Cannizaro Park is a public park inWimbledon in theLondon Borough of Merton. Located towards the south-western edge ofWimbledon Common, it is known for its ornamental landscaped gardens with ponds and sculpture.
The park is Grade II* listed on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[1]
The park is the remnant of the gardens of the former country house at its centre (now a hotel). The house, originally known as Warren House, was built in the 18th century and was owned by theGrosvenor and Drax families who, for most of its history, let it to a series of wealthy tenants. The adjacent Royal Wimbledongolf course and the western parts of Wimbledon village were also once parts of the estate.
Between 1785 and 1806,Home Secretary andSecretary of State for War,Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, occupied the house. At this time it was a major social centre for royalty and senior politicians (George III,Prime MinisterWilliam Pitt the Younger andWilliam Wilberforce[2] all stayed there regularly). Dundas organised the landscaping of the gardens, the basic structure of which remains today. Lady Jane Wood in the gardens is a memorial to his wife.
After the Dundas family moved out,George Johnstone and his sister Sophia moved in. Their father, also calledGeorge, was a Governor ofWest Florida and a director of theEast India Company.
After George died in 1813, Sophia married theSicilianFrancis Platamone, Count St. Antonio. In 1817 they leased Warren House and held regular parties and concerts, whose attendees included Prime Minister theDuke of Wellington andMrs Fitzherbert, mistress of KingGeorge IV. The Count left his wife and returned to Italy in 1832 when he inherited the title Duke of Cannizzaro (it). The Duchess remained at Warren House until she died in 1841. After her death, the house came to be known by her husband's title (with a variation in the spelling).
A major fire at the beginning of the 20th century destroyed much of the house but it was rebuilt and extended to its current arrangement. In the 1920s Cannizaro House was owned byAdmiralPlunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.[3] He sold it to the Wilson family, its last private owners.
The Wilsons owned the house until the late 1940s and made a series of improvements in the gardens with the planting of new trees,rhododendrons,azaleas andcamellias. In 1947, the house and gardens were sold toWimbledon Borough Council. The gardens were opened to the public shortly afterwards and the house was for a time used as a nursing home.
TheLondon Borough of Merton sold the house in the 1980s and it was subsequently converted to its current use as a hotel. The surrounding gardens remain in council ownership and are open to the public. Most parts are well maintained, keeping the character of a large private garden, with many distinct areas and small "garden rooms", but the elaborate Italian Gardens are largely unplanted. For a number of years the Italian Gardens saw opera performances in the summer as part of the Cannizaro Festival, but in 2013 the festival was not held.
Cannizaro Park was the home to a bust ofEthiopian EmperorHaile Selassie, created byHilda Seligman. Selassie stayed in Wimbledon during his exile fromEthiopia[4] in 1936, staying at Seligman's nearby family home.[5] The statue was installed in Cannizaro Park after Seligman's home, Lincoln House, was demolished in 1957.[4]
The bust was destroyed in June 2020 by a crowd of around 100 protestors, thought to have been linked to unrest in Ethiopia following the shooting ofHachalu Hundessa the previous day.[5]
51°25′27″N0°13′51″W / 51.42417°N 0.23083°W /51.42417; -0.23083
