Devonshire House

{{Short description|Former London residence of the Dukes of Devonshire}}{{Distinguish|Old Devonshire House}} {{EngvarB|date=November 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} [[File:Devonshire House from The Queen's London (1896).JPG|thumb|Devonshire House in 1896]] [[File:DevonshireHouseimpression3.jpg|thumb|Bird's eye recreation of Devonshire House as it was {{circa|1896}}]]

'''Devonshire House''' in [[Piccadilly]], was the London [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|townhouse]] of the [[Duke of Devonshire|Dukes of Devonshire]] during the 18th and 19th centuries. Following a fire in 1733 it was rebuilt by [[William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire]], in the [[Palladian]] style, to designs by [[William Kent]]. Completed circa 1740, it stood empty after the [[First World War]] and was demolished in 1924.

Many of Britain's great noblemen maintained large London houses that bore their names. As a ducal house (only in mainland Europe were such houses referred to as palaces), Devonshire House was one of the largest and grandest, ranking alongside [[Burlington House]], [[Montagu House, Bloomsbury|Montague House]], [[Lansdowne House]], [[Londonderry House]], [[Northumberland House]], and [[Norfolk House]]. All of these have long been demolished, except Burlington and Lansdowne, both of which have been substantially altered.

Today the site is occupied by a namesake modern office building.

Devonshire House occupied the site of Berkeley House, which was built between 1665 and 1673 and at a cost of over £30,000, by [[John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton]], of [[Bruton Priory]] in Somerset, following his return from service as [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland|Viceroy of Ireland]]. The site is memorialised today by [[Berkeley Square]], Berkeley Street, [[Stratton Street]] and [[Bruton Street]]. The house was later occupied by [[Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland|Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland]], one of the celebrated [[:Category:Mistresses of Charles II of England|mistresses of King Charles II]].

Berkeley House, a classical mansion built by [[Hugh May]], having been purchased in 1696 by [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire]], was renamed "Devonshire House". As part of the agreement, [[John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton]] (c. 1663–1697) undertook not to build on that part of the land he retained which lay directly behind the house to the north, so preserving the Duke's view. This covenant was still in force when the Berkeley land was developed after 1730, and the [[Garden square|gardens]] of [[Berkeley Square]] represent the northern termination of that undeveloped strip, combined in the south with the gardens of [[Lansdowne House]].<ref>'Berkeley Square, North Side,' in ''Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings)'', ed. F H W Sheppard (London: London County Council, 1980), 64-67, accessed 21 November 2015, [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol40/pt2/pp64-67 online]</ref>

On 16 October 1733, whilst undergoing refurbishment, the former Berkeley House was completely destroyed by fire, despite firefighting efforts by the Regiment of Guards, whose barracks were nearby, led by [[Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle]], and by other local troops led by [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]]. The cause was attributed to careless labourers.<ref>[http://www.londononline.co.uk/features/berkeley_square/2/ London Online; Berkeley House and Devonshire House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122075641/http://www.londononline.co.uk/features/berkeley_square/2/ |date=22 November 2015 }} retrieved 30 September 2010; Sykes, Christopher Simon. ''Private Palaces: Life in the Great London Houses'', p. 98, Chatto & Windus, 1985</ref> Ironically, the Duke's former London residence, [[Old Devonshire House]], at 48 Boswell Street, [[Bloomsbury]], survived both its successors until [[The Blitz]] during [[World War II]].

==Ethos== During the 18th century forms of entertainment began to change and large [[party#reception|receptions]] came into fashion, often taking the form of concerts and balls. Initially, hosts hired one of the many new [[assembly room]]s built to indulge the fashion. It was not long before the more dedicated and wealthy hosts began to add a [[ballroom]] to their [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|town houses]]; the more wealthy still forsook their old-fashionedly proportioned town houses in favour of new and vast palaces designed purely for entertaining. The Duke of Devonshire, an owner of vast estates in Derbyshire and elsewhere, belonged to the latter category.<ref>Girouard, p194 explains this phenomenon.</ref> Thus the fire at Devonshire House in 1733 provided the unforeseen opportunity to build one such palace during the height of the fashion.

