Devonshire House in
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...
, was the London
townhouse
A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...
of the
Dukes of Devonshire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Following a fire in 1733 it was rebuilt by
William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, in the
Palladian style, to designs by
William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, b ...
. Completed circa 1740, it stood empty after the First World War and was demolished in 1924.
Many of Britain's great noblemen maintained large London houses that bore their names. As a ducal house (only in mainland Europe were such houses referred to as palaces), Devonshire House was one of the largest and grandest, ranking alongside
Burlington House
Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private English Baroque and then Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earl of Burlington, Earls of Burlington. It was significantly expanded in the mid-19th cent ...
,
Montague House,
Lansdowne House,
Londonderry House,
Northumberland House, and
Norfolk House. All of these have long been demolished, except Burlington and Lansdowne, both of which have been substantially altered.
Today the site is occupied by a namesake modern office building.
Site
Devonshire House occupied the site of Berkeley House, which was built between 1665 and 1673 and at a cost of over £30,000, by
John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, of
Bruton Priory in Somerset, following his return from service as
Viceroy of Ireland. The site is memorialised today by
Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...
, Berkeley Street,
Stratton Street and
Bruton Street. The house was later occupied by
Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, one of the celebrated
mistresses of King Charles II.
Berkeley House, a classical mansion built by
Hugh May, having been purchased in 1696 by
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, was renamed "Devonshire House". As part of the agreement,
John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton (c. 1663–1697) undertook not to build on that part of the land he retained which lay directly behind the house to the north, so preserving the Duke's view. This covenant was still in force when the Berkeley land was developed after 1730, and the
gardens of
Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...
represent the northern termination of that undeveloped strip, combined in the south with the gardens of
Lansdowne House.
On 16 October 1733, whilst undergoing refurbishment, the former Berkeley House was completely destroyed by fire, despite firefighting efforts by the
Regiment of Guards, whose barracks were nearby, led by
Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and by other local troops led by
Frederick, Prince of Wales. The cause was attributed to careless labourers. Ironically, the Duke's former London residence,
Old Devonshire House, at 48 Boswell Street,
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
, survived both its successors until
The Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Ethos
During the 18th century forms of entertainment began to change and large
receptions came into fashion, often taking the form of concerts and balls. Initially, hosts hired one of the many new
assembly rooms built to indulge the fashion. It was not long before the more dedicated and wealthy hosts began to add a
ballroom to their
town houses; the more wealthy still forsook their old-fashionedly proportioned town houses in favour of new and vast palaces designed purely for entertaining. The Duke of Devonshire, an owner of vast estates in Derbyshire and elsewhere, belonged to the latter category. Thus the fire at Devonshire House in 1733 provided the unforeseen opportunity to build one such palace during the height of the fashion.
The 3rd Duke chose the fashionable architect
William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, b ...
, for whom this was a first commission for a London house. It was built between 1734 and about 1740. Kent was the protégé of the immensely cultivated
3rd Earl of Burlington and had worked on his
Chiswick House
Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753 ...
, built in 1729, and also at
Holkham Hall, completed circa 1741, both in the Palladian style and considered the epitome of fashion and sophistication. Chiswick House later came, with other estates, into the possession of the Dukes of Devonshire through the marriage of the 4th Duke to
Lady Charlotte Boyle, daughter and heiress of Lord Burlington.
Architecture

In typical
Palladian style, Devonshire House consisted of a ''
corps de logis'' flanked by
service wings. The severity of the design - three storeys in eleven bays - caused one contemporary critic to liken the mansion to a
warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...
, and a modern biographer of Kent to remark on its "plain severity". However, the curiously flat exterior concealed Kent's sumptuous interiors which housed a large part of the Devonshire art collection, considered one of the finest in the United Kingdom, and a renowned library, housed in a room 40 ft long and including amongst its treasures
Claude Lorraine's ''
Liber Veritatis'', his record in sketches of a lifetime of painting. In the Duke's sitting room a glass case over the chimneypiece contained the best of his collection of
engraved gem
An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...
s and Renaissance and Baroque medallions. Such a prominent commission could hardly fail to be included in ''
Vitruvius Britannicus''.
