Gaddesden Place
Gaddesden Place
Main page
1266935

Gaddesden Place

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Gaddesden Place

Gaddesden Place is a country house located near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, England. It was designed by architect James Wyatt and was built between 1768 and 1773, and was the home of the Hertfordshire Halsey family.

The house is set in an elevated position overlooking the Gade Valley.

The Halseys moved to Great Gaddesden in 1458 and later became lessees of the Rectory of Gaddesden until 12 March 1545. When King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries during the Reformation, he granted the estate of King's Langley Priory to William Hawes (or Halsey, also Chambers).

The Halsey family residence was at the Golden Parsonage, a sixteenth-century mansion situated in Gaddesden Row. Thomas Halsey (1731–1788) MP erected a new mansion, Gaddesden Place, to Wyatt's design, about a mile south-west of the Golden Parsonage. In 1774 the family moved to Gaddesden Place, and the Golden Parsonage was partially demolished. In 1788, Thomas Halsey died, leaving the estate to his only surviving daughter, Sarah. She married Joseph Thompson Whately, and he adopted took the Halsey name and coat of arms.

Gaddesden Place was gutted by fire on 1 February 1905, and was subsequently rebuilt in 1908 by Cole A. Adams. The quadrant links and north and south pavilions were demolished in 1955 and 1963 because of dry rot.

The building was purchased in 1984 by the technology entrepreneur Charles Moir, founder of the software company Computer Concepts, now known as Xara. Since then, Gaddesden Place has been the headquarters of Xara Group Ltd. In 2007, Xara was acquired by the German software company Magix.

Gaddesden Place is a Grade II* listed building and is a noted example of Palladian architecture. It is said to be Wyatt's first country work and represents his conformity at the start of his active career to the English Palladian tradition.

It features an entrance surrounded by a 19th-century porte-cochère. On the south side, overlooking the valley, there is a large central portico of five bays (rebuilt 1905) supported by ionic columns. A distinctive semicircular single-storey conservatory, added in 1891, links to an outer wing which has Venetian windows.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.