Blog Archives

Speaking About London Mansions...Part Six

8/31/2019

Lansdowne House, London, in 1800. Lansdowne House was built in the 1760’s for Lord Bute, designed by Robert Adam (Scottish, 1728-1792). Lord Bute, first lord of the treasury, was a favorite of young king George III but later resigned in disfavor and retired to the country permanently. Bute sold the house before it was completed to William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, a leading Whig in the House of Lords. By 1782- 83, Lord Shelburne (who was named Marquis of Lansdowne in 1784), was prime minister for part of the American war of Independence.

Entrance to the Lansdowne Club, London, today. The house was partially demolished in 1936 and the remainder is the Lansdowne Club. The entrance foyer, the Adam Room, the Round Bar, and the ballroom are the originals, beautifully restored.

Lord Shelburne’s picture is on the wall of the Round Room where he conferred with Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams as they negotiated the preliminary agreements that led to the Treaty of Paris of 1783 ending the American Revolution and establishing the independent USA. Shelburne was Prime Minister and like most of the Whigs at the time, he was in favor of colonial independence and opposed to the King. After he left government, he was named Marquess of Lansdowne, and the house was renamed as well.
Another amusing American connection is the fact that H. Gordon Selfridge, who founded the great department store on Oxford Street, leased Lansdowne House in the 1930’s before it suffered its partial demise. Selfridge was born in Wisconsin and was an executive with Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago before he moved to England. During Selfridge’s tenure, the house was the scene of many famous parties, most attended by his intimate friends, the celebrated dancing Dolly Sisters.

Below, another drawing of the massive Palladian style structure.

Two of the rooms removed in the partial demolition are in U.S. museums. Below, the brightly-colored saloon, a main reception room in the house, is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Adam designs, many based on motifs from classical sites uncovered in his lifetime in Pompeii, are brilliant.

The dining room, below, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It includes many of the sculptures the Lansdowne family collected.

Below at left, Bowood the Petty-Fitzmaurice- Shelburne-Lansdowne family country house in Wiltshire. It also was dramatically altered when the main structure was pulled down in 1956 and parts of the house relocated to the Orangery, now open to the public. In the process the handsome dining room also by Robert Adam, was removed and eventually ended up as the Adam Room, high above London in the Lloyd's of London Building.
Below, at left, Bowood from Morris's County Seats, 1880. The remaining Orangery is on the far left, and the house on the right is gone. Right, the Bowood Dining Room, used by the Council of Lloyd's of London.

More London Mansions ahead.

0 Comments

Speaking about London Mansions...Part Five

8/24/2019

0 Comments

Last week, I presented Burlington House in Piccadilly, now the Royal Academy of Arts. This week, Devonshire House, long gone and replaced by a graceless office building just opposite the Green Park Tube Station.

Above, Devonshire House in 1896. The tall walls enclosed a courtyard. Behind the house originally, the gardens abutted the gardens of Lansdowne House, giving a clear view up to and including Berkeley Square. In the map below, Devonshire House is at the bottom, with its large garden behind it; Lansdowne House is center left facing its garden which meets the lower end of Berkeley Square.

Above, original plans for Devonshire House, designed by architect William Kent, as shown in Colen Campbell's publication Vitruvius Britannicus.
In 1665 Lord Berkeley, commander of the Royalist Forces in the Civil War, built Berkeley House on this site. Later it was purchased by the Duke of Devonshire, and shortly thereafter, it burned down in 1733. The third Duke of Devonshire and his descendants lived here after its completion in 1740 until it was demolished in the 1920's, dividing their time among a number of houses, particularly their lavish country house Chatsworth in Derbyshire. Below, top row, William Cavendish, (1748-1811) 5th Duke; and Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, (1757-1806) his first duchess. Lower row, l to r, William Cavendish, 6th Duke (1790-1858--the bachelor duke) and, Elizabeth Hervey Foster Cavendish, (1759-1824) the 5th duke's second duchess.

Though the outside of Devonshire House was stark and sober in red brick with little embellishment, the interior was sumptuously decorated as befit the home of a leading Whig family well known for its elegant entertainments.

Some pictures from the 19th century show the magnificent rooms.

