Kenwood House (also known as the Iveagh Bequest) is a former

stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, London, on the northern boundary of

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band ...

. The house was originally constructed in the 17th century and served as a residence for the

Earls of Mansfield Earl of Mansfield, in the County of Nottingham, and Earl of Mansfield, in the County of Middlesex, are two titles in the Peerage of Great Britain that have been united under a single holder since 1843. History The titles Earl of Mansfield (i ...

during the 18th and 19th centuries. The house and part of the grounds were bought from the 6th Earl of Mansfield in 1925 by Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, and donated to the nation in 1927. The entire estate came under ownership of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

and was open to the public by the end of the 1920s. It remains a popular local tourist attraction.

Location

The house is at the north edge of

, to the south of Hampstead Lane (the B519). It is in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and S ...

, just south of its boundary with the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...

History

Early history

The original house on the property was presumed to have been built around 1616 by the

King's Printer The King's Printer (known as the Queen's Printer during the reign of a female monarch) is typically a bureau of the national, state, or provincial government responsible for producing official documents issued by the King-in-Council, Ministers o ...

, John Bill, and was known as Caen Wood House. It was acquired in 1694 by the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, William Bridges, who demolished the house and rebuilt it; the original brick structure remains intact under the facade added in the 18th century. The orangery was added in about 1700. Bridges sold the house in 1704, and it went under several owners until 1754, when it was bought by the future Earl of Mansfield, William Murray.

Mansfield family

Kenwood by Robert and James Adam, published 1764 edited

In 1764, Murray commissioned Robert Adam to remodel the house. Adam was given complete freedom to design it as he chose. He added the library, one of his most famous interiors, to balance the orangery, and accommodate Lord Mansfield's extensive book collection. He also designed the Ionic portico at the entrance. In 1780, the house became a permanent residence. On Wednesday 7 June 1780, Kenwood was ransacked and partially destroyed during the

Gordon Riots The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days of rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against Briti ...

. The Earl and Countess fled, while the rioters stole food and drink from the house, and destroyed mirrors, paintings and furniture. Following the earl's death in 1793, ownership passed to his nephew David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield. He commissioned an extension of the property, initially by Robert Nasmith, then by George Saunders. Saunders added two wings on the north side, along with the offices, kitchen buildings and brewery (now the restaurant) to the side. A dairy was added at this time to supply Kenwood House with milk and cheese. The main Hampstead–Highgate road was moved to the north between 1793 and 1796 so that it would not run directly alongside the property. The 2nd Earl died in 1796, and ownership passed to his son, David William Murray, 3rd Earl of Mansfield. William Atkinson made several alterations to the property between 1803 and 1839. The property remained part of the Mansfield estate throughout the rest of the century, but the Mansfields preferred to live at their Scottish estate, Scone Palace. The 6th Earl of Mansfield, Alan David Murray, inherited Kenwood from his brother in 1906, but soon decided to sell it. First he leased it, and after two years of negotiations, the house was leased in 1910 to the exiled Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife, Countess Sophie of Merenberg. In 1914 the couple hosted a dinner and ball attended by European royalty including

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and Queen Mary. Michael stayed at Kenwood until 1917, followed by American millionairess Nancy Leeds who moved out in 1920. In 1922 Lord Mansfield sold off the contents of the house and its future was uncertain.

Modern history

Part of the grounds were bought by the Kenwood Preservation Council in 1922, after there had been threats that it would be sold to a building syndicate. This land came under control of the

in 1924 and was opened to the public the following year by King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...

. Lord Iveagh, a rich Anglo-Irish businessman and philanthropist of the Guinness family, bought the house and the remaining not under public ownership from the Mansfield family in 1925 and left it to the nation upon his death in 1927; it was opened to the public the following year. Since then some furniture sold in 1922 has since been bought back. The paintings are from Iveagh's collection. Kenwood House was closed at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Following the war, the house came under ownership of the London County Council, and it re-opened in 1950. The late 18th-century extensions by Saunders were restored from 1955 to 1959. Ownership transferred to the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

(GLC) in 1965; following the GLC's demise in 1986,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

took over responsibility for the estate. The house was closed for major renovations from 2012 until late 2013, partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This included repairing the Westmorland slate roof, redisplaying the Iveagh Bequest paintings in the south of the house, and redecorating the structure to closer resemble Adam's original design. In 2019, 134,238 people visited the house.

