Ok, not quite a country house, but weve been all over the homes of the Dukes of Northumberland the last few days, so we might as well be a completeist about it. Northumberland House was a large Jacobean townhouse in London, which received its name because for most of its history it was the London residence of the Percy family, who were the Earls and later Dukes of Northumberland. In the 16th century the Strand, which connects the City of London with the royal center of Westminster, was lined with the mansions of some of Englands wealthiest. Most of the grandest houses were on the southern side of the road and had gardens stretching down to the River Thames. Around 1605 Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton cleared a site at Charing Cross and built himself a mansion, which was at first known as Northampton House. The Strand facade was 162 feet (49 m) wide and the depth of the house was greater. It was built around a central courtyard and had square turrets in each corner. The layout reflected medieval traditions, with a great hall as the principal room, and separate apartments for members of the household. The garden was 160 feet wide and over 300 feet long, but unlike those of the neighboring mansions to the east it did not reach all the way down to the river. The house passed from Lord Northampton to the Earls of Suffolk, and for a time it was known as Suffolk House. They were another branch of the powerful Howard family headed by the Dukes of Norfolk, and in the 1640s it was sold to the Earl of Northumberland at the discounted price of £15,000 as part of the marriage settlement when he married a Howard. Regular alterations were made over the next two centuries in response to changes in fashion and to make the layout more convenient for the lifestyle of the day. John Webb was employed from 1657 to 1660 to relocate the familys living accommodation from the Strand front to the garden front. In the 1740s and 1750s the Strand front was largely reconstructed and two wings were added which projected from the ends of the garden front at right angles. These were over 100 feet (30 m) long and contained a ballroom and a picture gallery, the latter itself 106 feet (32 m) long. The style of the new interiors was late Palladian. In the mid-1760s Robert Mylne was employed to reface the courtyard in stone, and he may also have been responsible for extensions to the two garden wings which were made at this time. In the 1770s Robert Adam was commissioned to redecorate the state rooms on the garden front. The Glass Drawing Room at Northumberland House was one of his most celebrated interiors. Part of the Strand front had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1780. In 1819 Thomas Cundy rebuilt the garden front five feet further south as the wall was unstable, and in 1824 he added a new main staircase. By the mid 19th century the Strand had become a commercial thoroughfare: all of the neighboring mansions had since been replaced. After a fire, which caused substantial damage, the Duke eventually accepted an offer of £500,000 in 1866 (which translates to approximately £39,220,000 in 2012). Northumberland House was demolished and Northumberland Avenue was constructed in its place.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:24:52 +0000