The DiCamillo Companion - Database: History, Gardens, Movies

Luton Hoo
Bedfordshire
England

History / Gardens & Park / Movies

History

Earlier House(s) / Building(s)

There has been a house here since the 13th century.

House Replaced By

Built / Designed For

House & Family History

The de Hoo family probably took their name from the land they owned (Hoo is a Saxon word meaning the spur of a hill). The last de Hoo was created Lord Hoo and Hastings in 1448. James I visited Luton Hoo in 1611 and knighted Robert Napier, whose seat the House then was. John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, bought the Estate for £94,700 in 1762 (equivalent to approximately £11.6 million in 2005 values). Robert Adam was engaged by the 3rd Earl to rebuild the old House (Adam considered the Library his chef d’oeuvre). Dr. Johnson, visiting with Boswell in 1781, was particularly complimentary about the House. After a severe fire in 1843 the Butes sold Luton to John Shaw Leigh. Sir Julius Wernher, who made a fortune in diamond mines in South Africa and was a friend of Cecil Rhodes, purchased the Estate from the Leigh family in 1903. The interiors were remodeled in Edwardian style for Sir Julius by Mewes and Davis, the designers of the Ritz Hotel in London. In 1891 Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary, consort of George V, accepted, at the age of 24, an offer of marriage at Luton from Prince Albert, Duke of Clarence, the heir to the British throne (a mere 6 weeks after the engagement was announced the Duke of Clarence died of pneumonia and the following year Mary became engaged to the new heir, the Duke’s brother, George). During the First World War Luton Hoo was used as a military convalescent home for officers, while World War II saw the House serving as Eastern Command Headquarters. When Harold Wernher's wife, Anastasia Romanov (Lady Zia), died in 1977, the Estate passed to her grandson, Nicholas Phillips, who committed suicide in a fume-filled car in 1991 as a result of an unsuccessful business venture that was hit by the collapse of the property market and land values at the end of the 1980s. The Estate was sold in 1999 for approximately £10 million to a Canadian-backed group, Elite Hotels, by Mr. Phillips's widow (to repay business debts). Elite spent years obtaining planning permission to convert the house and stables into a 5-star hotel, and to build ancillary buildings, all of which opened in 2007.

Collections
This field lists art objects that are currently or were previously in the collection of the house.

For information on the history of British currency, click here. To use a chart that allows you to compare the purchasing power of money in Great Britain from 1264 to any other year, including the present, click here. To use a currency conversion to see the current value of the British pound, click here.

Luton Hoo once contained a large collection of possessions of the Russian Imperial Family, including a significant collection of the works of Carl Faberge. The collection of Faberge came to Luton Hoo through Lady Zia Wernher, who inherited it from her parents, Grand Duke Michael of Russia and the Countess Torby. One of the most important pieces of Faberge in the collection was a Freedom Box in nephrite with red and green gold mounts and the lid surmounted by the Russian Eagle in mat and polished gold; this piece was given to the 14th Earl of Pembroke by Tsar Nicholas II in 1896 during a visit to Balmoral to visit Queen Victoria. The House was the home of the Wernher Collection, one of the finest collections of art in Britain; largely accumulated by Sir Julius Wernher. (The collection was given to the Nation, and, since June 2002, has been housed at Ranger's House, London, a property of English Heritage). The Wernher Collection includes world-class collections of medieval ivories, German silver gilt, Italian maiolica, Renaissance jewels, and Limoges enamels. Outstanding individual pieces from the collection include "Lady Caroline Price" by Reynolds, the Sevres service of Catherine the Great, and the altarpiece of St. Michael by Bartholomew Bermejo, considered the finest example of Spanish 15th century painting in Britain. Albrecht Altdorfer’s "Christ Taking Leave of His Mother" was sold to the National Gallery in 1981 for £825,000. John Constable’s "Harnham Bridge Looking Towards Salisbury Cathedral" was sold on November 18, 1992 for £850,000. Bernard van Risamburgh’s ebonized kingwood and Chinese black lacquer commode was sold on June 11, 1992 for £660,000.

Comments

Gardens & Park top

Garden, Park, Follies and Outbuildings

The Adam family probably designed the stables. The Luton Hoo hotel sits in 1,000 acres of parkland and features an 18-hole golf course.

Chapel & Church

The Chapel has been recently restored and was consecrated in 1991 in the Russian Orthodox Church in memory of Tsar Nicholas II and the Imperial Family.

Movies top

Location for Movies / TV

"A Shot In The Dark" (1964). "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (1967). "Never Say Never Again" (1983 - as the health clinic). "Inspector Morse" (1987 - TV series). "The Secret Garden" (1993). "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994). "The Buccaneers" (1995 - TV mini series, interiors only). "The Wings of the Dove" (1997). "Wilde" (1997). "A Dance to the Music of Time" (1997 - as the setting for the embassy reception). "Mrs. Brown" (1997). “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999). "Quills" (2000 - as the exterior of Charenton Asylum). "The Way We Live Now" (2001). "Enigma" (2001). "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" (2001 - TV movie). "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2002). "The Lost Prince" (2003 - TV movie, as interiors of Sandringham; Stables used as house where the Russian Imperial family were executed). "De-Lovely" (2004). "Bleak House" (2005 - TV series).