The houses are located on a strip of land between Regent's Park's Outer Circle and the Regent's Canal on the north-western edge of the park, with Hanover Lodge to the south, and opposite Winfield House, the home of the American ambassador, to the east. Grove House is located to the west of the villas on the other bank of the canal. The houses were built by the Crown Estate and a private property developer.[1]
History
Veneto Villa, Regent's Park
The site was formerly occupied by Bedford College. The college merged with the Royal Holloway College and moved to Egham in Surrey to become Royal Holloway, University of London, having previously been based at Hanover Lodge. The creator of the Regent's Park, the 19th-century architect John Nash, had intended to construct 48 villas in the park, but only eight were eventually constructed before 1826 when work on his scheme was stopped by the government.[2] In 1987 the Regent Park's Crown Estate Commissioners commissioned the Neo-Classical English architect Quinlan Terry to build six detached villas that echoed the style of Nash. Terry said in a 2002 interview that the Crown Estate had told him to "step into Nash's shoes and carry on walking".[1] Prior to the villas' construction Terry had said also that it was a "glorious opportunity to tidy up a superb site"[3] The villas were constructed from the late 1980s to 2002.[1]
Several of the villas were purchased by foreign buyers upon completion, with some having to be expanded to include extra staff accommodation.[4][5]
Terry described the construction of the villas as "a dream commission" in a 2002 interview given to mark the end of construction of the villas. Terry also said that "There were times when I thought we'd never finish them all" and that "It would have been a disaster if someone had decided to abandon the last three and given them to modernists to design."[1] The first three villas sold for up to £9 million, with the Gothick villa selling for £6.5 million in 1994.[6][1]
Three of the villas were built by the property developers Ian and Richard Livingstone in the 1990s.[7]
Design
Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite columns. 1761.
The villas were critiqued by Kenneth Allinson and Victoria Thornton in their Guide to London's Contemporary Architecture. Allinson and Thornton felt that the location of the villas was integral to understanding their style, feeling that they made "little sense" outside of Nash's original scheme for building in the park and that they could also be likened to properties on the Bishop's Avenue where "a less erudite version of the Neo-classical detached villa has manifest itself". Of their style Allinson and Thornton wrote that
But these villas are more Palladian than the informal Tuscan villa rustica format preferred by Nash at Park Village. They are also without leanings toward the picturesque of cottages ornés. Instead, their symmetrical playfulness is of a very serious nature. The outer form wears a smile, but it is all terrible self-conscious and well mannered. Naughty, in fact.[8]
The design of the Corinthian Villa was influenced by the work of the 17th-century Italian baroque architect Francesco Borromini, and features the first 'serpentine triple-curved facade' in English architectural history.[9]
The design of the Gothick Villa is based on Andrea Palladio's mid 16th-century Villa Saraceno, with the extra 'k' in its name indicating that the villa's style is not purely derived from Gothic architecture. The internal design of the Gothick Villa features details inspired by Combermere Abbey in Cheshire, and Longner Hall in Shropshire.[2]
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, George III, and George IV, who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.
John Nash was one of the foremost British architects of the Georgian and Regency eras, during which he was responsible for the design, in the neoclassical and picturesque styles, of many important areas of London. His designs were financed by the Prince Regent and by the era's most successful property developer, James Burton. Nash also collaborated extensively with Burton's son, Decimus Burton.
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies 410 acres (170 ha) of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden. In addition to its large central parkland and ornamental lake, it contains various structures and organizations both public and private, generally on its periphery, including Regent's University and London Zoo.
A semi-detached house is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced houses, with a shared wall on both sides. Often, semi-detached houses are built in pairs in which each house's layout is a mirror image of the other's.
Decimus Burton was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Regency styles. He was a founding fellow and vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and from 1840 architect to the Royal Botanic Society, and an early member of the Athenaeum Club, London, whose clubhouse he designed and which the company of his father, James Burton, the pre-eminent Georgian London property developer, built.
Regency architecture encompasses classical buildings built in the United Kingdom during the Regency era in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to earlier and later buildings following the same style. The period coincides with the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States and the French Empire style. Regency style is also applied to interior design and decorative arts of the period, typified by elegant furniture and vertically striped wallpaper, and to styles of clothing; for men, as typified by the dandy Beau Brummell and for women the Empire silhouette.
