| Ranger's House | |
|---|---|
 Ranger's House, seen fromShooters Hill Road | |
| Type | Mansion |
| Location | Blackheath |
| Coordinates | 51°28′24.4″N00°00′5.8″W / 51.473444°N 0.001611°W /51.473444; -0.001611 |
| OS grid reference | TQ 38887 76832 |
| Area | Greater London |
| Built | c. 1722 |
| Architect | John James |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| Owner | English Heritage |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | The Ranger's House |
| Designated | 19 October 1951 |
| Reference no. | 1218679 |
  Location of Ranger's House in Royal Borough of Greenwich | |
Ranger's House is a medium-sized red brick Georgian mansion in thePalladian style, adjacent toGreenwich Park in the south east ofLondon. It is situated inBlackheath and backs directly onto Greenwich Park. Previously known asChesterfield House, its current name is associated with the Ranger of Greenwich Park, a royal appointment; the house was the Ranger's official residence for most of the 19th century. It is a Grade Ilisted building.[1] There is a rose garden behind it, and since 2002 it has housed theWernher Collection of art.
The house, probably dating from 1722 to 1723,[2] was originally built for Capt., later Vice-Admiral,Francis Hosier (1673–1727) on wasteland adjacent to Greenwich Park, probably withJohn James as architect.[2] The house then had a superb view and easy access to London by road and river. Hosier had made his fortune through trade at sea and both the ship he served on as a lieutenant and his own ship were called theNeptune. He occupied the house until dying ofyellow fever at sea in 1727, during the disastrousBlockade of Porto Bello off Panama.
In 1748 the lease of the house was inherited by the4th Earl of Chesterfield. He was a politician, diplomat, man of letters and wit who eventually became Secretary of State. He added the splendid bow windowed gallery for entertaining and displaying his art treasures. Chesterfield wrote that the view from the gallery gave him "three different, and the finest, prospects in the world".
In 1782, the next purchaser was Richard Hulse (1727–1805), 2nd son of SirEdward Hulse, 1st Bt., physician toGeorge II[3] and Elizabeth Levett. He wasHigh Sheriff of Kent in 1768 and a JP. He held the office of Deputy Governor of theHudson's Bay Company between 1799 and 1805. He lived at sometime at Baldwins, Kent, and died unmarried without progeny.[citation needed] Hulse added a room with a bow window on the north side to balance Chesterfield's gallery and this is how the house appears today.
Chesterfield House, as it was known, was briefly renamed Brunswick house while occupied by theDuchess of Brunswick from 1807 to 1813.
It was first used as the official residence of the Ranger of Greenwich Park in 1816;[4] previously,Caroline of Brunswick, appointed Ranger in 1806, had lived in the neighbouringMontagu House (demolished in 1815).
At the invitation ofQueen Victoria, Field MarshalLord Wolseley and his family moved from their former home at 6Hill Street, London to the much grander Ranger's House in Autumn 1888.[5]
TheLondon County Council purchased the house in 1902 from the Commissioners of Woods and Forests and it became a council sports club and tea rooms. It was requisitioned in both World Wars. Twoblue plaques were erected by the London County Council in 1937 to commemorate Wolseley and Chesterfield at the house.[6] Later it was used to display theDolmetsch collection of musical instruments[7] and the Suffolk Collection ofJacobean portraits. The latter is now on display atKenwood House.[8]
In 1986 Ranger's House came into the care ofEnglish Heritage.[7]
The first Ranger was appointed in 1690. A royal appointment, it is asinecure carrying no official responsibilities, and was for some years combined with the office of Governor of theGreenwich Hospital. At first, the Ranger resided at theQueen's House, Greenwich. Past Rangers have included:
The Wernher Collection was assembled by the German-born diamond magnate SirJulius Wernher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wernher lived at Bath House onPiccadilly andLuton Hoo inBedfordshire. At one time part of the collection was on display to the public at Luton Hoo, which was owned by Sir Julius' descendants until the early years of the 21st century. There are about 700 items on display at Ranger's House occupying twelve rooms, some of which have been decorated to evoke the way the collection was displayed when it was at Bath House.
The collection includes a painting from the workshop ofSandro Botticelli (“Madonna of the Pomegranate”), works byFilippino Lippi,Hans Memling,Pieter de Hooch,Gabriël Metsu,Francesco Francia, and portraits by the English painters SirJoshua Reynolds,George Romney andJohn Hoppner.
The collection also contains an eclectic mix of decorative art with many pieces by acknowledged masters, includingRenaissance jewellery,medieval,Byzantine and Renaissance ivories, enamels, bronzes, Italian maiolica, tapestries, furniture andSèvres porcelain, as well as a life size marble sculpture byBergonzoli of an angel kissing a semi-nude woman entitled "The Love of Angels".
The exterior of the house appears as the home of the fictional Bridgerton family in theNetflix seriesBridgerton.[12]