Estate

There are two drives leading to the house from Hampstead Lane. Each has a gated white-brick lodge. The north, or main entrance front of the house was designed by Robert Adam and is set in

Stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

with a central portico. The south front is constructed out of a single Stucco block. It was restored to its original design in 1975. To the east of the house is the service wing, constructed from London stock brick. Opposite this is the brick house, designed as a cold-plunge bath. The estate has a designed landscape with gardens near the house, probably originally designed by

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

, contrasting with some surrounding woodland, and the naturalistic Hampstead Heath to the south. There is also a garden designed by

Arabella Lennox-Boyd Arabella Lennox-Boyd, Lady Lennox-Boyd (née Parisi) is an Italian-born English garden designer. Background Arabella Lennox-Boyd was born in Rome and grew up there and at Palazzo Parisi, Oliveto, their family home. She later settled in England w ...

. The estate is Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. One third of the estate is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, particularly the ancient woodlands. These are home to many birds and insects and the largest

Pipistrelle bat ''Pipistrellus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae and subfamily Vespertilioninae. The name of the genus is derived from the Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been co ...

roost in London. There are sculptures by

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a lea ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Mo ...

and

Eugène Dodeigne Eugène Dodeigne (27 July 1923 – 24 December 2015) was a French sculptor living and working at Bondues (Nord-Pas-de-Calais). Life Dodeigne was born in Rouvreux, near Liège. He learned his trade from his father, a stonecutter, who hired him to ...

in the gardens near the house. Music concerts, originally classical but in more recent years predominantly pop concerts, were held by the lake on Saturday evenings every summer from 1951 until 2006, attracting thousands of people to picnic and enjoy the music, scenery and spectacular fireworks. In February 2007, English Heritage decided to abandon these concerts owing to restrictions placed on them after protests from some local residents. On 19 March 2008, it was announced that the concerts would return to a new location on the Pasture Ground within the Kenwood Estate, with the number of concerts limited to eight per season.

Art

Kenwood House contains a significant number of historic paintings and other works of art, including 63 Old Master paintings. Paintings of note include * ''The Guitar Player'' by Johannes Vermeer * '' Self Portrait with Two Circles'', a late

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...

self-portrait * Portrait of Pieter van den Broecke, by

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century grou ...

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

, 'Portrait of Countess Howe' (wife of Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe) * Edwin Henry Landseer, 'Hunting in the Olden Times' Other painters include *

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

, 'The Hon'ble Mrs Tollemache as Miranda' *

Angelica Kauffman Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...

* John Crome * Claude de Jongh *

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh ...

* William Larkin *

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

* Arthur Boyd Houghton *

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

* Thomas Lawrence, 'Miss Murray' * Henry Raeburn * George Romney *

Jan Baptist Weenix Jan Baptist Weenix, also spelled Jan Baptiste Weeninx (1621–c. 1659) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age. Despite his relatively brief career, he was a very productive and versatile painter. His favourite subjects were Italian lands ...

Joseph Wright of Derby Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution". Wr ...

Most of the works were acquired by Iveagh in the 1880s–1890s and are mainly Old Master portraits, landscapes and 17th century Dutch and Flemish works and British artists. Others were not part of the Iveagh Bequest but were added to the collection after his death because of a connection with Kenwood House. There is also a collection of shoe buckles, jewellery and

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

s. In 2002, a selection of the Suffolk Collection of Stuart portraits was moved to Kenwood from Ranger's House, Greenwich. In 2012, an exhibition of works from the art collection, ''Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London'' began a tour of museums in the United States while Kenwood House was undergoing renovations; many of the works had never been outside Britain. The exhibit opened 6 June 2013 in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

at the

Arkansas Arts Center The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA), formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center, is an art museum located in MacArthur Park, Little Rock, Arkansas. The museum is undergoing an expansion and renovation. During this time, it is closed to the ...

Cultural references

The house was the subject of a Margaret Calkin James poster in the 1930s, seen by many commuters on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

. The 1999 British feature film '' Notting Hill'' had a scene filmed here. The 1995 British feature film '' Sense and Sensibility'' had scenes filmed here. Many scenes in the 2013 film '' Belle'', in which William Murray figures as a character, are set in the house or its grounds, although filmed elsewhere. A scene from the 2016 novel '' Swing Time'' by Zadie Smith is set on the grounds of the estate.

References

Citations Sources * * '' The Buildings of England London 4: North''. Bridget Cherry and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

. . * ''Kenwood: The Iveagh Bequest''. Julius Bryant. (English Heritage publication). * ''George III''. Andrew Roberts. (2021) Allen Lane. .

External links

English Heritage website for the house

'The Iconic Art of Kenwood House'
on Google Arts & Culture * {{Authority control Houses in Hampstead Art museums and galleries in London Gardens in London Country houses in London Historic house museums in London Museums in the London Borough of Camden English Heritage sites in London Grade I listed houses in London Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Grade I listed museum buildings Former private collections in the United Kingdom Clan Murray Georgian architecture in London Neoclassical architecture in London Grade II* listed parks and gardens in London Buildings and structures in Hampstead Heath