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Speaking about London Mansions...part 14

10/26/2019

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Osterley Park is managed by the National Trust and a very good job they do! On my third visit, I was excited to learn that we could take pictures INSIDE. Excellent news. The house is in the western part of Greater London; when built, it was considered in the country. Now it can be reached by rail and a short walk.
​      The approach to the house is suitably dramatic, viewed across a pond laced with water lilies in full bloom.
     The Tudor style mansion was originally built in 1575 by Sir Thomas Gresham, banker and founder of the Royal Exchange.  After considerable alterations in the 17th century, it was purchased by Francis Child, the immensely wealthy London banker, in 1711. His grandson Francis III hired Robert Adam to transform the house in 1761, but Francis died before the house was finished, leaving the house to his brother, Robert Child. Adam’s work was completed in 1780. 
The current look - both inside and out - is very much that of the Adam period in all its glory. On the exterior, Adam had one section of the square Tudor house replaced with handsome Georgian columns, framing an open courtyard. The great house and estate passed down in the line of the Child banking family, about which, more later.
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The magnificent Hall, designed by Adam in 1767, is elegant in its neutral color scheme of  grays and whites with stucco panels of ancient military scenes on the walls. The floor has a dark pattern on white marble, a reflection of the plaster-work ceiling design.
Below, the Eating Room boasts handsome Adam-style decor and a suite of Chippendale chairs which accommodate any size dining table.
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Above, the Long Gallery, chock full of treasures, serves as a picture gallery and general gathering place. including magnificent decor and furniture.  According to the NT, it takes up to three days to wax and polish the floor. The room has been the setting for many movie scenes. A few of the many outstanding objects are below. Click on the pictures please.
Among the most famous of Ostlerley's gems is the magnificent State Bed, with its eight posters and elaborate hangings. 
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Adjacent is the Etruscan Dressing Room, drawing upon the images discovered in Italy in the mid 18th century. At that time, the term Etruscan referred to the types of designs found on Greek vases and in Pompeii. The furniture is attributed to Chippendale.
Another splendid tour d'force at Osterley is the Tapestry Room. designed to impress even royalty. The set of magnificent Gobelins tapestries were ordered from the factory in Paris, which was run in the 1770’s by a Scot. The matching upholstery was woven to match. The designs celebrate Mrs. Child's love of gardening and animals.
      Osterley was inherited by Sarah Sophia Fane (below, left), also called Sally Jersey (1785-1867), well known in Regency society as a patroness of Almack’s and one who was highly influential in political and social circles. She inherited the house and fortune of her grandfather, the head of Child’s bank. She married George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey (1773–1859). Sally's mother, Sarah Anne Child (1764-1793) was the only child of Robert Child (1739-1782), the principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Company.
Sarah Anne had eloped with John Fane  (1773-1859), 10th Earl of Westmorland., her father chose to leave his fortune to her second child, so that it did not fall into the hands of the Westmorlands. but instead, it went to the Jerseys.  

   Sally’s mother-in-law was Frances Twysden (1754-1821), Lady Jersey, below right, was the wife of 4th Earl of Jersey (1736-1805) and mistress of George, Prince of Wales. While she was the Prince’s mistress, she schemed to have him marry Caroline of Brunswick, then acted as one of her ladies in waiting, insuring that the marriage would not be happy. About 1803, her place as mistress to the Prince of Wales usurped by Lady Hertford. The death of her husband in 1805 left her in financial distress but her son settled her debts many times. 
Osterley was rarely used by the Jerseys, who had his estate Middleton in Oxfordshire in addition to a large townhouse at #38 Berkeley Square.  For decades it was maintained but empty of life, though they sometimes entertained here.
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In 1885, the famous library was sold for thirteen thousand pounds. For many years, the house was used only on occasional weekends until the 9th Earl opened it to the public on weekends. He gave it to the National Trust in 1949 and considerable restoration has taken place.  
The servants’ areas are being restored, including the kitchen, top left. And one can imagine what went on in the still room, top right,  as the produce of the gardens was turned into herbal tisanes, fragrant ointments, and perhaps even drops of opium in rosewater. A cautionary sign announces the wine cellar; The stable block has been converted to the ubiquitous NT tea room and gift shop.
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Another London Mansion...Part Thirteen

10/19/2019

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Cambridge House is also known as #94 Piccadilly. We hope this fine mansion, even though it occupies the 13th position in this series of posts taken from my 'London Mansions' talk at the Beau Monde's 2019 conference in New York on July 23, will soon again be among the leading venues in its new role --probably as a hotel. 
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This rather sad photo was taken before the current changes began. Cambridge House is a fine Palladian house built in the 1760’s, designed by Matthew Brettingham. It is Grade I-listed and had been abandoned for  20 years while various schemes were planned and discarded for its revival. Below, current renovations underway, as of September, 2019.
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Was it last year or the year before that we found food trucks in the courtyard?
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Though many problems exist, some of the rooms remain in excellent condition. The original owner was the 2nd Earl of Egremont who also lived at Petworth in Sussex. His son, George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont, lived here for many years. In the 1820’s it was the residence of Lord Cholmondeley, and from 1829 the London residence of  Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, when it became known as Cambridge House.
Please click on the above images for larger versions.
        After the Duke of Cambridge died in 1850, the house was purchased by Lord Palmerston — who served twice as prime minister — and on his death it was bought by the Naval and Military Club. In the late 1860s, the club became known as the “In and Out” from the signs on the entrance and exit gates. 
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   The Naval and Military Club was there until 1996 when the club moved to 4 St James’s Square. The house was sold to a businessman for £50 million. He had plans to make it into a hotel but went bankrupt a few years later. In 2010, it was sold again for £150 million, supposedly for a private residence. The latest scheme seems to be a hotel utilizing the surrounding buildings which are not listed and can be adapted to contemporary standards. The reception rooms will be in the mansion itself.  Below, the Ballroom, before renovations began. 
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To provide historical perspective, we have rounded up the usual suspects below  --- Lord Egremont, top left,  is believed to have been the father of Lady Melbourne’s son William Lamb, the prime minister…and perhaps daughter Emily, center, also, though other candidates have been considered other than her mother’s husband.  Emily later lived and entertained lavishly here with her 2nd husband Lord Palmerston, right – and while she was married to Lord Cowper, Palmerston was probably the father of young Lady Emily Cowper, bottom left, – who later married the 7th Earl Shaftesbury, bottom right, the great reformer of the Victorian era, an evangelical crusader for ending child labor and so forth – perhaps making up for the indiscretions in his wife’s family history???
Below, the dining room while the In and Out Club.
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Below, drawing of Cambridge House, or Palmerston House as it was known then, in 1864.
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Let's hope the current renovations are superb and Cambridge House regains its former glory.
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More London mansions...soon

