Moor Park And Orangery/Stable Block

Moor Park is a Grade I listed country house, now a golf club house, located in Rickmansworth. It originated as a late 17th-century house built for the Duke of Monmouth, but was substantially rebuilt between 1720 and 1728 by Sir James Thornhill for B. Styles, with work supervised by Giuseppe Leoni from 1728 to 1730. The building underwent significant alterations in subsequent centuries: by M. Brettingham in 1751–1754 for Lord Anson; by Robert Adam in 1763–1765 for Sir L. Dundas; by R. Cundy II around 1830 for the Marquess of Westminster; and by W. Burn in 1849 for Lord Ebury. The wings were removed in 1785. The house is constructed of Portland stone casing over an earlier brick building, with slate hipped roofs.

The main building is designed in the Baroque and Palladian style, presenting 11 bays with 5-bay returns. It rises to 2 storeys with an attic, featuring a central 4:3:4 arrangement on the front elevation. The principal elevation is accessed via steps leading to a central colossal pedimented tetrastyle portico with a moulded coffered soffit. The ground floor has tall round-headed key-blocked windows with banded rustication. The central entrance is positioned with a secondary entrance in the second bay from the right. The first floor displays 8-pane sashes in architraves with cornices and panels below the sills. Attic windows are 4-pane sashes in architraves. The design employs colossal pilasters to the three central bays, to each pair of outer bays, and at the return ends. The pediment contains the arms of Lord Ebury. A balustraded parapet with piers to each bay tops the structure, with a plain parapet and central stack behind the pediment.

The garden front matches the principal front in composition but features an engaged portico projecting slightly. The basement includes a forecourt balustrade and steps to the centre. Seven central ground floor windows are full height without moulded sills, contrasting with the outer bays in shallower reveals. The right return includes a terrace over the basement with oeil-de-boeuf openings, while the left return features a balustraded wall before a projecting basement.

The Orangery and Stable Block connects to the left front of the main house via a low, cement-rendered 8-bay quadrant link with plain piers and open panels. This block, now converted to shop and offices, was rebuilt in the 19th century following an 18th-century model. It is constructed of ashlar with an engaged Ionic Order. The 8 bays facing the house feature full-height round-headed glazing bar windows with banded rustication and key blocks. A balustraded parapet closes the composition, with end bays slightly set back and canted away. To the left is a distyle portico in antis sheltering a recess with two panelled doors. The left return, arranged 1:3:1, has round-arched headed windows with a central carriageway to the inner yard, flanked by paired pilasters at the outer bays. Inserted attic windows are present. The garden front presents an 8-bay single-storey rusticated block with blind round arches and panelled doors with semi-circular fanlights and pilastered jambs, with further similar 3- and 4-bay elevations.

The interior is notable for its rich decoration. The cubic hall, dating to around 1730, features a gallery and trompe l'oeil dome with abundant Baroque decoration, including paintings by Jacopo Amiconi and plasterwork by Artari and Bagutti. A saloon was preserved from the 17th-century house, with a ceiling by Antonio Verrio and wall panels dating to around 1730 by F. Sleter. The Dining Room dates to around 1763 and was probably designed by Robert Adam, with ceiling decoration of 1769 by Cipriani. An open well stair, probably by Giuseppe Leoni, was top-lit in 1763 with grisailles by F. Sleter dated 1732 and paintings probably by Jacopo Amiconi.

The grounds include an Italian garden of around 1830 to the northeast and the Old Pleasure Grounds to the southeast, originally laid out by Capability Brown around 1753.