Lancaster House

Lancaster House is a large town mansion dating to around 1820. The initial design was by Sir Robert Smirke for the Duke of York, but this was superseded by designs from Benjamin Dean Wyatt and Philip Wyatt in 1825–27. The building was completed between 1833 and 1838 for the 2nd Duke of Sutherland (originally as Stafford House), with the addition of an attic storey, Smirke acting as executant architect. Charles Barry later added the staircase lantern and decorative elements in 1838.

The building is constructed of bath stone, with a slate roof. It is freestanding and features grand classical architecture, including giant Corinthian porticoes on the north, south, and Green Park fronts, arranged around a large, top-lit stair compartment. The house has two main storeys, a basement, and an attic storey. The north and south fronts are nine bays wide, with a five-bay portico centrally and single-bay end pavilions. The east front has nine bays with end pavilions and a three-bay centrepiece, while the Green Park front is eleven bays wide with a five-bay portico centrepiece. The north front incorporates a rusticated arcaded porte cochere surmounted by a pedimented portico, with similar arcaded ground floors to the south and west, featuring engaged porticoes. There are architraved sash windows, with cornices and pediments on the piano nobile. A continuous entablature sits below the attic storey, which is pilastered on the centrepieces and end pavilions and topped with a crowning entablature and balustraded parapet. The balustraded area parapet has ornamental cast iron lamp standards.

The interior is exceptionally grand. The large, rectangular stair compartment is lined with marble and contains a central staircase divided into two flights, returning at right angles on the first floor. It features a heavy cast iron balustrade, with a colonnaded gallery on the east and west sides and copies of Veronese paintings on the other two. The ceiling is deeply coved, supporting a lantern with black “bronze” caryatids between the lights. The state rooms have rich white and gold decoration on red and green walls, extending to the doorcases and mouldings, inspired by a lavish Baroque-Rococo style, similar to that seen in Wyatt’s work at Apsley House and Belvoir Castle. Notable rooms include the great tripartite gallery, which incorporates a Guercino painting in the ceiling, and a north anteroom displaying a Veronese painting.