Lansdowne House
Lansdowne House is a partially preserved mansion from the 18th century in the southwest of Berkeley Square in the city center of the British capital London . It was designed by Robert Adam as a private townhouse and belonged to the Petty-FitzMaurice family , Marquesses of Lansdowne for most of its useful life . The Lansdowne Club has resided there since 1935 . The layout of the property was very unusual: there was a large front garden that took up the entire south side of the square. The mansion itself faced this front garden with its narrow east facade. This arrangement gave Devonshire House, south of it on Piccadilly , an unobstructed view of Berkeley Square.
Well-known owners of Lansdowne House were:
- John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute , British Prime Minister (1762–1763)
- William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne ), British Prime Minister (1782–1783)
- William Pitt the Younger , British Prime Minister (1783-1801 and 1804-1806)
- William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor , then richest man in the USA (1891-1893)
- Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery , British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister (1894–1895)
- Harry Gordon Selfridge , founder of Selfridges department store
In the 1930s, the city government decided to build a connecting road from Berkeley Square to Curzon Street . This necessitated the demolition of all the front rooms of Lansdowne House. The Adam-designed salon was expanded and exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art , while the dining room went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York . The house's collectibles, such as the Amazon of Lansdowne and the Hercules of Lansdowne , were also bought by US museums. The facade was added to the front of the fuselage in a modified form.
On May 1, 1935, the Lansdowne Club opened at Lansdowne House as a "social and athletic residents' club for members of social class".
Later a large commercial building was built in the front yard at the south end of Berkeley Square (now 55-59). This new building inherited the name of the old house, while the house at Fitzmaurice Place No. 9 (the hull house) still stands in the old location. Since 2000, the premises of the Lansdowne Club, which still resides there, have undergone extensive renovations.
Individual evidence
- ^ Lansdowne House drawing room with elements by Robert Adam, Antonio Zucchi , Giovanni Battista Cipriani, and Joseph Perfetti on the Philadelphia Museum of Art website. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
Web links
- History of Lansdowne Club . Lansdowne Club.
- Official website of the Lansdowne Club
- Lansdowne House . The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
- Europe in the age of enlightenment and revolution . The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries.
- Period Rooms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries.
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 30 ″ N , 0 ° 8 ′ 44 ″ W.