Description

RICKMANSWORTH MOOR PARK
TQ 0793
Rickmansworth
14/191
Moor Park and
26.7.51 Orangery/Stable Block (Formerly listed
as Moor Park with entrance gate and
GV lodges)

Country House, now golf club house. The Duke of Monmouth's late C17
house as rebuilt 1720-8 by Sir J. Thornhill for B. Styles. 1728-30 work
supervised by G. Leoni. Altered 1751-4 by M. Brettingham for Lord Anson,
1763-5 by R. Adam for Sir L. Dundas, c.1830 by R. Cundy II for the
Marquess of Westminster and 1849 by W. Burn for Lord Ebury. Wings
removed 1785. Portland stone casing of earlier brick building. Slate
hipped roofs. Baroque/Palladian Style. 11 bays with 5 bay returns.
Corinthian Order. 2 storeys and attic. 4:3:4 front. Steps up to central
colossal pedimented tetrastyle portico. Moulded coffered soffit. Ground
floor tall round headed key blocked windows, banded rustication. Central
entrance with secondary entrance in 2nd bay from right. First floor 8
pane sashes in architraves with cornices and panels below sills. 4 pane
attic windows in architraves. Colossal pilasters to 3 central bays and
to each pair of outer bays and at return ends. In pediment are arms of
Lord Ebury. Balustraded parapet with piers to each bay. Plain parapet
with central stack behind pediment. Garden front as principal front but
portico is engaged, projecting slightly. Basement with forecourt
balustrade, steps up to centre. 7 central ground floor windows are full
height without moulded sills as to outer bays which are in shallower
reveals. Right return has a terrace over basement with oeil-de-boeuf
openings. Left return has a balustraded wall before a projecting
basement. From left front a low, cement rendered 8 bay quadrant link
with plain piers and open panels to Orangery and Stable Block, now shop
and offices. Rebuilt in C19 following C18 model. Ashlar. Engaged Ionic
Order. 8 bays face house: full height round headed glazing bar windows,
banded rustication with key blocks. Balustraded parapet closed. End bays
slightly set back and canted away. To left a distyle portico in antis to
recess with 2 panelled doors. Left return, 1:3:1, round arched headed
windows, central carriageway to inner yard. Paired pilasters flank outer
bays. Inserted attic windows; Garden front: 8 bay, 1 storey rusticated
block. Blind round arches. Panelled door to right of centre,
semi-circular fanlight, pilastered jambs, further similar 3 and 4 bay
elevations. Interior: cubic hall c.1730 with gallery and trompe l'oeil
dome, abundant Baroque decoration, paintings by J. Amiconi, plasterwork
by Artari and Bagutti. Saloon preserved from C17 house, ceiling by
Verrio, wall panels c.1730 by F. Sleter. Dining Room c.1763 probably by
R. Adam with ceiling decoration of 1769 by Cipriani. Open well stair
probably by G. Leoni, top-lit in 1763 with grisailles by F. Sleter dated
1732, and paintings probably by J. Amiconi. Italian garden of c.1830 to
NE. Old Pleasure Grounds originally laid out by Capability Brown c.1753
to SE (q.q.v.). (Country Life 6 and 13/1/1912: Colvin 1954: C. Hussey,
English Country Houses, Early Georgian, 1955: T.P. Hudson, 'Moor Park,
Leoni and Sir J. Thornhill', Burlington Magazine, vol.113, Nov.1971:
Pevsner 1977).

Listing NGR: TQ0745893316

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Moor Park at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q6908050

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)