Somerset House is located in Central London, on the north bank of the river Thames. It is named for the Duke of Somerset, who had begun to construct a residence on the site in the sixteenth century when he was executed, and the building passed into the hands of the Crown. The current building dates from the eighteenth century but was expanded in the nineteenth century. The building housed the Royal Academy from 1779–1837, when it moved to the National Gallery and then to its present location in Burlington House. Since its construction, it has also accommodated the Royal Society (1780–1781), the Society of Antiquaries (1780–1874), the Geological Society (1828–1874) and the Royal Astronomical Society (1834–1874). It also housed a range of government offices: the Navy Office, the Inland Revenue, the Registry of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, the Somerset House Laboratory, which tested substances intended for consumption, and others. Among other purposes, the building now houses the Courtauld Institute of Art.