The 3rd Duke chose the fashionable architect [[William Kent]], for whom this was a first commission for a London house. It was built between 1734 and about 1740.<ref>[[Howard Colvin]] ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840'', 3rd ed. 1995, ''s.v.'' "Kent, William".</ref> Kent was the protégé of the immensely cultivated [[Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington|3rd Earl of Burlington]] and had worked on his [[Chiswick House]], built in 1729, and also at [[Holkham Hall]], completed circa 1741, both in the Palladian style and considered the epitome of fashion and sophistication. Chiswick House later came, with other estates, into the possession of the Dukes of Devonshire through the marriage of the 4th Duke to [[Charlotte Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington|Lady Charlotte Boyle]], daughter and heiress of Lord Burlington.<ref>Chatsworth, p52. "The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire". Derbyshire Countryside Ltd. 2005</ref>

==Architecture== [[File:Devonshire House from Vitruvius Britannicus edited.JPG|thumb|300px|right|Devonshire House, elevation and plan from ''[[Vitruvius Britannicus]]'', Vol.IV, 1767]]

In typical [[Andrea Palladio|Palladian]] style, Devonshire House consisted of a ''[[corps de logis]]'' flanked by [[service wing]]s. The severity of the design - three storeys in eleven bays - caused one contemporary critic to liken the mansion to a [[warehouse]],<ref>E. Beresford Chancellor, ''The Private Palaces of London''. Chapter E: "It is spacious, and so are the East India Company's Warehouses."</ref> and a modern biographer of Kent to remark on its "plain severity".<ref>Michael I. Wilson, ''William Kent, Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685—1748'' 1984:172, who adds "the fact that the house was hidden from public gaze behind a high wall must have helped still further to give it the appearance of a penitentiary"</ref> However, the curiously flat exterior concealed Kent's sumptuous interiors which housed a large part of the Devonshire art collection, considered one of the finest in the United Kingdom,<ref>Its nucleus, hung in the earlier house on the site, was noted by Pierre-Jacques Fougeroux, a copy of whose manuscript ''Voyage'' survives in the library of the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]; Francis Russell, "Early Italian Pictures and Some English Collectors", ''The Burlington Magazine'' '''136''' No. 1091 (February 1994;85-90) notes fashionable [[Tintoretto]]s and [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]]s and [[Raphael]]s and some less-expected [[quattrocento painting]]s including a so-called Bellini.</ref> and a renowned library,<ref>B. Lambert, ''The History and Survey of London and its Environs'', 1806:529.</ref> housed in a room 40 ft long and including amongst its treasures [[Claude Lorrain]]'s ''[[Liber Veritatis]]'', his record in sketches of a lifetime of painting. In the Duke's sitting room a glass case over the chimneypiece contained the best of his collection of [[engraved gem]]s and Renaissance and Baroque medallions.<ref>Noted in a brief notice in ''The Crayon'', '''1'''.12 (21 March 1855:184).</ref> Such a prominent commission could hardly fail to be included in ''[[Vitruvius Britannicus]]''.<ref>''[[Vitruvius Britannicus]]'' volume iv (1767, pls. 19 and 20, ''illustration'').</ref>

The plan of Devonshire House defines it as one of the earliest of the great 18th-century [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|town houses]], then designed identically to grand [[English country house|country houses]]. Its purpose, too, was identical, to display wealth and consequently power. Thus a great town house, by its large size and design, accentuated its owner's power by its contrast with the monotony of the smaller [[terraced houses]] surrounding it.<ref>Tait A. A. ‘Adam, Robert (1728–1792)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/105, accessed 4 Oct 2010]</ref>

