Bell House is a large Georgian house on College Road in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

, South East London. It is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the National Heritage List for England. It was built in 1767 for Thomas Wright, who was Sheriff of the City of London in 1779 and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

in 1785. Thomas Wright made his fortune as a stationer and from publishing almanacs. The house gets its name from the striking bell tower. Whenever a fire broke out in the village, the bells of Bell House and the Dulwich College chapel were rung to gather help in pumping up water for the village fire engine. Thomas Wright lived at Bell House until his death on 7 April 1798. In 1833, the house was extended to provide servants' quarters. Further extensions were made in the 1870s and Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

was engaged to carry out certain alterations in 1918. Dulwich College took over the lease of Bell House in 1926 and it became the official residence of the Master of the College in 1927.Hodges, S, (1981), God's Gift: A Living History of Dulwich College, page 108, (Heinemann: London) During the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the Master moved out of Bell House to a smaller house and in 1947 the building became a junior boarding house. In 1993 it was returned to private ownership, as the college recognised the reduced need for a second junior boarding house. The house was bought in the summer of 2016 by an educational charity – Bell House Dulwich.

References

Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark Dulwich Houses completed in 1767 Works of Edwin Lutyens in England Grade II* listed houses in London Country houses in London {{London-struct-stub