Halton House

Halton House, Buckinghamshire

51°46′52.92″N 0°43′35.06″W / 51.7813667°N 0.7264056°W / 51.7813667; -0.7264056 Halton House is a country house in the Chiltern Hills above the village of Halton in Buckinghamshire, England. It was built for Alfred Freiherr de Rothschild between 1880 and 1883. It is used as the main officers' mess for RAF Halton and is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.[1]

History

There has been a manor house at Halton since the Norman Conquest, when it belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Cranmer sold the manor to Henry Bradshaw, Solicitor-General in the mid-16th century.[2] After remaining in the Bradshaw family for some considerable time, it was sold to Sir Francis Dashwood in 1720 and was then held in the Dashwood family for almost 150 years.[3]

The site of the old Halton House, or Manor, was west of the church in Halton village. It had a large park, which was later bisected by the Grand Union Canal. In June 1849 Sir George Dashwood auctioned the contents and, in 1853, the estate was sold to Lionel Freiherr de Rothschild.[4]

Lionel then left the estate to his son Alfred Freiherr de Rothschild in 1879.[4] At this time the estate covered an approximately 1,500-acre (610-hectare) triangle between Wendover, Aston Clinton, and Weston Turville.[5]

Construction

It is thought the architect was William R. Rodriguez (also known as Rogers), who worked in the design team of William Cubitt and Company, the firm commissioned to build and oversee the project in 1880.[6] Just three years later the house was finished.[7]

The house was widely criticised by members of the establishment. The architect Eustace Balfour, a nephew of the Marquess of Salisbury, described it as a "combination of French Chateau and gambling house", and one of Gladstone's private secretaries called it an "exaggerated nightmare".[8]

Sale to RAF

At Halton all were entertained by Alfred Freiherr de Rothschild. However, Halton's glittering life lasted less than thirty years, with the last party being in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. Devastated by the carnage of the war, Freiherr de Rothschild's health began to fail and he died in 1918. Alfred had no legitimate children, so the house was bequeathed to his nephew Lionel Nathan de Rothschild. He detested the place and sold the contents at auction in 1918. The house and by now diminished estate were purchased for the Royal Air Force by the Air Ministry for what was even then a low price of £115,000 (equivalent to £7.08 million in 2023 pounds).[9][10]

Officers Mess

Shortly after the RAF acquired the Halton estate, the house became RAF Halton's officers mess. On 1 January 1920 RAF Halton was upgraded to a command and the headquarters element moved into Halton House. Although the House no longer functions as a headquarters, it remains an officers mess. A new dining room was built at the rear of the servants' wing of the house in the 1960s.[11]

Architecture

For the style of the house Alfred was probably influenced by that of plans for the nearly completed Waddesdon Manor, the home of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, his brother-in law. While not so large there is a resemblance, but other continental influences appear to have crept in: classical pediments jut from mansard roofs, spires and gables jostle for attention, and the whole is surmounted by a cupola. The front of the house features a porte-cochère. A Rothschild cousin described it as: "looking like a giant wedding cake".[11]

If the outside was extravagant, the interior was no anti-climax. The central hall (not unlike the galleried two-storey hall at Mentmore Towers) was furnished as the "grand salon". Two further drawing rooms (the east and west) continued the luxurious theme. The dining and billiards rooms too were furnished with 18th-century panelling and boiseries. The theme continued up the grand, plaster panelled staircase to the bedrooms. The whole was furnished in what became known as "Le Style Rothschild", that is, 18th-century French furniture, boulle, ebony, and ormolu, complemented by Old Masters and fine porcelain.[11]

A huge domed conservatory known as the winter garden was attached to the house.[11]

In media

Halton House is also used frequently as a film set and is often seen in cinemas and on televisions around the world. It has been featured in:[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Historic England, "Halton House (1332843)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 9 January 2020
  2. ^ "Bradshaw". Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Halton House, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire". Country House Reader. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Halton House". Parks and Gardens. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  5. ^ "Sir John Dashwood-King". Halton Village News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  6. ^ "William Cubitt & Co". Scottish Architects. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  7. ^ "RAF Halton". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  8. ^ Fisher, John; Best, Antony (2013). On the Fringes of Diplomacy: Influences on British Foreign Policy, 1800–1945. Ashgate Publishing. p. 55. ISBN 978-1409401193. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  9. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  10. ^ "Halton House stars in Queen movie". Bucks Herald. 26 September 2006. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  11. ^ a b c d "Case Study: Belvedere Tower - Halton House". Meon Surveys. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Ministry of Defence film locations". Archived from the original on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2015.