The Charles II’s Palace in Newmarket was a series of buildings and courtyards with a two hundred foot frontage on the High Street. William Samwell built two pavilions to the east, but only one survived. From the 1850s until the 1970s the building was owned by the Rothschilds, during which time they added a third floor, a large oriel window and several extensions for additional bedrooms and bathrooms. In the 1980s and 1990s, the building fell into dereliction and was compulsorily purchased by Forest Heath District Council. Freeland Rees Roberts was appointed to carry out the project to remove substantial Rothschild extensions, while keeping the better ones, add an extension on the north side to house a new lift and stair, rebuild missing brick vaults above the former services spaces on the ground floor, re-establish the original entrance that had been covered up, and refinish and re-service the whole building. A new entrance courtyard was designed to provide universal access to the building, all to provide a civic centre for Forest Heath District Council.