A circa 1770 image of the Palace
A 1792 engraving of the Park and House
An 1810 engraving of the House from "Peacock's Polite Repository"
Earlier Houses: There were three earlier houses on or near the site of the current house. During his 1733 building of a new house, William Kent demolished the medieval and Tudor portions of the earlier ecclesiastical palace, keeping only Wayneflete's Tower gatehouse. In the early 19th century Edward Lapidge demolished Kent's house, but reused some of the material from that house for the new house he was building for John Spicer. The current late 19th century house incorporates Lapidge's house as its south wing.
House & Family History: Cardinal Wolsey, who possessed Esher Palace as bishop of Winchester, was kept under house arrest here after his fall from power. After Wolsey's death, the Esher Estate was seized by Henry VIII, restored to the bishop of Winchester by Mary I, and finally re-purchased for the crown by Elizabeth I.
Architect: John Vanbrugh
Date: 1709-10Architect: Achille Duchêne
Date: 1895-98Architect: George Thomas Robinson
Date: 1895Architect: Edward Lapidge
Date: Beginning 1805Architect: William Kent
Date: 1733Vitruvius Britannicus: C. IVth, pls. 110, 111, 1739.
Country Life: CXXV, 1076, 1959.
Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - HARDBACK
Author: Colvin, Howard
Year Published: 2008
Reference: pg. 1072
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300125085
Book Type: Hardback
Title: An Insular Rococo: Architecture, Politics and Society in Ireland and England, 1710-1770
Author: Mowl; Timothy; Earnshaw, Brian
Year Published: 1999
Reference: pg. 92
Publisher: London: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861890443
Book Type: Hardback
Title: Classical Architecture in Britain: The Heroic Age
Author: Worsley, Giles
Year Published: 1995
Reference: pg. 188
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
ISBN: 0300058969
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade II
Park Listed: Not Listed
Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT THE EARLIER PALACE: Cardinal Wolsey, 16th century. SEATED AT CHARGATE, EARLIER HOUSE: John Vanbrugh, early 18th century. SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: Henry Pelham, 1st Lord of the Treasury, 18th century. John Spicer, early 19th century. Edgar Vincent, 1st Lord D'Abernon, late 19th-early 20th centuries.
Current Ownership Type: Other
Primary Current Ownership Use: Training Center
Ownership Details: Today Esher Place Training and Conference Centre. Owned by the Unite trade union since 1952, when purchased by the Electrical Trades Union.
House Open to Public: No
Phone: 01372-463-042
Fax: 01372-467-060
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unitetheunion.org
Historic Houses Member: No