To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, the 8th Duke of Devonshire and Louisa, the Duchess, gave a Fancy Dress Ball at Devonshire House. The newspapers declared it the highlight of the Season.

Top left to right: Duke and Duchess of Fife, costumed from the period of Henri II; the hostess, Duchess of Devonshire as Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra; Lower L to R: Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) as Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers of Malta; and Daisy, Princess of Pless as Queen of Sheba.
Photographs taken at the ball, 286 in all, can be seen on the website of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The famous trompe d’oeil violin from London, painted by Jan van der Vaardt (1653-1727), is now at Chatsworth in State Music Room.

Almost opposite the site of the house, in Green Park, are the gates below, once at Devonshire House and before that, they belonged to Berkeley House.

The Garden facade of the house.

Much of Devonshire House was stripped before the wrecking crew arrived in 1920. The furnishings were shipped to Chatsworth where they were stored for almost 100 years.

The Devonshires held a big sale in 2010 selling the contents of many attics and storage rooms in Derbyshire. William Kent fireplace surrounds and woodwork were among the most sought-after items in the auction.

0 Comments

Speaking About London Mansions, Part Four

8/17/2019

0 Comments

Part Four of excerpts from my talk at the Beau Monde Conference July 23, 2019, in New York City, takes us to Piccadilly again and to Burlington House, now the home of the Royal Academy of Arts.

When this drawing was made about 1707, the open fields behind the house are clearly shown. Today, the building is substantially altered and it sits in the most congested area of Mayfair in the heart of London. Below is the view during the Annual Summer Exhibition of 2018. I am not sure what the large red disc represents, but the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of the R.A., is suitably draped in flowers.

Burlington House is familiar to most of us as the home of the Royal Academy of Arts since 1867. But before that, it was a mansion belonging to aristocrats, among the first of the large mansions built along Piccadilly after the restoration of Charles II in 1660. The original house was built by Sir John Denham in red brick. Unfinished, it was sold in 1667 to Richard Boyle, first Earl of Burlington. Another Richard Boyle, his grandson, became the 3rd Earl at the age of ten in 1704 and he inherited the house.

Above, l to r, Richard Boyle; Tribuna of the Uffizzi by Johann Zoffany; William Kent.
While the 3rd Earl was still a child, his mother, Juliana Noel Boyle, second Countess of Burlington, had ceilings painted by Italian masters in the baroque style. As a teen, the 3rd Earl traveled on several Grand Tours and became a devotee of the architectural style inspired by Andrea Palladio, who built villas in the Veneto in northeastern Italy. By 1718, the 3rd Earl took charge of his Piccadilly mansion and chose fellow Palladian practitioner Colen Campbell to work on the house. William Kent, who had traveled in Italy with the 3rd Earl, took over most of the interiors. This triumvirate can be considered with Inigo Jones as responsible for the Palladian Style in British Architecture which dominated for many years and greatly influenced other nations, particularly colonial America and the first decades of the United States.

L to R, Andrea Palladio, Palladio's Villa, Chiswick House.
Despite all the Victorian additions of another storey to the Burlington House and the constructions of side pavilions, which house several learned societies, some of the original state rooms designed by Kent still survive in a suite known as the John Madejski Fine Rooms, named to honor the donor of the restoration funding in 2004. These were the first Kentian interiors in England …dating from 1719, including these plaster putti above the doorcases.

Last year the Royal Academy completed an ambitious project to enlarge their school and exhibition space by adding the building at the rear – or non-Piccadilly side, with new galleries and an additional entrance and academic facilities. This area, opening onto Saville Row, was all a part of the Burlington estate two to three centuries ago. I highly recommend exploring the old and the new at Burlington House next time you are in London.

Once the 3rd Earl had Burlington House in hand, he earned his honorary title as 'the architect earl' by designing and building Chiswick House, now on the west side of metropolitan London, but at that time in rural Twickenham. Among the many properties inherited by Burlington was a Jacobean mansion used as a summer retreat. After a fire in 1725, Lord Burlington redid the house, adding a villa with a connecting structure. The mansion itself was pulled down in 1788 leaving the villa, part of the connecting link, and the gardens. The villa now known as Chiswick House was used as an office, gallery, and rooms for entertaining.