The plan of Devonshire House defines it as one of the earliest of the great 18th-century
town houses, then designed identically to grand
country houses. Its purpose, too, was identical, to display wealth and consequently power. Thus a great town house, by its large size and design, accentuated its owner's power by its contrast with the monotony of the smaller
terraced houses surrounding it.
At Devonshire House, Kent's exterior stairs led up to a ''
piano nobile'', where the entrance hall was the only room that rose through two storeys. Inconspicuous pairs of staircases are tucked into modest sites at either side, for the upstairs was strictly private.
Enfilade
Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...
s of interconnecting rooms, of which the largest space is devoted to the library, flank central halls, adjusting the traditions of the symmetrical Baroque
state apartments, a design which did not lend itself to large gatherings. A few years later architects such as
Matthew Brettingham
Matthew Brettingham (1699 – 19 August 1769), sometimes called Matthew Brettingham the Elder, was an English architect who supervised the construction of Holkham Hall, and became one of the best-known architects of his generation, despi ...
pioneered a more compact design, with a suite of connecting
reception room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th cent ...
s circling a central top-lit stair hall, which allowed guests to "circulate". Greeted at the head of the stairs, they then flowed in a convenient circuit, rather than retracing their steps. This design was first exemplified by the now-demolished
Norfolk House completed in 1756. Therefore, it seems that Devonshire House was old-fashioned and unsuited to its intended use almost from the moment of its completion. Thus from the late 18th century its interiors were vastly altered.
Usage
Alterations were made to Devonshire House by the architect
James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...
, over the long period 1776–90, and later by
Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Reg ...
, who in 1843 constructed a new portico, entrance hall and grand staircase for the 6th Duke. At that time the external double staircase was swept away, allowing for formal entrance to be made into the ground floor through the new portico. Hitherto the ground floor had contained only secondary rooms and in 18th century fashion had been the domain of servants.
The new staircase conveyed guests directly to the ''piano nobile'', from a low entrance hall, in a newly created recess formed by creating a convex bow at the centre of the rear garden facade. Known as the "Crystal Staircase", it had a glass handrail and newel posts. Burton amalgamated several of the principal rooms; he created a vast heavily gilded ballroom from two former drawing rooms and often created double height rooms at the expense of the bedrooms above, causing the house to become even more of a place for display and entertaining rather than for living.
Devonshire House was the setting for the brilliant social and political life of the circle around
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire and his duchess,
Lady Georgiana Spencer, Whig supporters of
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...
. The grand house was also the site for the much celebrated
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the Diamond jubilee, 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to cel ...
with a lavish
fancy dress ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...
, known as the
Devonshire House Ball of 1897. The guests, including
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second child ...
and the
Princess of Wales
Princess of Wales (; ) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The Princess is the apparent future queen consort, as "Prince of Wales" is a title reserved by custom for the heir apparent to the Monarchy of the ...
, were dressed as historical portraits come to life. The many portrait photographs taken at the ball have illustrated countless books on the social history of the late Victorian era.
Demolition

During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
Devonshire House was used by the
Red Cross
The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
, including for dealing with post.
Gertrude Bacon
Gertrude Bacon (19 April 1874 – 22 December 1949) was a British aeronautical pioneer. She achieved a considerable number of "firsts" for women in aeronautics, as well as making contributions in the areas of astronomy and botany. Bacon p ...
was later in charge of this operation,
and
Rotha Lintorn-Orman served as its commandant, which put her in charge of training all ambulance drivers for the British Red Cross.
After the war, many aristocratic families gave up their London houses and Devonshire House was deserted in 1919. The demolition was mentioned nostalgically several times in literature and caused
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device.
Vir ...
's Clarissa Dalloway to think, as she passed down Piccadilly, of "Devonshire House without its gilt leopards", a reference to the house's gilded gates. It also inspired
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World ...
's "Monody on the Demolition of Devonshire House".
[Richard Davenport-Hines, "Cavendish, Victor Christian William, ninth Duke of Devonshire (1868–1938)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200]
accessed 4 Oct 2010
The reason for the abandonment was that the
9th Duke was the first of his family to suffer
death duties, which amounted to over £500,000 (£18 million). Additionally, he inherited the debts of the
7th Duke. This double burden prompted the sale of many of the family's valuables, including books printed by
William Caxton
William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...
, many 1st editions of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, and Devonshire House itself with its even more valuable three acres of gardens.