At Devonshire House, Kent's exterior stairs led up to a ''[[piano nobile]]'', where the entrance hall was the only room that rose through two storeys.<ref>The great height of the grander saloons pictured in ''The Illustrated London News'' was effected in the extensive restructuring under Decimus Burton by taking into the public spaces former upstairs accommodations, making of Devonshire House even more a site purely for public receptions and gallery display.</ref> Inconspicuous pairs of staircases are tucked into modest sites at either side, for the upstairs was strictly private.[[Enfilade (architecture)|enfilades]] of interconnecting rooms, of which the largest space is devoted to the library, flank central halls, adjusting the traditions of the symmetrical Baroque [[state apartment]]s, a design which did not lend itself to large gatherings. A few years later architects such as [[Matthew Brettingham]] pioneered a more compact design, with a suite of connecting [[reception room]]s circling a central top-lit stair hall, which allowed guests to "circulate". Greeted at the head of the stairs, they then flowed in a convenient circuit, rather than retracing their steps. This design was first exemplified by the now-demolished [[Norfolk House]] completed in 1756.<ref>Girouard, pp 194 & 195.</ref> Therefore, it seems that Devonshire House was old-fashioned and unsuited to its intended use almost from the moment of its completion. Thus from the late 18th century its interiors were vastly altered.

==Usage== [[File:Devonshire House from the Illustrated London News, 1850.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A ball at Devonshire House in 1850, from the ''[[Illustrated London News]]'']]

Alterations were made to Devonshire House by the architect [[James Wyatt]], over the long period 1776–90,<ref>Colvin 1995, ''s.v.'' "Wyatt, James".</ref> and later by [[Decimus Burton]], who in 1843 constructed a new portico, entrance hall and grand staircase for the [[William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire|6th Duke]].<ref>Colvin 1995, ''s.v.'' "Burton, Decimus".</ref> At that time the external double staircase was swept away, allowing for formal entrance to be made into the ground floor through the new portico. Hitherto the ground floor had contained only secondary rooms and in 18th century fashion had been the domain of servants.

The new staircase conveyed guests directly to the ''piano nobile'', from a low entrance hall, in a newly created recess formed by creating a convex bow at the centre of the rear garden facade.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45198 British History Online] retrieved 5 October 2010.</ref> Known as the "Crystal Staircase", it had a glass handrail and newel posts.<ref>Maev Kennedy, [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/sep/29/chatsworth-house-auction "Chatsworth House Auction"]. ''Guardian'' Online, Wednesday 29 September 2010, retrieved 5 October 2010.</ref> Burton amalgamated several of the principal rooms; he created a vast heavily gilded ballroom from two former drawing rooms and often created double height rooms at the expense of the bedrooms above, causing the house to become even more of a place for display and entertaining rather than for living.

Devonshire House was the setting for the brilliant social and political life of the circle around [[William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire]] and his duchess, [[Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire|Lady Georgiana Spencer]], Whig supporters of [[Charles James Fox]].<ref>Hugh Stokes, ''The Devonshire House Circle'', 1916.</ref> The grand house was also the site for the much celebrated [[Queen Victoria#Diamond Jubilee|Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee]] with a lavish [[Fancy Dress|fancy dress]] [[Masquerade ball|ball]], known as the [[Devonshire House Ball of 1897]]. The guests, including [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Albert Edward, Prince of Wales]] and the [[Alexandra of Denmark|Princess of Wales]], were dressed as historical portraits come to life. The many portrait photographs taken at the ball have illustrated countless books on the social history of the late Victorian era.<ref>A light modern memoir of the ball, written by the daughter of the 11th duke and duchess, is Sophia Murphy, ''The Duchess of Devonshire's Ball'', 1984. See also some images of guests in costume here: http://www.rvondeh.dircon.co.uk/incalmprose/index.html</ref>

==Demolition== [[File:DevonshireHouse1907.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Devonshire House, entrance front on Piccadilly, in 1906.]]

