The Georgian London Town House

For every great country house of the Georgian period, there was usually also a town house. Chatsworth, for example, the home of the Devonshires, has officially been recognised as one of the country's favourite national treasures - but most of its visitors know little of Devonshire House, which the family once owned in the capital. In part, this is because town houses were often leased, rather than being passed down through generations as country estates were. But, most crucially, many London town houses, including Devonshire House, no longer exist, having been demolished in the early twentieth century. This book seeks to place centre-stage the hugely important yet hitherto overlooked town houses of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, exploring the prime position they once occupied in the lives of families and the nation as a whole. It explores the owners, how they furnished and used these properties, and how their houses were judged by the various types of visitor who gained access.

Based on analysis of rich primary-source material, much of which has not been published before - includes building fragments, maps, plans, architectural drawings, inventories, catalogues, wills, diaries and correspondence, giving readers an invaluable historical insight into the period in which the London town house flourished

PrefaceSir Nicholas PennyAcknowledgementsMap: Locations of the Principal Georgian London town houses Discussedin this bookList of illustrationsIntroductionKate RetfordPart One: Architecture, Furnishing, Decorating1. A House Divided: Building Biographies and the Town House in Georgian London, Matthew Jenkins and Charlotte Newman2. 'You never saw such a scene of magnificence and taste': Norfolk House after its Grand Reopening in 1756, Jeremy Howard3. The Refurbishment of Northumberland House: Craftsmen and Interior Decoration in Mid-Eighteenth-Century London Town Houses, Adriano Aymonino and Manolo Guerci4. Town and Country: The Spencers of Althorp, Joseph Friedman5. The Regency Transformation of Burlington House, Piccadilly: The Architectural Drawings of Samuel Ware in the Royal Academy of Arts, Neil BinghamPart Two: Buying, Collecting, Display6. The Display and Reception of Private Picture Collections in London Town Houses, 1780-1830, Susannah Homer7. Superb Cabinets or Splendid Anachronisms? Anatomy, Natural History and Fine Arts in the London Town House, Helen McCormack8. Artist in Residence: Joshua Reynolds at No 47, Leicester Fields, Donato Esposito9. The Pictures at Carlton House, Desmond Shawe Taylor10. Glitter and fashion in the 'Louvre of London': Animating Cleveland House, Anne Nellis Richter11. John Julius Angerstein and the Development of his Art Collection at No 100, Pall Mall, London, Susanna Avery-QuashAfterwordJoseph Friedman and Susanna Avery-QuashSelect BibliographyPicture creditsIndex