 In 1832 construction began on a new building by William Wilkins on the site of the King 's Mews in Charing Cross , in an area that had been transformed over the 1820s into Trafalgar Square . The location was a significant one , between the wealthy West End and poorer areas to the east . The argument that the collection could be accessed by people of all social classes outstripped other concerns , such as the pollution of central London or the failings of Wilkins 's building , when the prospect of a move to South Kensington was mooted in the 1850s . According to the Parliamentary Commission of 1857 , " The existence of the pictures is not the end purpose of the collection , but the means only to give the people an ennobling enjoyment " . 