The sale was finalised in 1920 at a price of £750,000 (equivalent to £27,038,808 in 2023)
and the house was demolished. The two purchasers were Shurmer Sibthorpe and Lawrence Harrison, wealthy industrialists, who built on the site a hotel and block of flats. When told that the proposed demolition was an act of vandalism, Sibthorpe, echoing the building's 18th-century critics, replied: "Archaeologists have gathered round me and say I am a vandal, but personally I think the place is an eyesore."
Legacy
In 1924-1926
Holland, Hannen & Cubitts built a new office building on the site, fronting directly onto Piccadilly, also known as "Devonshire House". The building became the UK headquarters of the automobile manufacturer
Citroën
Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
, with showrooms occupying the lower three floors. Citroën remained the chief occupant of the building until 1936. It was also the headquarters of The Rootes Group until the 1960s. During World War II it was occupied by the headquarters of the
War Damage Commission.
Some of the paintings and furniture from Devonshire House survive at the Duke's principal seat,
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family si ...
in Derbyshire. The wrought-iron entrance gates, between piers with
rusticated quoin
Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...
s and topped with seated
sphinx
A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle.
In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...
es, have been re-erected on the south side of Piccadilly, to form an entrance to Green Park. The wine cellar is now the ticket office of
Green Park Underground station. Other architectural salvage included furniture, doorways and mantelpieces which were relocated to Chatsworth. Some of these stored items were auctioned by Sotheby's on 5–7 October 2010, including five William Kent chimneypieces from Devonshire House described by the auctioneer
Lord Dalmeny as being of special interest and value: "You can't buy them because they are all in listed buildings now. It's like being able to commission Rubens to paint your ceiling."
Most of the great detached houses of noblemen which existed in the West End of London, where even the grandest persons often lived in
terraced house
A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...
s, including Devonshire House,
Norfolk House and
Chesterfield House, are today numbered amongst England's thousands of lost houses; Lansdowne House lost its front to a street-widening scheme. Just a few survive, but in corporate or state ownership.
Marlborough House
Marlborough House, a Grade I listed mansion on The Mall in St James's, City of Westminster, London, is the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations and the seat of the Commonwealth Secretariat. It is adjacent to St James's Palace.
The ...
passed to the crown in the 19th century.
Apsley House
Apsley House is the London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing towards the large traffic roundabout in the centre of which stands the Wellington Arch. It ...
remains a functioning possession of the Dukes of Wellington, but is mostly now a public museum on the edge of a busy roundabout, its gardens long gone (but not built over), with the family occupying the uppermost floor only.
Spencer House Spencer House may refer to:
* Spencer House, Westminster, Greater London, England
United States
* Spencer House (Hartford, Connecticut), listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in Hartford County
* Spencer House in Columbus, ...
is an event venue. Manchester House houses the
Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...
, a museum open to the public.
Bridgewater House, Westminster
Bridgewater House is a townhouse located at 14 Cleveland Row in the St James's area of London, England. It is a Grade I listed building.
History
The earliest known house on the site was Berkshire House, built in about 1626–27 for Thomas Ho ...
by
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was an English architect best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...
is now used as offices. Currently,
Dudley House is the only one of London's surviving private palaces to be occupied and used as its design intended.
[A complete list (see ]Townhouse (Great Britain)
In British English, British usage, the term townhouse originally referred to the opulent town or city residence (in practice normally in City of Westminster, Westminster near the seat of the monarch) of a member of the British nobility, nobilit ...
) would also include Melbourne House, remodelled as The Albany; Dover House in Whitehall, now government offices; Derby House in Stratford Place off Oxford Street; Crewe House,in Curzon Street; Bourdon House at the northeast end of Berkeley Square; Egremont House, Piccadilly, housing the Naval and Military Club; and Bath House. These are mentioned by Nikolaus Pevsner, ''London I: The Cities of London and Westminster'' (Buildings of England series) 1962. 78f.
See also
*
List of demolished buildings and structures in London
*
Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Official website for office building
{{Coord, 51.507270, -0.142756, type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Mayfair
Former houses in the City of Westminster
Buildings and structures on Piccadilly
Decimus Burton buildings
William Kent buildings
Georgian architecture in the City of Westminster
Townhouses in the United Kingdom