|
 This
charming house, built in William and Mary style, was one the
many brick houses erected in Hampstead in the late 17th century. London
merchants and lesser gentry were attracted to the village
by the mineral springs on the slopes of the hill.
Fenton House was built about
1693, taking its name from the Baltic merchant who purchased
the property in 1793, and is one of the earliest of these
houses, and probably the best architecturally.
The square two-storey building
has a steeply pitched roof with dormer windows and tall chimneys.
The south facade is crowned
by a pediment and would have been the original entrance front.
A gravel path leads from here to an ornate iron gate on Holly
Hill.
The four attic rooms have retained
the atmosphere of of a 17th century house and have splendid
views over London.
From 1936 Fenton House was the
home of Lady Binning, and many of the rooms display the furniture,
pictures and 18th century porcelain Lady Binning inherited
from her uncle, the collector and connoisseur George Salting.
Fenton House has porcelain from
the Bristol and Plymouth factories and four German works.
A wall in one of the first-floor rooms is filled with the
blue and white Chinese porcelain that inspired the Delft pottery.
When Lady Binning died in 1952 she left both Fenton House
and the collection to the National Trust.
The house also displays early
keyboard instruments collected by the late Major Benton Fletcher
and given to the Trust in 1937. The instruments are
on show in nearly every room and include what may be the earliest
English grand piano made by the Dutchman Americus Backers
between 1763 and 1778. Most of the instruments are in
working order and used by students, as Major Benton Fletcher
intended. Fortnightly baroque concerts are held here
during the summer.
The garden surrounding Fenton
House, created in the 17th century, is the largest private
garden in Hampstead. There are terrace walks, law, sunken
rose garden and an orchard.
National Trust. Admission
charge for house, garden free
|
the internet holiday and travel guide to the UK
London
Hampstead
