Parkstead House
| Parkstead House | |
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House façade
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 Parkstead House
Location in the London Borough of Wandsworth
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| Former names | Manresa House Bessborough House |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| Town or city | Roehampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°26′55″N 0°14′36″W / 51.4487°N 0.2433°W |
| Groundbreaking | 1760 |
| Completed | 1768 |
| Owner | Whitelands College |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | William Chambers |
| Other designers |
Joseph John Scoles Frederick Walters |
| Designations | Grade I listed |
| Website | |
| ParksteadHouse.co.uk | |
Parkstead House, formerly known as Manresa House and Bessborough House, is a neo-classical Palladian villa in Roehampton, London, built in the 1760s. The house and remaining grounds are now Whitelands College, part of the University of Roehampton. It is situated on Holybourne Avenue, off Roehampton Lane, next to the Richmond Park Golf Course in the London Borough of Wandsworth. In 1955, it was designated a Grade I listed building by Historic England.
It was built for The 2nd Earl of Bessborough, an Anglo-Irish peer. Construction on the building started circa 1760, by the architect Sir William Chambers, who also designed Somerset House in London. It was completed in circa 1768. The building was inspired by Chiswick House and Foots Cray Place.
A resident of Parkstead was the wife of The 3rd Earl of Bessborough, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, a Whig hostess, gambler and socialite. Lady Bessborough had a relationship with Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville, which produced two children. She had four children with her husband, Lord Bessborough. These were: John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, Lady Caroline Lamb and William Ponsonby, 1st Baron de Mauley. On the death of Henrietta, in 1821, the 3rd Earl leased the property to a politician, Abraham Robarts, who made it his permanent home. When Robarts died in 1858, The 5th Earl of Bessborough sold the house and forty-two acres of parkland to the Conservative Land Society for division into smallholdings.
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Wikipedia