Lord Burlington used his great wealth in sponsoring the work of many artists, architects and musicians. Handel was first a guest at Chiswick in 1712, and came back many times. The English Heritage Guidebook to Chiswick comments on the character of Burlington’s work: “Lord Burlington’s principal objective was to recreate the architecture and gardens of ancient Rome (and) re-establish its meaning…which told a story or painted a moral. Chiswick House incorporates an allegorical exposition of the polite arts; its garden includes reference to political liberty.”
Chiswick House, incidentally is pronounced Chis-ick, with a silent W as is usual in British names…Warwick, for another example.
The beauty of the house is in its symmetry, its proportions. Geometric shapes, circles, squares, octagons, all combine to create perfect balance. Based on the principles of ancient Greek architecture as reinterpreted by the Romans and Renaissance Italians, it is a pleasingly human scale which brings comfort and satisfaction in merely looking at the plans.
Each room flows from the central saloon under the shallow dome, one into another without barriers. The cornices and wall or ceiling paintings are the main decoration. Furniture was minimal and rearranged for specific purposes, as was usual in the days of many servants. Some rooms were used by Lord Burlington as a gallery for his collection of paintings.
Below, Burlington House in 1873, the Piccadilly facade.

The 3rd Earl of Burlington married Lady Dorothy Savile, daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Halifax, an heiress who brought additional estates to the family. They had no sons; his only surviving daughter Charlotte (1731-1754) inherited his properties; she was the Marchioness of Hartington, married to the eventual 4th Duke of Devonshire. Note that Charlotte had a very short life; her son William Cavendish (1748-1811) was born when she was a mere 17. But through her, the possessions of Lord Burlington passed into the hands of the Cavendish/ Devonshire family. Since the Devonshires already had a house on Piccadilly just a few doors away, they eventually sold the house to Lord George Cavendish, a younger brother of the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Lord George was named 1st Earl of Burlington of the second creation in 1831; He lived in Burlington House and built the Burlington Arcade on the west side of the house in 1818. Below, drawing of Burlington Arcade in 1827-28 by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd.

So next time you browse through the elegant shops in the Burlington Arcade, remember this is the province of two of the greatest families of the realm. Below, photo from Wikipedia.

0 Comments

My Talk on London Mansions...Part Three

8/10/2019

0 Comments

Let's start today with Albany, a Piccadilly mansion altered and as famous today as it was when first built, perhaps even more so.

Above, Albany, or Melbourne House as it was then known, circa 1800. Built in 1771-76 by architect Sir William Chambers for Peniston Lamb, it was a three-story mansion, seven bays wide, with a pair of service wings flanking a front courtyard. Lamb (1745-1828) became the 2nd Baronet at age 23 in 1768 and was later named 1st Viscount Melbourne in peerage of Ireland and later as a baron in Britain.

This painting celebrates the marriage of Lord Melbourne with the 17-year-old Elizabeth Milbanke. Lady Melbourne became a leader of society in London and I find her one of the most fascinating of the characters of the era.

In 1792, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, brother of the Prince of Wales, traded Melbourne House for his residence on Whitehall. In 1802 the Duke in turn gave up the house and it was converted by Henry Holland into 69 bachelor apartments (known as "sets").

Holland's new buildings of 1802–3 flank a covered walkway supported on thin iron columns; most sets have their own entrances. I found a few pictures on the net of apartments in Albany, all very hush-hush – the rules do not allow for publicity or talk to the press about other residents. No idea whose these were/are.
The sets at Albany, as it was known during most of the regency, were the homes of many distinguished men, including its architect Henry Holland, the poet Lord Byron, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the author of the phrase 'It was a dark and stormy night,' Henry Brougham, and George Canning, who became Prime Minister in 1827. Among the more modern residents, when women (perish the thought) were finally allowed, were author Georgette Heyer, Anthony Armstrong Jones, and actor Bill Nighy.

Above, Albany today in Piccadilly, London.
When the Melbournes exchanged houses with the Duke of York in 1792, they moved from Piccadilly to York House in Whitehall, newly named Melbourne House and today known as Dover House. It is now the Scotland office right next to Horse Guards.