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and the principles of formal classical architecture from ancient Greek and Roman traditions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Palladio's interpretation of this classical architecture developed into the style known as Palladianism.
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, synthesising these with picturesque aesthetics. The style of architecture that was thus created, though also characterised as "Neo-Renaissance", was essentially of its own time. "The backward look transforms its object," Siegfried Giedion wrote of historicist architectural styles; "every spectator at every period—at every moment, indeed—inevitably transforms the past according to his own nature."
John Quinlan Terry CBE is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom he formed the partnership Erith & Terry.
Carlton House Terrace is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster in London. Its principal architectural feature is a pair of terraces of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street, which overlook The Mall and St. James's Park. These terraces were built on Crown land between 1827 and 1832 to overall designs by John Nash, but with detailed input by other architects including Decimus Burton, who exclusively designed numbers 3 and 4.
London's architectural heritage involves many architectural styles from different historical periods. London's architectural eclecticism stems from its long history, continual redevelopment, destruction by the Great Fire of London and The Blitz, and state recognition of private property rights which have limited large-scale state planning. This sets London apart from other European capitals such as Paris and Rome which are more architecturally homogeneous. London's architecture ranges from the Romanesque central keep of The Tower of London, the great Gothic church of Westminster Abbey, the Palladian royal residence Queen's House, Christopher Wren's Baroque masterpiece St Paul's Cathedral, the High Victorian Gothic of The Palace of Westminster, the industrial Art Deco of Battersea Power Station, the post-war Modernism of The Barbican Estate and the Postmodern skyscraper 30 St Mary Axe 'The Gherkin'.
Raymond Charles Erith RA FRIBA was a leading classical architect in England during the period dominated by the modern movement after the Second World War. His work demonstrates his continual interest in expanding the classical tradition to establish a progressive modern architecture, drawing on the past.
Lieutenant-Colonel James Burton was the most successful property developer of Regency and of Georgian London, in which he built over 3000 properties in 250 acres. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contends that Burton was 'the most successful developer in late Georgian London, responsible for some of its most characteristic architecture'.
Ferne House is a country house in the parish of Donhead St Andrew in Wiltshire, England, owned by Viscount Rothermere.
Russell Taylor is a British architect who has designed and worked on a variety of building types, designing in the style known as New Classical Architecture, which follows the Classical tradition. He formed Russell Taylor Architects in 2005 and has offices in London and Cornwall.
The Holme is a mansion located on Inner Circle by Regent's Park in the City of Westminster, London, England. It was designed by Decimus Burton, as a residence for the Burton family, and built in 1818, by the company of James Burton, who subsequently lived there. It has been described as 'one of the most desirable private homes in London' by architectural scholar Guy Williams. Architectural critic Ian Nairn wrote of the house, "If you want a definition of western civilization in a single view, then here it is".
Andrey Nikolaevich Goncharenko is a Russian billionaire businessman, the CEO of a Gazprom subsidiary, and the owner of four central London houses bought for a total of £250 million, including Hanover Lodge, "the UK’s most expensive home", for £120 million.
Hanover Lodge is a Grade II* listed house at 150 Park Road, London NW1, overlooking Regent's Park. It was designed by the architect John Nash, and built for General Sir Robert Arbuthnot. Since then, it has been home to several notable people, was part of Bedford College, and the residence of the French ambassador, before the businessman and Conservative peer Lord Bagri purchased a 150-year lease from the Crown Estate in 1994. The Russian billionaire Andrey Goncharenko purchased the outstanding lease from Lord Bagri in 2012 for £120 million. In July 2023, Indian billionaire Ravi Ruia paid £113 million for the mansion.
Francis Terry is a British architect. He was educated at Stowe School and Downing College, Cambridge, qualifying as an architect in 1994. He was a pupil of his father, the architect Quinlan Terry.
Avenue Road is a street in the Swiss Cottage and St John's Wood districts of London, known for having some of the highest home property prices in the United Kingdom. The street is popular with buyers who have replaced older houses with large mansions.
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