Burlington House
Burlington House | |
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Neo-Palladian | |
Location | Mayfair, London |
Burlington House is a building on
History
The house was one of the earliest of a number of very large private residences built on the north side of Piccadilly, previously a country lane, from the 1660s onwards. The first version was begun by Sir John Denham in about 1664.[1] It was a red-brick double-pile hip-roofed mansion with a recessed centre, typical of the style of the time, or perhaps even a little old fashioned. Denham may have acted as his own architect, or he may have employed Hugh May, who certainly became involved in the construction after the house was sold in an incomplete state in 1667 to Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, from whom it derives its name.[2] Burlington had the house completed, which was the largest structure on his land, the Burlington Estate.
In 1704, the house was passed on to ten-year-old
In between his two Grand Tours of Italy (1714 and 1719), the 3rd Earl of Burlington's taste was transformed by the publication of Giacomo Leoni's Palladio, which made him develop a passion for Palladian architecture. In 1717 or 1718, the young Lord Burlington began making major modifications to Burlington House, and the supervision of the work was undertaken by Gibbs.
Later,
Campbell's work closely followed the form of the previous building and reused much of the structure, but the conventional front (south) façade was replaced with an austere two-storey composition, taking Palladio's
The Saloon, constructed immediately after William Kent's return from Rome in December 1719, has survived in the most intact condition; it was the first Kentian interior designed in England. Its plaster
Lord Burlington transferred his architectural energies to Chiswick House after 1722. Upon Burlington's death in 1753, Burlington House was passed on to the Dukes of Devonshire, but they had no need of it as they already owned Devonshire House just along Piccadilly. The fourth Duke's younger son Lord George Cavendish and a Devonshire in-law, William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, each used the house for at least two separate periods. Portland had some of the interiors altered by John Carr in the 1770s.
Eventually Lord George, who was a rich man in his own right due to having married an heiress, purchased the house from his nephew, William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, for £70,000 in 1815. Lord George employed Samuel Ware to shift the staircase to the centre and reshape the interiors to provide a suite of "Fine Rooms" en enfilade, linking the new state dining room at the west end[6] to the new ballroom at the east end. Like Carr's work, Ware's was sympathetic with the Palladian style of the house, providing an early example of the "Kent Revival",[5] a particularly English prefiguration of Baroque Revival architecture. In 1819, the Burlington Arcade was built along the western part of the grounds.
In 1854, Burlington House was sold to the British government for £140,000, originally with the plan of demolishing the building and using the site to build the University of London. This plan, however, was abandoned in the face of strong opposition. In 1857, Burlington House was occupied by the scientifically focused, Royal Society, the Linnean Society, and the Chemical Society (later the Royal Society of Chemistry).
The
This arrangement lasted until 1968, when the Royal Society moved to new premises in Carlton House Terrace, and its apartments were split between the Royal Society of Chemistry and the British Academy. The British Academy also moved to Carlton House Terrace in 1998, and the Royal Society of Chemistry took over the rest of the east wing.
In 2004, the Courtyard Societies went to court against the
In August 2019, the
Present occupants
Burlington House is most familiar to the general public as the venue for art exhibitions from the
- Geological Society of London (Piccadilly/east wing)
- Linnean Society of London (Piccadilly/west wing)
- Royal Astronomical Society (west wing)
- Society of Antiquaries of London (west wing)
- Royal Society of Chemistry (east wing)
Burlington House has been listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England since February 1970.[15]
Public access
The courtyard of Burlington House, known as the "Annenberg Courtyard",[16] is open to the public during the day. It features a statue of Joshua Reynolds and fountains arranged in the pattern of the planets at the time of his birth.[16]
The Royal Academy's public art exhibitions are staged in nineteenth-century additions to the main block which are of little architectural interest. However, in 2004 the principal reception rooms on the piano nobile were opened to the public after restoration as the "John Madejski Fine Rooms". They contain many of the principal works in the academy's permanent collection, which predominantly features works by Royal Academicians and small temporary exhibitions drawn from the collection. The east, west and Piccadilly wings are occupied by the learned societies and are generally not open to the public unless for attending public lectures or academic exhibitions by appointment.
See also
References
- ^ Date in The John Madeski Fine Rooms: An Architectural Guide (Royal Academy of Arts).
- ^ "Burlington House | Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32 (pp. 390–429)". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ Pellegrini's decorations were removed by 1727 and survive at Narford Hall, Norfolk; canvases from Ricci's screen are no longer in situ but remain at Burlington House (The John Madeski Fine Rooms).
- Vitruvius Britannicus.
- ^ a b The John Madeski Fine Rooms.
- ^ Now the General Assembly Room, it was originally a bedroom; its opening into the enfilade was blocked in 1885 by Richard Norman Shaw, who centred the room on his new staircase; the enfilade has been reopened with the restoration of the "Fine Rooms".
- Houses of Parliament.
- ^ Adam, David (31 January 2004). "Royal societies facing eviction in row over rent". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ Trustees’ report and financial statements 2018, Royal Society of Chemistry
- ^ Council Minutes - February 2018, Royal Astronomical Society
- ^ 'Piccadilly Circus', Private Eye, 23 October 2020
- ^ "Leases and Rents: The Linnean Society at Burlington House" (PDF). 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2022.
- ^ "Successful conclusion of Burlington House lease negotiations". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "The Geological Society of London - Burlington House". www.geolsoc.org.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ Historic England, "Royal Academy including Burlington House and galleries and Royal Academy School buildings (1226676)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 14 December 2017
- ^ a b "About Us". Burlington House. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- David Pearce, London's Mansions (1986). ISBN 0-7134-8702-X.
External links
- Burlington House – arts and sciences in the heart of London – The Burlington House lectures represent a joint interdisciplinary initiative organised in conjunction with the Royal Academy and the five learned societies that occupy this historic building.
- Survey of London – very detailed coverage of Burlington House from the government sponsored survey of London (1963).
- Article 'The Burlington Five' published in The Times, 18 January 2004