During [[World War I]] Devonshire House was used by the [[British Red Cross|Red Cross]], including for dealing with post. [[Gertrude Bacon]] was later in charge of this operation,<ref name="Prosser2022">{{cite web |last1=Prosser |first1=Sian |title=Bacon [married name Foggitt], Gertrude |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380757 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380757 |access-date=14 September 2022}}</ref> and [[Rotha Lintorn-Orman]] served as its commandant, which put her in charge of training all ambulance drivers for the British Red Cross.<ref>{{cite book | last=Thurlow | first=Richard |author-link=Richard Thurlow | title=Fascism in Britain | publisher=Blackwell | publication-place=Oxford | date=1987 | isbn=0-631-13618-5}}</ref>

After the war, many aristocratic families gave up their London houses and Devonshire House was deserted in 1919.<ref>Noted by Fiske Kimball, in describing interiors from [[Lansdowne House]] re-erected in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Lansdowne House Redivivus". ''The Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin'', 1943.</ref> The demolition was mentioned nostalgically several times in literature and caused [[Virginia Woolf]]'s Clarissa Dalloway to think, as she passed down Piccadilly, of "Devonshire House without its gilt leopards", a reference to the house's gilded gates.<ref>Virginia Woolf, ''Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street'', 1923.</ref> It also inspired [[Siegfried Sassoon]]'s ''Monody on the Demolition of Devonshire House''.<ref name="ODNB">Richard Davenport-Hines, "Cavendish, Victor Christian William, ninth Duke of Devonshire (1868–1938)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32332, accessed 4 Oct 2010].</ref>

The reason for the abandonment was that the [[Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire|9th Duke]] was the first of his family to suffer [[death duty|death duties]], which amounted to over £500,000 (£18 million).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inflation calculator |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.bankofengland.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> Additionally, he inherited the debts of the [[William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire|7th Duke]]. This double burden prompted the sale of many of the family's valuables, including books printed by [[William Caxton]], many 1st editions of [[Shakespeare]],<ref>Now in the Huntington Library, California</ref> and Devonshire House itself with its even more valuable three acres of gardens.

The sale was finalised in 1920 at a price of £750,000 (equivalent to £27,038,808 in 2023) <ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Inflation calculator |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.bankofengland.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> and the house was demolished.<ref>''Dowager Duchess of Devonshire'', p. 54.</ref> The two purchasers were Shurmer Sibthorpe and Lawrence Harrison, wealthy industrialists, who built on the site a hotel and block of flats. When told that the proposed demolition was an act of vandalism, Sibthorpe, echoing the building's 18th-century critics, replied: "Archaeologists have gathered round me and say I am a vandal, but personally I think the place is an eyesore."<ref>Laura Battle, [https://www.ft.com/content/07526eee-ab30-11df-9e6b-00144feabdc0 "An aristocrat's London residence gives way to modern life, 1925"]. FT Magazine, 21 August 2010.</ref>

Following the sale of Devonshire House, the Ninth Duke of Devonshire's London home was No. 2 [[Carlton House Terrace|Carlton Gardens]].<ref name="Devonshire1982Chatsworth">{{cite book |last=Devonshire |first=Deborah |author-link=Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire |title=The House: Living at Chatsworth |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |location=New York |year=1982 |edition=1 |pages=75–77 |url=https://archive.org/details/houselivingatcha00devo/page/76/mode/2up |access-date=18 November 2025 }}</ref> This remainded the London base for the family until it was damaged during the Second World War; in 1950 a new London residence was purchased at No. 19 [[Hill Street, London|Hill Street, Mayfair]]. This house was subsequently sold by [[Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire]] in 1952 due to the substantial death duties levied on the estate after the death of his father [[Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire]] in 1950.<ref name="Devonshire1982Chatsworth" /> The 11th Duke purchased a smaller house at No. 4 [[Chesterfield Street|Chesterfield Street, Mayfair]] from the-then Foreign Secretary [[Anthony Eden]] in January 1952.<ref name="ES19520110Devonshire"> {{cite news |title=Duke of Devonshire buys 4 Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, from Anthony Eden |newspaper=Evening Standard |date=10 January 1952 |page=4 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard-duke-of-devonshire-buys/189922999/ |access-date=27 January 2026 |via=Newspapers.com }} </ref>

