Hartwell House is acountry house in the parish ofHartwell inBuckinghamshire,Southern England. The house is owned by theErnest Cook Trust, has been a Historic House Hotel since 1989, and in 2008 was leased to theNational Trust. The Grade Ilisted house is Jacobean with a Georgian front and Rococo interiors, set in a picturesque landscaped park, and is most famous as the home of exiled French kingLouis XVIII in the early 19th century.[1]
The house is in the village ofStone along theA418, about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the centre ofAylesbury, the nearest large town, which is about 40 miles (64 km) from the centre of London via theA41.
The property was first mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086 and belonged toWilliam Peverel.
The core of the present house was constructed in the early 17th century for theHampden family and then the Lee family. The Lees, an old Buckinghamshire family, acquired Hartwell c.1650 by marriage into the Hampdens.[citation needed]
Between 1809 and 1814 the owner of the house, Sir Charles Lee, let the mansion to the French prince Louis Stanislas Xavier, Count of Provence, the future KingLouis XVIII. The arrival of the impoverished prince and his court at Hartwell was not a happy experience for the mansion, with once grand and imperious courtiers farming chickens and assorted small livestock on the lead roofs. Louis's wife,Marie Joséphine of Savoy died at Hartwell in 1810. After her death, her body was carried first to Westminster Abbey, and one year later toSardinia, where the Savoy King of Sardinia had withdrawn during Napoleonic occupation of Turin and Piedmont; she is buried inCagliari Cathedral. Prince Louis signed the document accepting the French crown in the library of the house, following the defeat of Napoleon.[citation needed]
In 1827,Dr John Lee, an astronomer, inherited the house from the unmarried Revd Sir George Lee. During his ownership, the British Meteorological Society, now theRoyal Meteorological Society, was founded in the library in 1850.
William Henry Smyth, one of Lee's regular scientist guests invited to discuss theories "year after year" at Hartwell,[2] who had helped with the design of the telescope and cupola that Lee had installed, described the house and the Hartwell Observatory established there, inÆdes Hartwellianæ: Or, Notices of the Manor and Mansion of Hartwell (Printed for private circulation, by J.B. Nichols and Son, London, 1851).[3] Many of the illustrations in the book are by Smyth's wife Annarella and by his son-in-law, Rev. Prof.Baden Powell.[citation needed]
Revd Nicholas Lee inherited the house when his brother, Dr John, died on 25 February 1866 at Hartwell.The house remained a private residence until 1938, when, at risk of demolition, the estate was acquired by the philanthropistErnest Cook and the contents sold off by publicauction. The estate passed to the Ernest Cook Trust when it was founded in 1952.[citation needed]
In the 1960s the house became a girls'finishing school, then was let in the 1980s to be run as a hotel. The house was converted and became part of the Historic House Hotels group. Its proximity toChequers means that it has frequently been the host of international and government summits and meetings. A speciality of the house restaurant is the localAylesbury Duck.[citation needed]
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TheJacobean north front of the house is constructed ofashlar and has a projecting porch with a bow window above. At each end of this facade are two flankingcantedbays, each with a double heightoriel window. Immediately on each side of the porch are two large windows of the hall inside. Hiding the roofscape is aparapet with vases erected in 1740.
Between 1759 and 1761, architectHenry Keene substantially enlarged and "Georgianised" the house, and built the east front with its canted bay windows and a central porch in theTuscan style. Inside, the great hall hasstucco panels, and three reception rooms withrococochimneypieces.
The 1980s conversion to a hotel was overseen by the architect Eric Throssell who created a new dining room in the style of SirJohn Soane, by enclosing the former 18th-century openarcaded porch. The former semi-circular galleried entrancevestibule became an inner hall. Throssel was also responsible for the design and recreation of thecupola crowning the roof.
The 90 acres (36 ha) of gardens at Hartwell were laid out byCapability Brown c.1750.[4] The North Avenue is a grand vista through trees planted in 1830, sadly today terminated by the ever encroaching town of Aylesbury. The gardens are reminiscent of nearbyStowe, with statues, anobelisk and ornamental bridge.
The Hartwell Estate currently covers 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) of farmland surrounding Hartwell House.
Hartwell's Egyptian Spring is afolly built in 1850 byJoseph Bonomi the Younger, an Egyptologist. It is an alcove seat on the western side of Lower Hartwell opposite a smallspring. The stonepylon bears the Greek inscription "ΑΡΙΣΤοΝ ΜΕΝ ΥΔΩΡ", translated as "Water is Best",[5] attributed toThales.
In September 2008 the National Trust acquired a long lease of the house from the Ernest Cook Trust (until 2111).[6] The gift had been under discussion for almost 30 years and in 1997 the National Trust accepted restrictive covenants over all three properties. The house and grounds were gifted the Trust by the directors of Historic House Hotels (HHH).[7] The house continues its present use as a hotel under the existing HHH management. Three National Trust directors joined the HHH board and all profits will go to Trust funds to provide for the long-term care of the three houses.
It is envisaged that arrangements will be put in place for the gardens and grounds of the hall to be open to visitors, along with tours of the ground floor rooms.[6]
51°48′18″N0°50′48″W / 51.8051°N 0.8468°W /51.8051; -0.8468