In 1772, 16 years after Spencer House was commissioned by the 1st Earl Spencer - an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales - the travel writer Arthur Young wrote: "I know not in England a more beautiful piece of architecture... in richness, elegance and taste." After a restoration programme that brought together the country's finest craftspeople in the 1980s and 1990s, the same might again be said of the Palladian mansion. As well as being open to the public, it is one of the most lavish places to entertain in London - its eight state rooms can be hired out.
The architect John Vardy was responsible for the exterior, but it was James Stuart, newly returned from Greece in 1758, who introduced accurate Greek details to the interior. It began a neoclassical fashion that was to sweep the country.
For almost 150 years, the Spencers lived in this lavish house overlooking Green Park and made it a stage for high-society gatherings. The 4th and 6th Earls both served as Lord Chamberlain to the Royal Household.
From 1895 on, however, the house was let out, for a while as a club, but mostly as offices. By the end of World War II, when the contents - including fixtures such as fireplace and doors - had been removed to the family's country seat at Althorp, the property was a shadow of its former self. The deterioration was finally reversed after its purchase in 1985 by a consortium led by Lord Rothschild.
Two years later, work began to bring the house and garden back to it's 18th-century state. It was decided to retain additions, such as the dining room's Greek Ionic columns, made in 1780s and 1790s by the major English architect Henry Holland.
For more tourist and destination information about London, England, visit http://www.guidedtourlondon.com
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