Bryanston House (Bryanstone House)

Earlier Houses: Today's Shaw-designed house replaced an earlier 18th century house (Bryanstone House) by James Wyatt (demolished 1890) that was a 1/4 mile further down the hill.

Built / Designed For: 2nd Viscount Portman

House & Family History: Bryanston is a late 19th century banded red brick Baroque style house with a very grand entrance facade of 11 bays. The primary rooms sport rich plasterwork in Baroque and Neoclassical styles and fine chimneypieces, some of which may have been removed from Wyatt's earlier house. In 1927 the house became a boys' (now coeducational) public school.
Garden & Outbuildings: The entrance to the estate from the southeast is via the triumphal arch gateway built by James Wyatt circa 1778.
Architect: James Wyatt

Date of Birth: 1746
Date of Death: 1813
Nationality: British
Notes: One of the most important 18th century British architects, James Wyatt was born in Staffordshire in 1746 and received significant recognition in 1770 for the Pantheon (now destroyed), a theater on Regent Street that was modeled after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Wyatt's interiors at Heavingham Hall in Suffolk are among his most significant designs, but his most famous work was Fonthill Abbey, the Gothick extravaganza he created for William Beckford in the Wiltshire countryside. He also began the Wyatt dynasty of architects, the most notable member of whom was probably his nephew, Jeffry Wyatt (later Wyatville).

Date: 1778-circa 1781
Designed: First house (destroyed) and Gateway (extant) for H.B. Portman

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Architect: Norman Shaw

Date of Birth: 1930
Nationality: British

Date: 1889-94
Designed: Second (current) house for 2nd Viscount Portman

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John Preston (J.P.) Neale, published under the title of Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. I, 1818.
Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - SOFTBACK
Author: Colvin, Howard
Year Published: 1995
Reference: pg. 1115
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300072074
Book Type: Softback

Title: Buildings of England: Dorset, The
Author: Newman, John; Pevsner, Nikolaus
Year Published: 1999
Reference: pgs. 118-120
Publisher: London: Penguin Books
ISBN: 0140710442
Book Type: Hardback

Title: Country Houses of Dorset
Author: Oswald, Arthur
Year Published: 1935
Publisher: London: Country Life Ltd.
ISBN: NA
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Not Listed
Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT EARLIER HOUSE: Henry B. Portman, late 18th century; Edward Berkeley Portman, until 1823; Edward Berkeley Portman, 1st Viscount Portman, 1823-88. SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: Henry Berkeley Portman, 2nd Viscount Portman, 1890-1919; Henry Berkeley Portman, 3rd Viscount Portman, 1919-23; Claud Berkeley Portman, 4th Viscount Portman, 1923-27.

Current Ownership Type: School

Primary Current Ownership Use: School

Ownership Details: Since 1927 Bryanston School
House Open to Public: No
Phone: 01258-452-411

Fax: 012580-484-537

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.bryanston.co.uk

Historic Houses Member: No

Bryanston House (Bryanstone House)

House, Family & Collections History

Gardens, Outbuildings, Chapel & Church History

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