Spencer House: A Georgian Jewel In St James’s

The area of St James’s, as we know it today, with its mansions, gentleman’s clubs and shops began life in the early 16th century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, Henry VIII had St James’s Palace built on the site of an old leper hospital. 

From the mid-17th century, those wishing to be close to the monarch starting building their townhouses in the area, creating what, pretty much, became a new aristocratic suburb. 

Just up the road from St James’s Palace, fronting onto Green Park, you will find Spencer House, one of the most stunning surviving 18th century mansions in London.

They run public tours on Sundays and so I booked in to have a look around! 

A Young Couple

Construction of Spencer House began in 1756, as a London base for John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, and his wife Georgiana. The young couple had met in 1754, when he was twenty and she was seventeen and swiftly fell in love. 

As the chief beneficiary in the will of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, John was one of the wealthiest aristocrats of the period. Georgiana, as the daughter of a diplomat and maid to the Queen, was born, coincidentally, at St James’s Palace.

They married secretly in 1755, as John was worried his family would not approve of the match. The couple went on to have five children, their eldest going onto become one of the most famous figures in Georgian Britain: the charismatic socialite, author and activist Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. She was most famously played by Keira Knightley in the 2008 film The Duchess.

The Spencers have their main residence at Althorp in Northamptonshire but they lacked a suitable London home to stay in but also a place to entertain and display their art collection.

Designing Spencer House

The man chosen for the task was John Vardy, an architect who had previously worked with William Kent on the nearby Horse Guards building and was heavily influenced by the Palladian style. 

It was common practice for the wealthy to embark on Grand Tours of Europe, particularly Italy. John Spencer returned from his Grand Tour in 1754 and designs from the classical world very much inspired the architectural fashions of the period in England. 

Spencer House has a beautiful, symmetrical Portland stone facade, with statues of Ceres (goddess of corn/food and plenty), Bacchus (god of wine and revelry) and Flora (goddess of plants and gardens). The idea was for the building to be a classical temple, dedicated to hospitality, love and the arts. 

John Vardy however ended up being swapped for James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, newly returned from Greece, who is responsible for most of the interiors of the building. 

Stuart employed many neo-classical details and Spencer House contains some of the earliest realised neoclassical interiors in England. He was extremely talented but also rather lazy, so it took nearly ten years to complete.

It was remodelled slightly and modernisations added by Henry Holland in the 1780s and then again by Phillip Hardwick in the 1840s.

The Family’s Fortunes Take A Turn

From the 1880s the family’s income began to suffer, due to an agricultural recession. They lived at the house sporadically and also rented it out to wealthy tenants.

The final time a Spencer was to live in the house was in the 1920s. Again, a lack of money meant they had to move out but thankfully, rather than it being sold off and subsequently knocked down, as many aristocratic mansions were, it was leased to various tenants over the years with the Spencer family retaining the freehold. Many of its artworks, furniture and treasures were also sold off. 

Restoration 

In 1986 RIT Capital Partners, the family business of Jacob Rothschild, secured a 96 year lease on the building. 

The company then carried out a meticulous project to restore the building to its former glory. The upper floors would be offices for the company and the state rooms would be a private events venue. 

Efforts were made to acquire as much of the original furniture as possible, some of it on long-term loan from various museums and galleries. 

After the restoration, the house was officially reopened by Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, in 1990. Diana is, of course, the direct descendant of the 1st Earl and Lady Spencer. 

Below are some of my highlights. Photos were only allowed in two rooms, but they are the most stunning. 

The Palm Room 

This is the astonishingly ornate Palm Room. 

Gilded palm tree columns flank a domed apse with a copy of Medici’s Venus in the centre. 

Everything that glitters is 23.5 carat gold leaf. 

It would have been for hosting guests and designed to impress. Today, unsurprisingly, this space is popular for weddings and cocktail parties. 

The Great Room 

The Great Room is the largest of the state rooms and would have been used for receptions and balls, but also to display the family’s art collection. 

The ceiling is decorated with a design inspired by the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome.

Four large plaster roundels, painted to look like bronze Roman medallions, are on each side. They represent Bacchus, Apollo and other figures from classical mythology.

The Garden 

When the house was originally built it did not have a garden, fronting directly onto Green Park. However, in the 1790s, the strip of land was granted by the crown to the houses overlooking the park. 

The garden was originally designed by Henry Holland with an oval path and flower beds. 

The shape has been retained today, but what would have once been formal box hedging and exotic plants, have been replaced with native wildflowers and a more relaxed, soft border, better for biodiversity. 

How To Visit

As well as the two rooms I have covered above there are six other state rooms to see. 

The public tours are every Sunday from 10.30am-4pm. They last roughly an hour and are led by a Blue Badge guide. Tickets are £18.50 but there are various discounts available, for students, RA members, V&A members etc. 

Find out more here.

Thank you for reading! More of London’s incredible historical spots below.