The portico opens onto the pavement of Whitehall and the rear of the house overlooks a small garden, once filled with roses, and the Horse Guards Parade.

In the 1750s, the house was built by architect James Paine for Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh (i.e. Fanshaw) and later remodeled by Henry Flitcroft for the first Duke of Montagu. It was redone again by Henry Holland for the Duke of York, from 1788 to 1792. The house was owned by the Melbourne family 1793 to 1830. After purchase by Baron Dover, it became known as Dover House and in 1999, it became the Scotland Office.

Elizabeth Milbanke, Viscountess Melbourne, age 21, painted by Richard Cosway. ©Royal Collection Trust.
Lady Melbourne was a leader of London's highest social set in the late 18th Century, politically influential, a friend and mistress of the rich and famous. She was a close confidante of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.
Here is the famous triple portrait of Lady Melbourne, Georgiana, and Anne Damer, Witches Round the Cauldron, the three witches in Macbeth painted in 1775 by Daniel Gardner, a commentary on their influence at court and in political circles in the late 18th century.

Lady Melbourne's eldest son was her husband’s child, but her other children probably were not. The Viscount apparently knew this but he was busy with his own mistresses. Below, left to right, Peniston Lamb II (1770-1805), eldest son; William Lamb (1779-1848), 2nd Viscount Melbourne, suspected to be the son of Lord Egremont; and Frederick Lamb (1782-1853), 3rd Lord Melbourne, a diplomat and probably also a by-blow of Egremont's. A fourth son, George Lamb (1784-1834), may have been the result of Lady Melbourne's affair with the Prince of Wales. Click on the images for larger versions.

Lady Melbourne's children were closely involved with the families of the Devonshires and Bessboroughs. William, after the death of his elder brother, was allowed to marry Lady Caroline Ponsonby (1785-1828) though she died before he succeeded to his title. Caroline, below, became notorious for her affairs, particularly with the poet Lord Byron (1788-1824). At the same time, Byron and Lady Melbourne carried on a long and often intimate correspondence. In 1815, Byron married Lady Melbourne's niece, Annabella Millbanke. That marriage lasted only a year. After their daughter Ada was born, Byron left England never to return.

Caro Lamb held many of her popular waltzing parties at Melbourne House in Whitehall. Today, the handsome Rotunda is still intact but not likely to be a venue for dancing. Elsewhere in the building, some remains of its former glory can be seen among the furnishings of a working government office. William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, became Prime Minister in 1834, again in 1835 until 1841, serving King William IV and the young Queen Victoria.

Throughout its two-hundred-fifty years, this building has maintained its quiet dignity and beautiful proportions. Unlike the Albany, it is no longer famous and the home of distinguished personages. But here's to you, Scotland office, for 250 more years.

0 Comments

Speaking About London Mansions, Part Two

8/3/2019

0 Comments

Here I am, July 23, 2019, presenting a talk on London Mansions to The Beau Monde Conference in New York City. Sorry to admit that I did not quite finish the power point, but attendees will get their own copy. And I will post the highlights here.

Since we focus on the Regency period, a sub-set of the Georgian era in Britain, we should start with the primary residence of the young George, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent 1811-1820, and King George IV 1820-1830. Below, a few images of George, presenting a variety of viewpoints!

The Prince Regent, often known as Prinny, was well known for his free-spending ways, many of them devoted to architecture and decor. He viewed himself as the First Gentleman of Europe, a connoisseur of the arts. But history remembers him also as a reckless spendthrift with minimal interest in the welfare of the average resident of his realm but careful attention to his own creature comforts. His father, George III, despaired of his heir's excess.
Below, a selection of paintings of rooms in his residence, Carlton House, between Pall Mall and St. James Park.

Blue Velvet Room, Golden Drawing Room, Gothic Dining Room, Conservatory, 1-r, top to bottom. More examples are easily available on the web. Below, two versions of the Entrance Hall, left, by Henry Holland, right, the later a version of Prinny's obsession with Chinoiserie.

Prince/King George IV acquired many objects and suites of furniture, and often redid the rooms in his houses, inside and out. He was responsible not only for Carlton House and his Brighton Pavilion, but also for much of the existing decoration of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Lots of similarities abound. Below, the Crimson Drawing Room in Carlton House on the left, and on the right, the State Dining Room in Buckingham Palace.

