Built / Designed For: Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

House & Family History: Chesterfield House's portico, the French ironwork railings, the columns of the screen facing the courtyard, and the great marble staircase with its bronze balustrade all came from Canons, the great Middlesex palace of the 1st Duke of Chandos. All of these were purchased for Chesterfield House by the 4th Earl of Chesterfield at the 1747 auction of the contents and fittings of Canons. At the demolition of Chesterfield House in 1937 columns from the portico were reassembled in the Temple Lawn at Anglesey Abbey, urns and balustrades went to Buxted Park, the white marble chimneypiece (made by Michael Rysbrack for the Great Drawing Room) and the staircase balustrade were sold to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, while the great marble staircase found its way to the Odeon Cinema at Broadstairs, London (it was destroyed by bombing during World War II). At the end of 2020 the London firm of Ryan & Smith had for sale a monumental white marble and verde antico fireplace that came from the Drawing Room of Chesterfield House. Ryan & Smith purchased the fireplace from the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia. The Chesterfield House ironwork railings (cast and wrought iron with gilt iron and gilt bronze embellishments), probably made by the French ironmonger Jean Montigny in the 1720s for Canons, were put up for sale in 2017 for £305,000; the UK government put a temporary export ban on the railings until October 2017 to enable a UK-based organization to keep them in the country. The demolition of Chesterfield House in 1937 was the catalyst for the founding of The Georgian Group. It was in the Library (see photo in "Images" section) that the 4th Earl of Chesterfield wrote his famous letters to his son.

Collections: The 4th Earl of Chesterfield furnished his new London house with artifacts from Houghton Hall, Norfolk, including an 18-candle copper gilt lantern. A pair of vermeil casters with the arms of King George II, made 1727-28 in London by Paul Crespin and Abraham Buteaux as part of the 4th Earl of Chesterfield's ambassadorial plate service, is today in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (see photo in "Images" section). Many of the contents were auctioned onsite by Sotheby's on April 7, 1932.

Comments: The French travel writer Pierre-Jean Grosley wrote in his 1770 book "Londres" that he considered Chesterfield House to be the equal of the great houses of the nobility in Paris.

House Listed: Demolished

Park Listed: Destroyed

Past Seat / Home of: Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, 18th century. Charles Magniac, 19th century. Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, 20th century.

Current Ownership Type: Demolished

Primary Current Ownership Use: Demolished

House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No