27 St James’s Place, London SW1A 1NR
Members of The Chelsea Society enjoyed a private visit on Wednesday 21st June 2023.
Spencer House was commissioned in 1756 by John Spencer, who became the first Earl Spencer, and is London’s finest surviving eighteenth century town house. The house was designed originally by John Vardy in 1756 but he was replaced by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart in 1758. Stuart was responsible for the authentic Greek details in the interior decoration and it became one of the first examples in London of the neo classical style which was to sweep the country.
Royalty, artists, poets, writers and politicians all visited Spencer House. The House remains in the ultimate ownership of the Earls Spencer, the current freeholder being Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl and brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. The house has been carefully restored by Lord Rothschild in recent years.
The visit included the State Rooms and Vardy’s Palm Room with its screen of gilded palm trees. The rooms reflect the eighteenth century fashion for classical Greece and Rome, gilded furniture and fine collections of paintings.
