Grosvenor House
51°30′35.2″N 0°9′19.7″W / 51.509778°N 0.155472°W
Grosvenor House was one of the largest
The house was requisitioned during the First World War, and was sold and demolished in the 1920s. The Grosvenor House Hotel was built on its site.
History
The site was originally occupied by a small house named 'Gloucester House' (after Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, who owned it), with the front entrance on Upper Grosvenor Street. This house was purchased by Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, in 1805 for £20,000. He spent £17,000 on extending the house to make it more fashionable. In 1821, a large picture gallery 50 feet (15 m) long was added to the west of the house. It was here that many of the Grosvenor family's treasures were held.
Another extension was added in 1842, in the form of a 110-foot (34 m) long classical-style
In 1870, Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster (later the 1st Duke) commissioned Henry Clutton to add a porte-cochère to the north, and he had many of the state rooms redesigned. In 1889, electricity was introduced, being one of the first buildings in London to do so.
Demolition
The house was in the Grosvenor family's possession until the
Art collections
It is said that the home originally housed one of the best private art collections in the world, with paintings by
See also
Notes
Sources
- Walford, Edward. Old & New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People & Its Places, 6 vols., London, 1881, vol 4, pp. 370–372.
- Young, John. A Catalogue of the Pictures at Grosvenor House, London; with etchings from the whole collection ... accompanied by historical notices of the principal works. London, 1820.
External links
- Media related to Grosvenor House at Wikimedia Commons
- Detailed architectural history from the Survey of London
- Grosvenor House hotel website