Home House

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Home House
Middlesex
20-21 Portman Square.jpg
Home House
Location
Grid reference: TQ28008131
Location: 51°30’58"N, 0°9’24"W
History
Address: 20 Portman Square
For: Elizabeth, Countess of Home
by Robert Adam
Townhouse
Information

Home House is a Georgian town house at 20 Portman Square, in the West End of London, in Middlesex. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]

Elizabeth, Countess of Home appointed James Wyatt to design her new house in 1776, but by 1777 he had been dismissed and replaced by Robert Adam. Elizabeth left the completed house on her death in 1784 to her nephew William Gale, who in turn left it to one of his aunts, Mrs Walsh, in 1785.

Later occupants included the Marquis de la Luzerne during his time as French ambassador to the Court of St. James's (1788 to 1791), the 4th Duke of Atholl (1798 to 1808), the Duke of Newcastle (1820 to 1861), Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid (1862 to 1919), and Lord and Lady Islington (1919 to 1926).

Robert Adam's design for the main staircase

In 1926, the house was leased by Samuel Courtauld to house his growing art collection. On his wife's death in 1931, he gave the house and the collection to the fledgling Courtauld Institute of Art (which he had played a major part in founding) as temporary accommodation. A permanent accommodation was not forthcoming, and the Institute remained in the building until 1989, when it moved to its present home of Somerset House. Home House then remained vacant for seven years, until it was acquired by Berkeley Adam Ltd.

The building has been a private members' club since 1998.[2][3] The club was extended to include No. 21, as well as the original Nos. 19 and 20, in 2010.

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Home House)

References

  1. National Heritage List 1227105: Home House (Courtauld Institute) (Grade I listing)
  2. Home House, The Portland Estate. Accessed 21 January 2019
  3. "About us", homehouse.co.uk. Accessed 21 January 2019
  • Stourton, James (2012). Great Houses of London. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-7112-3366-9.