Bridgewater House is a

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 ...

located at 14 Cleveland Row in the

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

area of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The earliest known house on the site was Berkshire House, built in about 1626–27 for Thomas Howard, second son of the

Earl of Suffolk Earl of Suffolk is a title which has been created four times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, in tandem with the creation of the title of Earl of Norfolk, came before 1069 in favour of Ralph the Staller; but the title was forfei ...

and

Master of the Horse Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today. (ancient Rome) The original Master of the Horse () in the Roman Rep ...

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

when he was Prince of Wales. Howard was later created

Earl of Berkshire Earl of Berkshire is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. It was created for the first time in 1621 for Francis Norris, 1st Earl of Berkshire. For more information on this creation (which became extinct on his death in ...

. After being occupied by Parliamentarian troops in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, used for the Portuguese Embassy, and inhabited by Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, the house was lived in by Charles II's mistress Barbara Villiers, who was made Duchess of Cleveland in 1670, following which the house was known as Cleveland House. She refaced the old house and added new wings. After being owned for some years by a speculator, the house was sold in 1700 to John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater, after which it passed by inheritance until 1948. Cleveland House was re-designed in the Palazzo style by Sir

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 ...

in 1840. The rebuilding was completed and renamed in 1854 for Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, heir of the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater. It is built in

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

with a slate roof in three storeys with a basement. The building was damaged in the

Second World War 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 ...

by a bomb in the street and was subsequently adapted for office use. It was sold by

John Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland John Sutherland Egerton, 6th Duke of Sutherland, (10 May 1915 – 21 September 2000) was a British peer from the Egerton family. He was styled Viscount Brackley until 1944, when he became the 5th Earl of Ellesmere on inheriting his father's sub ...

. By 1979, it was the corporate head office of

Tube Investments TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at one point being a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. ...

, the British engineering and metals conglomerate. In 1981, Bridgewater House was purchased for £19 million and restored by

Yiannis Latsis Ioannis "Yiannis" Latsis (; 14 September 1910 – 17 April 2003), also known as John Spyridon Latsis, was a Greek shipping multi-billionaire business magnate notable for his great wealth, influential friends, and charitable activities. The year ...

, a Greek shipping magnate, and it is still owned by his family. Bridgwater House from The Queen's London - (1896).JPG, Bridgewater House in 1896 (front façade) BridgewaterHouse.jpg, Bridgewater House in a 19th-century engraving

Art collections

George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford had Cleveland House extended in 1803–1806 by architect Charles Heathcote Tatham to accommodate the Stafford Gallery (renamed the Bridgewater Gallery in Bridgewater House), where the collections of paintings of the Duke of Bridgewater and his nephew and heir George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (whose second son Ellesmere was) were on at least semi-public display. The collection included about 70 paintings from the famous

Orleans Collection The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is ...

, some of which are now in the Sutherland Loan to the

National Gallery of Scotland The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfa ...

. The collection was opened in 1803, and it could be visited on Wednesday afternoons over four, later three, months in the summer by "acquaintances" of a member of the family, or artists recommended by a member of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540–1600'', p. 468, 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd, The painting ''

Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers ''Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers'' is an oil painting by the French artist Paul Delaroche, depicting Charles I of England taunted by the victorious soldiers of Oliver Cromwell after the Second English Civil War, prior to execution of ...

'', thought lost in a World War II air raid, was rediscovered in 2009.

In popular culture

The exterior appears as Marchmain House in the 1981 television adaptation of ''Brideshead Revisited'' and as Grantham House, the Crawleys’ London house, in the TV historical drama series ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

''.

References

Bibliography

External links

Bridgewater House in the Victorian era
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgewater House, Westminster Grade I listed houses in London Defunct art museums and galleries in London Grade I listed buildings in the City of Westminster Houses in the City of Westminster Charles Barry buildings Townhouses in the United Kingdom