{{Short description|Large detached house in Surrey, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use British English|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox historic site | name = | native_name = | native_language = | image = | caption = | type = | locmapin = Surrey | coordinates = {{coord|51.34467|-0.45382|format=dms|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | gbgridref = TQ 07787 61753 | location = St George's Hill | area = Surrey | built = 1938 | rebuilt = | architect = Ian Forbes | architecture = Neo-Georgian | governing_body = | owner = Edenfield Investments | designation1 = Grade II | designation1_offname = Hamstone House | designation1_date = 16 November 1984 | designation1_number = {{Listed building England|1030101}} | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_date = | designation2_number = | designation3 = | designation3_offname = | designation3_date = | designation3_number = | designation4 = | designation4_offname = | designation4_date = | designation4_number = | designation5 = | designation5_offname = | designation5_date = | designation5_number = }} '''Hamstone House''' is a large detached house on the St George's Hill estate in the English county of Surrey. The house stands in 8 acres of grounds that are bordered by St George's Hill Golf Club.<ref name="Punch"/>
==History== The house was designed in 1938 by Ian Forbes for the building contractor Peter Lind in the Neo-Georgian style, then in vogue.<ref name=NHLE/><ref name='UKMod'>{{cite web|title=UK Modern House Index|url=http://www.ukmoho.co.uk/html/building/12049.html|publisher=UKMOHO|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="Airs2002">{{cite book|author=Malcolm Airs|title=The Twentieth Century Great House|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f5kwAQAAIAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Department for Continuing Education, Oxford University|isbn=978-0-903736-31-2|page=72}}</ref>
The house and lodges are built from concrete and faced with honey coloured hamstone, a form of limestone mined in Ham Hill in Somerset.<ref name="Times87">{{cite news|last1=Warman|first1=Christopher|title=A Great Gatsby Touch at £5 million|url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/9WnLE6|access-date=19 March 2019|work=The Times|issue=62809|date=1 July 1987|page=37|url-access=subscription |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref><ref name="DimesAshurst2007">{{cite book|author1=F G Dimes|author2=J. Ashurst|title=Conservation of Building and Decorative Stone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=urEEVC07zucC|date=2 November 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-41543-2|page=100}}</ref> The stone used to build Hamstone House was the last significant supply of the stone before the closure of the Ham Hill quarries for 40 years.<ref name="Durman2006">{{cite book|author=Richard Durman|title=Ham Hill: Portrait of a Building Stone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9BSAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Spire Books Limited|isbn=978-1-904965-09-1|page=192}}</ref> Gargoyles bearing the initials of Lind and his wife sit atop the lead pipes of the house.<ref name="Times87"/>
Christopher Warman, writing in ''The Times'' in 1987 wrote that Hamstone House was perhaps "the most important architectural centrepiece of St Georges's Hill...and looks like the bridge of a huge ocean going liner".<ref name="Times87"/> The house was acquired in 1984 by an owner who spent £2 million on renovations and creating an Art Deco interior. The house was put on sale with Hamptons & Sons for £5 million in 1987 ({{Inflation|UK|5000000|1987|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). An 8 ft Venetian glass chandelier and Lalique light fittings were specially commissioned for the house.<ref name="Times87"/>
Richard Durman in his 2006 book ''Ham Hill: Portrait of a Building Stone'' describes the style of Hamstone House as "ashlar faced, simple Classical lines, and some good carved details".<ref name="Durman2006"/> Ian Nairn, writing in the 1971 ''Surrey'' edition of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, described the house as "Neo-Classical with a big gatehouse and suntrap plan".<ref name="NairnPevsner1971">{{cite book|author1=Ian Nairn|author2=Nikolaus Pevsner|author3=Bridget Cherry|title=Surrey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5b6dCBlfCLUC|date=March 1971|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09675-0|page=519}}</ref> Christopher Matthew described a visit to Hamstone House in his 'Property' column in ''Punch'' magazine in July 1987. Matthew wrote that 'even in the midst of the quasi-rural grandur' Hamstone House stands out like the 'Duchess of Windsor's flamingo brooch in a local jewellers window' and the grounds as 'eight acres of tall trees and woodland walks, beds of heathers and a formal rose garden that would not look out of place in the grandest of crematoria'.<ref name="Punch">{{cite book|title=Punch (magazine)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AYfAQAAMAAJ|date=July 1987|page=43}}</ref>
The main house has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England since November 1984.<ref name=NHLE>{{NHLE|num=1030101|desc=Hamstone House|access-date=16 March 2019|mode=cs2}}</ref> In addition to the main house, the entrance lodges and garage are also listed Grade II.<ref name=NHLELodge>{{NHLE|num=1286843|desc=Lodges and garage to Hamstone House|access-date=16 March 2019|mode=cs2}}</ref> The house is curved and has 10 bedrooms. The centre of the paved forecourt in front of the house holds a fountain.<ref name="Punch"/> An underground air raid shelter at the house was turned into a billiard room in the late 1980s.<ref name="Punch"/> Elm from the piers of the old Waterloo Bridge was used in the dining room floor at Hamstone House.<ref name="Airs2002"/><ref name="Punch"/> Peter Lind, who commissioned the house, was the contractor for the new Waterloo Bridge designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, that was built at the same time as the house.<ref name="Airs2002"/>
Hamstone House was the subject of the main article in the 13 September 1939 issue of ''Country Life'', which included extensive photographs of the interior and exterior.<ref name='CountryLife'>{{cite web|title=Hamstone House, St George's Hill, The Home of Mr Peter Lind|url=https://www.rostronandedwards.com/Shop/Country_Life_Magazine/8277|publisher=Rostron & Edwards|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref> In 2001, Hamstone House was acquired by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's company Edenfield Investments.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Boswell|first1=Josh|last2=Hollingsworth|first2=Mark|title=Son of Putin ally has £35m London house|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/son-of-putin-ally-has-35m-london-homehouse-list-reveals-mansions-of-the-oligarchs-8dzrtnxk6|access-date=17 March 2019|work=The Times|date=20 March 2016|page=10}}</ref> It was for sale with Beauchamp Estates in 2020 for £16 million. It was listed as having 5 bedrooms; 4 en-suite, with 8 acres of grounds.<ref name='Zoop'>{{cite web|title=5 bed property for sale South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge|url=https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/54182070?search_identifier=26c8ef9273a14934b12a033d93bdec48|publisher=Zoopla|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201103211824/https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/54182070?search_identifier=26c8ef9273a14934b12a033d93bdec48|access-date=3 November 2020|archive-date = 3 November 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Georgian Revival architecture in the United Kingdom Category:Grade II listed houses in Surrey Category:Hamstone buildings Category:Houses completed in 1938 Category:Weybridge