Barnham Court in West Sussex is anybody’s opulent dream. Built in approximately 1640, the Dutch-inspired mansion has the ‘effect of overall magnificence’ and comes equipped with a swimming pool and guest cottage, all for £4.5 million. It is, however, the building’s similarities to Kew Palace, the 17th-century pile frequently visited by King George III, that has attracted the attention of royal enthusiasts and architectural boffs alike.
Originally a large complex, few elements of Kew Palace, which was occupied by royalty from 1728 until 1818, still remain. The main survivor is known as the Dutch House, the red-brick pile to which Barnham Court draws its comparisons. After his death at Windsor in 1820, King George III’s eldest son and successor, King George IV, decided to demolish the castellated palace at Kew, removing and sending its features to other royal residences – its grand staircase was reportedly later used at Buckingham Palace.
Built in the same Artisan Mannerist style as the king’s Richmond summer house, which dates from around the same period, the Sussex home has a strikingly similar exterior. Indeed, Nikolaus Pevsner, the renowned cataloguer of British buildings, wrote that the home was ‘so similar to Kew Palace … that the same designer must have been responsible’. With its splendid trio of curved gables and Ionic and Doric pilasters, the house is a historical masterpiece of Tudor design. In 1996, under the instruction of its former owners, the home went through a multi-million-pound restoration. During the same time, there was a similar £6.6 million project underway at Kew, returning the royal retreat to its former glory. During during Barnham Court’s remodelling, the six-acre grounds were ‘brought back to life’. Anglo-Dutch parterres were recreated, and hornbeam hedges, yew and box topiary were inserted in order, ‘to make it so private,’ the owner says, ‘that you could wander around naked’. The five-bedroom house is indeed so grand, that the Duke of Richmond is known to borrow the property to put up billionaire guests attending his Goodwood festivals nearby. The five-bedroom house provides 8,000 square feet of historically enriched rooms. Equipped with Carrara marble bathrooms, a glamorous hall room, large open fires and exquisitely plastered ceilings, this red-brick pile makes for a glamorous and regal family home.
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