designs of 1639 by Jacob van Campen. The alterations included lengthening the main building and adding wings on either side, thus creating the characteristic H-form that is seen today. The building was altered again following 1813 and the fall of Napoleon, when it became an official royal palace.