Tottenham House

Tottenham House is a grand house, now a boys' preparatory school, built in 1825 by Thomas Cundy II for Charles Brudenell Bruce, Marquess of Ailesbury. The house is constructed from ashlar limestone with slate roofs and features a semi-basement and attic storey to the central block. A monumental tetrastyle Ionic portico, rising over ten steps, dominates the front. The main block comprises five bays, linked by smaller blocks to three-bay wings with gable stacks. Attached half Tuscan column quadrant arms connect to terminal pavilions, each with a roof balustrade. The main block and linking blocks have six-pane casement windows, triangular pediments, and apron balustrade. A cornice runs above the second storey. The quadrant arms were altered slightly in 1870, with niches added between the columns and a central arch featuring a freestanding lion cresting. The rear elevation of the main block is similar, but the portico is characterised by paired Ionic columns.

The interior features an entrance hall with paired Ionic pilasters and a dentil cornice. Notable are the bracketed fireplaces and a garlanded panel above one, depicting a marble figure and child, bearing the Ailesbury motto "FULMUS." A grand stair hall, extending over three storeys and illuminated by a roof light, leads to a flying stair and galleries with a cast iron balustrade and a mahogany wreathed and carved rail. The Grey Parlour, dating from 1720–30, is attributed to Lord Burlington and features a marble fireplace, wood overmantel, doors with a pulvinated frieze, and a dentilled cornice. Oak doors connect the rooms. The dining hall is of four bays with a marble chimneypiece and a heavily moulded plaster ceiling with a central star design. The billiard room, now a library, boasts a richly decorated ceiling, a baroque chimneypiece, and a parquet floor. Located in the right wing is the Marble Room, notable for its paired Corinthian pilasters constructed from mottled grey marble on a background of yellow marble, complemented by grisaille trompe l'oeil panels, a marble fireplace, and a parquet floor. A former conservatory, with cast iron columns and a barrel vaulted roof designed by Richard and Jones, is located at the rear of the right quadrant wing, alongside a heating plant by Henry Stothart.

Tottenham House was built on the site of two earlier houses. The first, built around 1573–5, was likely erected with advice from Sir John Thynne. The second, a brick mansion designed by Richard Boyle, Lord Burlington, for his brother-in-law, Charles Bruce, incorporated elements of the earlier structure into the current building. Venetian windows flanking the portico echo Burlington’s scheme designed by Flitcroft, reflecting a direct reference to Jones’s Wilton. The grounds were landscaped by Launcelot Brown in 1764 for Lord Bruce, and some of those original landscape features remain.