==Legacy== [[File:Green park gates on Piccadilly (February 2010) 1.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Gates from Devonshire House reused for the entrance to Green Park on the south side of Piccadilly, a few yards away from their original position]]

In 1924–26 [[Holland, Hannen & Cubitts]] built a new office building on the site, fronting directly onto Piccadilly, also known as "Devonshire House".<ref>Holland, Hannen, and Cubitts (1920) ''The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm'', page 42</ref> The building became the UK headquarters of the automobile manufacturer [[Citroën]], with showrooms occupying the lower three floors. Citroën remained the chief occupant of the building until 1936. It was also the headquarters of The Rootes Group until the 1960s. During World War II it was occupied by the headquarters of the [[War Damage Commission]].

Some of the paintings and furniture from Devonshire House survive at the Duke's principal seat, [[Chatsworth House]] in Derbyshire. The wrought-iron entrance gates, between piers with [[Rustication (architecture)|rusticated]] [[Quoin (architecture)|quoin]]s and topped with seated [[sphinx]]es, have been re-erected on the south side of Piccadilly, to form an entrance to Green Park. The wine cellar is now the ticket office of [[Green Park tube station|Green Park Underground station]]. Other architectural salvage included furniture, doorways and mantelpieces which were relocated to Chatsworth. Some of these stored items were auctioned by Sotheby's on 5–7 October 2010,<ref>[http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=30087#/r=index-fhtml.jsp?event_id=30087|r.main=event.jsp?event_id=30087/ Sotheby's catalog]{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> including five William Kent chimneypieces from Devonshire House described by the auctioneer [[Harry Primrose, Lord Dalmeny|Lord Dalmeny]] as being of special interest and value: "You can't buy them because they are all in listed buildings now. It's like being able to commission Rubens to paint your ceiling."<ref>''The Times'', 29 Sep 2010; Ben Hoyle, p. 55.</ref>

Most of the great detached houses of noblemen which existed in the West End of London, where even the grandest persons often lived in [[terraced house]]s, including Devonshire House, [[Norfolk House]] and [[Chesterfield House, Westminster|Chesterfield House]], are today numbered amongst England's thousands of lost houses; Lansdowne House lost its front to a street-widening scheme. Just a few survive, but in corporate or state ownership. [[Marlborough House]] passed to the crown in the 19th century. [[Apsley House]] remains a functioning possession of the Dukes of Wellington, but is mostly now a public museum on the edge of a busy roundabout, its gardens long gone (but not built over), with the family occupying the uppermost floor only. [[Spencer House, London|Spencer House]] is an event venue. Manchester House houses the [[Wallace Collection]], a museum open to the public. [[Bridgewater House, Westminster]] by [[Charles Barry]] is now used as offices. Currently, [[Dudley House, London|Dudley House]] is the only one of London's surviving private palaces to be occupied and used as its design intended.<ref>A complete list (see [[Townhouse (Great Britain)]]) would also include Melbourne House, remodelled as The Albany; Dover House in Whitehall, now government offices; Derby House in Stratford Place off Oxford Street; Crewe House,in Curzon Street; Bourdon House at the northeast end of Berkeley Square; Egremont House, Piccadilly, housing the Naval and Military Club; and Bath House. These are mentioned by Nikolaus Pevsner, ''London I: The Cities of London and Westminster'' (Buildings of England series) 1962. 78f.</ref> {{Clear}}

==See also== * [[List of demolished buildings and structures in London]] * [[Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== *{{Cite book|title=London |last=Trease |first=George |year=1975 |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |page=161 }}

==External links== *[http://www.devonshirehousew1.com/ Official website for office building]

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Mayfair]] [[Category:Former houses in the City of Westminster]] [[Category:Buildings and structures on Piccadilly]] [[Category:Decimus Burton buildings]] [[Category:William Kent buildings]] [[Category:Georgian architecture in the City of Westminster]] [[Category:Townhouses in the United Kingdom]]