Bath House, Piccadilly

Bath House in Piccadilly was the London residence of the Barons Ashburton in the 19th century. Formerly the site of the Pulteney Hotel, the property was acquired by Mr. Alexander Baring from William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath in 1821 and rebuilt and renamed after the Earl.

Located at 82 Piccadilly on the western corner of Bolton Street, facing Piccadilly, it ranked alongside Devonshire House, Burlington House, Montague House, Lansdowne House, Londonderry House, Northumberland House and Norfolk House. All of these have been long demolished, except Burlington and Lansdowne, both of which have been substantially altered.

In 1858 the house witnessed a marriage of Louisa Caroline as she became Lady Ashburton but by 1866 the Dowager Lady Ashburton relinquished ownership of Bath House and its contents to her brother-in-law Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton. His son, Alexander Baring, 4th Baron Ashburton succeeded to the peerage and the property on 6 September 1868 and died at the house on 18 July 1889.

Bath House was bought after 1890 by diamond mining magnate and art collector Julius Wernher. The house was demolished in 1960.

Walford noted that it contained "a fine collection of pictures, chiefly of the Dutch and Flemish schools, formed by the builder of the mansion ... afterwards the first Lord Ashburton of the present creation. Dr. Waagen gives a list of the pictures to be seen here, in his work on Art and Artists in England."

Waagen included the 1st Lord Ashburton in a list of "the most distinguished collectors in England since 1792" (I:26-7) in the 1854 edition of his work, Treasures of Art in Great Britain.

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