10/17/2019

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Speaking About London Mansions...Part Twelve

10/12/2019

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This is next in a series excerpted from my talk for the Beau Monde Conference held July 23, 2019, in NYC. The former residence of Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), Apsley House is now run by English Heritage as the Wellington Museum.
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It was built between 1771 and 1778 for the 2nd Earl of Bathurst; the house's title comes from his position as Baron Apsley which he held before succeeding his father in 1775. Originally of  red brick, it was the first house to be passed after the toll gates at the top of Knightsbridge, and thus known as No. 1, London.
​      Below, left, Hyde Park Corner in 1750; middle, painting of Apsley House in 1816; right, as remodeled and clad in stone, 1829.
Apsley House was purchased in 1807 by Marquess Wellesley (1760-1842), elder brother of the first Duke of Wellington, for a price of £16,000. The fashionable architect James Wyatt carried out improvements for Lord Wellesley before he sold the house to his brother for £42,000 in 1817. The 1st Duke had just returned from his ambassadorial post in Paris. The duke enlarged the house in 1827, added the Corinthian portico and encased house in Bath stone. It was eventually presented to nation by 7th Duke in 1947 after  damage from WWII bombs.
Above, left, the Dining Room with Portuguese silver gilt service, a gift from that nation for the Duke’s service in the Peninsular War; Victoria, Kristine Hughes Patrone, and Diane Gaston offering their homage to the 1st Duke; the Wellington Shield, 1822. Please click on the photos.
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The colossal sculpture of Napoleon as Apollo was carved by Canova and completed in 1811. It is 11 feet 4 inches high. Napoleon hated it as undignified and had it hidden away in the Louvre. The British bought it in 1816 and the Prince Regent presented it to the Duke. It is said that the floor under the staircase had to be reinforced to hold the statue.
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The Waterloo Gallery was added to Apsley House by Benjamin Dean Wyatt in 1828 to provide exhibition space for the duke’s collection of paintings. It was first hung with more yellow silk, bur changed to red under the 2nd duke. The huge candelabra of grey Siberian porphyry were gifts from Emperor Nicholas I of Russia.
Above, left: The Entrance Hall; middle, the Striped Drawing Room; right, fireplace in the Piccadilly Drawing Room. 
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Apsley House is filled with the gifts and honors given to the duke from all over the world, but it is also a home still, having apartments for the current duke and his heir. The 1st Duke died in 1853 and was given a huge state funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral after a procession from Apsley House through London.
Above, pictures from the Mystery Night at Apsley House on Friday, September 13, 2019. Left and center, characters enacting the suspects....,right, Kristine and the Duke strike similar poses. I figured out the perpetrator!  It was great fun questioning all the suspects, including several physicians and even Mary Shelley...and a glass of wine always helps.
​     This was one of many public events held at Apsley House, in the most elegant of surroundings.  Congratulations to the current management for making the house a frequent venue for talks, concerts, and performances which brig new audiences to the museum.
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Speaking About London Mansions...Part Eleven

10/5/2019

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Only a fragment remains of one of the great houses of the Georgian and Regency periods in London: Holland House.
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Holland House evolved from the original Cope Castle, built in 1605 for Sir Walter Cope by architect John Thorpe on a 500 hundred-acre parcel of once rural land, now within London. His daughter Isabel inherited the house and lived there with her husband, Henry Rich, who was named 1st Earl of Holland. Then known as Holland House, the house descended through minor branches of the family until 1768 when it came into the possession of Henry Fox, a leading Whig in Parliament, after which Fox was named Baron Holland. Below, Holland House in 1815.    
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Holland House was built in the early 17th century, a Jacobean design. The Luftwaffe destroyed the house in 1940, and the remains, now Grade 1 listed, have been made into a hostel and venue for entertainments in what remains of Holland Park.
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Apparently, after the German attack, much of the library continued to serve browsers. Below, a comparison of Holland House in 1896 and 2014.
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I understand that the once-thriving hostel is now being adapted for other purposes, but the news is sketchy. On the other hand, the gardens are used by many and include an opera theatre, restaurants, and sports facilities. Below, two views I took of the remains of the house and a slice of the garden in 2017.
Below, several photographs of the house's interior from 1907. Left, the China Room; middle, Gilded Room; right, the Library.
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Holland House, 1907.
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    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

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