Carlton House was built in 1714 for Baron Carleton. Later it was sold to Frederick (1707-1751), Prince of Wales, son of George II and father of George III. Augusta (1719-1772), Princess of Wales, lived there after her husband died. In 1783, the future Prince Regent was given Carlton House along with £60,000 to fix it up. To simply say he exceeded his budget would be a vast understatement. Below, Carlton House behind its screen of columns in 1811.

Prinny was renowned for his lavish entertainments at Carlton House, the estrangement from his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, and his unpopularity with the public. His only legal child, Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796- 1817) died in childbirth, leaving the House of Hanover without an heir in the next generation. George and his brothers had many by-blows from their series of long and complicated affairs, but only his brother Edward, Duke of Kent, managed to marry and sire Princess Victoria, who became Queen in 1837. Below, Carlton House pictured in Ackermann's Repository in 1809.

Once Prinny became King George IV on the death of his long-suffering mad father, George III, in 1820, he moved into Buckingham Palace and set about remodeling that. He and the favorite architect of his later life, John Nash (1752-1835), had a vast plan to create a new London thoroughfare, Regent Street, leading from St. James Park to the newly developed Regent's Park.The plan called for demolishing Carlton House, which was done by 1826.

Above, A Squeeze at Carlton House, c. 1825, by Robert Cruikshank. Below, Items from The Royal Collection, formerly belonging to Carlton House. Remember to click on each for larger images. Top row, left, from the Chinese Drawing Room. Adam Weissweiler made this pier table, 1789, one of the first expressing Prince George’s delight in Chinoserie.
Right, a selection of the Prince Regent's extensive collection of Sevres Porcelain, showing his taste for the exotic and extravagant.

Above, left, Throne or Council Chair, 1812, by Tatum, Bailey & Sanders; right, Throne Room Candelabra, 1807, made by Peter Bogaerts, carver, and Paul Storr, goldsmith, from a set of four placed beside the throne at Carlton House until moved to Windsor in 1827. Many of the works of art, the furniture and decorative art objects were moved to Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, or the Brighton Pavilion. I attended an exhibition of some of Prinny’s collections at the Queen’s Gallery in 2011. They are going to do a similar exhibition again starting in Nov. 2019.

GEORGE IV: ART & SPECTACLE
The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace
Friday, 15 Nov 2019 - Sunday, 3 May 202

From the website:
George IV is arguably the most magnificent of British monarchs and formed an unrivalled collection of art, much of which remains in the Royal Collection. As Prince of Wales and, from 1820, magnificent king, he purchased paintings, metalwork, textiles, furniture, watercolours, books and ceramics in vast numbers, many of these works by the finest artists of the day. Bringing together Dutch and Flemish masterpieces, magnificent portraits by Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir Joshua Reynolds, delicate French porcelain, intricate goldsmiths' work and elegant books and drawings, this exhibition will present George IV's life through the art that enriched his world.

After Carlton House was demolished, part of the space was used to create Waterloo Place, which today is not much more than a parking lot. Sadly. In the center is the Duke of York Column, commemorating the Prince Regent's brother, Prince Frederick, Duke of York, set 1834.

Also built here were the two rows of houses known as Carlton House Terrace. The handsome white stucco structures were built between 1827 and 1832, designed by John Nash and enhanced by Decimus Burton. The people who lived in the mansions were leading political and social leaders of the era, including P.M.s Lord Palmerston, Earl Grey, and William Gladstone.
More London Mansions next week.

0 Comments

Victoria Hinshaw, Author

Here I will share some of my articles on favorite topics, such as English Country Houses, the Regency Royals, Jane Austen, and the like. Some of these articles have been published elsewhere, probably on the blog I share with Kristine Hughes and Louisa
Cornell: numberonelondon.net

Speaking About London Mansions...Part Six

Speaking about London Mansions...Part Five

Speaking About London Mansions, Part Four

My Talk on London Mansions...Part Three

Speaking About London Mansions, Part Two

Victoria Hinshaw, Author

Archives

Categories