| Camden Place | |
|---|---|
 The building in June 2011 | |
| Location | Camden Park Road,Bromley |
| Coordinates | 51°24′40″N0°03′56″E / 51.4112°N 0.0655°E /51.4112; 0.0655 |
| Built | 1717 |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Camden Place |
| Designated | 25 August 1954 |
| Reference no. | 1064325 |
  Shown in Bromley | |
Camden Place is a country house inChislehurst inBromley, London, England. The house, which is now used as the club house of Chislehurst Golf Club, is a Grade II*listed building.[1]
An earlier house on the site was occupied by theantiquaryWilliam Camden, who lived there fromc. 1609 until his death in 1623.[2]
The present house was commissioned by a merchant, Robert Weston, in the early 18th century. It was designed in theneoclassical style, built in buff brick and completed in 1717.[3] It was expanded in the late 18th and very early 19th centuries to a design by the architect,George Dance the Younger.[4] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing southwest. The central bay wascanted forward and there was a curved projection on the left of the main frontage. It was fenestrated on both floors withcasement windows and, at roof level, there was abalustradedparapet withfinials.[1]
The house was acquired by theAttorney General for England and Wales,Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, in 1760, by the merchant, Thomson Bonar in 1805 and by the financier, Henry Rowles, in the 1830s.[5] The youngLouis-Napoleon of France had a romantic relationship with Rowles' daughter, Emily, in the 1830s.[6] The house was acquired by a lawyer, Nathaniel William John Strode, in the mid-19th century and parts of it were then leased out.[7] Strode fitted out the dining room with fine panelling recovered from theChâteau de Bercy when it was demolished in 1861.[8]
Louis-Napoleon became emperor Napoleon III of France in 1852, but after defeat in theFranco-Prussian War of 1870, he was exiled to the UK, rented rooms at Camden Place, and lived there with the former empress,Eugénie, and their son, thePrince Imperial.[9]Queen Victoria visited them there and was received in their dining room.[10][11]
Following the former emperor's death in 1873, there was an official lying-in-state at Camden Place.[12] His body and that of his son, the Prince Imperial, were originally buried inSt Mary's Catholic Church in Chislehurst, before being removed toSt Michael's Abbey, Farnborough.[13]
Eugénie continued to live at Camden Place until she moved toFarnborough Hill inFarnborough, Hampshire, in 1881.[14] The house then became the club house of Chislehurst Golf Club in 1894.[15]
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