Grovelands House
| Grovelands Park | |
| Middlesex | |
|---|---|
 Grovelands House | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ30399427 |
| Location: | 51°37’56"N, 0°7’3"W |
| Town: | Southgate |
| History | |
| Built 1797–98 | |
| For: | Walker Gray by John Nash |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
Grovelands House is a country house in Southgate in northern Middlesex. Originally a private house it later became a hospital, of which the hosue forms the original block. The house is a Grade I listed building.[1]
To the east of the house is Grovelands Park, now a public park between Southgate and Winchmore Hill, that originated as the house's private estate. The park is Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[2]
History
The mansion, which was initially called 'Southgate Grove', was built in 1797–98 to the designs of John Nash for Walker Gray, a Quaker brewer. The grounds were landscaped by Humphry Repton. In 1816 the building was described as being "a regular building of Ionic order, and presents a fine example of that beautiful style".[3] Lucinda Lambton has called the building an "idiosyncratically flounced, classical villa", and mentions that the owner bought much of the parkland to avoid the sight of other people's chimneys. She goes on to describe the interior: "Inside, there survives one of the most delicate delights in all London: Nash's octagonal dining-room, painted as if you are in a bamboo birdcage, looking our through the bars at the fields, woods and sky."
After Gray's death the property was acquired by John Donnithorne Taylor (also connected to the Taylor Walker & Co Brewery), whose family continued to live at Grovelands up to the First World War.[2]
Part of the estate was purchased by the Municipal Borough of Southgate in 1913 to become a public park.
The house today is part of the Priory Hospital Group.
Outside links
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1078925: Grovelands Park Hospital (Grade I listing)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 National Heritage List 1000395: Grovelands Park (Register of Historic Parks and Gardens)
- ↑ Pps 771-772 in London and Middlesex: Or, An Historical, Commercial, & Descriptive Survey of The Metropolis of Great-Britain: Including Sketches of its Environs, and a Topographical Account or the Most Remarkable Places in the Above County by James Norris Brewer, 1816.