house of the Henley Hostes and the Cowpers that was retained was the elaborate conservatory designed by Teulon in the 1830s. Edward had this room converted into a billiard room. A plaque in the entrance hall records that "This house was built by Albert Edward Prince of Wales and Alexandra his wife in the year of our Lord 1870". The building was entered through a large porte-cochère straight into the main living room (the saloon), an arrangement that was subsequently found to be inconvenient. The house provided living and sleeping accommodation over three storeys, with attics and a basement. The Norfolk countryside surrounding the house appealed to Alexandra, as it reminded her of her native Denmark. Within a decade, the house was again found to be too small, and in 1883 a new extension, the Bachelors' Wing, was constructed to the designs of a Norfolk architect, Colonel R. W. Edis. Edis also built a new billiard room and converted the old conservatory into a bowling alley. The Prince of Wales had been impressed by one he had seen at Trentham Hall, and the alley at Sandringham was modelled on an example from Rumpenheim Castle, Germany. In 1891, during preparations for Edward's fiftieth birthday, a serious fire broke out when maids lit all the fires in the second-floor bedrooms to warm them in advance of the prince's arrival. Edis was recalled to undertake rebuilding and further construction. As he had with the Bachelors' Wing, Edis tried to harmonise these additions with Humbert's house by following the original Jacobethan style, and by using matching brickwork and Ketton stone. The house was up to date in its facilities, the modern kitchens and lighting running on gas from the estate's own plant and water being supplied from the Appleton Water Tower, constructed at the highest point on the estate. The tower was designed in an Italianate style by Robert Rawlinson, and Alexandra laid the foundation stone in 1877. The Prince's efforts as a country gentleman were approved by the press of the day; a contemporary newspaper expressed a wish to "Sandringhamize Marlborough House—as a landlord, agriculturist and country gentleman, the Prince sets an example which might be followed with advantage". The royal couple's developments at Sandringham were not confined to the house; over the course of their occupation, the wider estate was also transformed. Ornamental and kitchen gardens were established, employing over 100 gardeners