Oare House

Oare House
Map
General information
TypeHouse
LocationOare, Wiltshire
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates51°21′57″N 1°46′39″W / 51.3659°N 1.7774°W / 51.3659; -1.7774

Oare House is a Grade I listed country house in Oare, Wiltshire, England.[1]

The house was built in 1740 for a London wine merchant, Henry Deacon.[1] It was largely remodelled in the early 1920s by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis, for Sir Geoffrey Fry, 1st Baronet, private secretary to Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin.[1] Its gardens, which include a summerhouse also designed by Williams-Ellis,[2] are listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[3] To the west of the gardens stands the Oare Pavilion, completed in 2003 and the only British building designed by I. M. Pei.[4]

In 1965 Oare House was purchased by Sir Alick Downer, the Australian High Commissioner, who used it to entertain high ranking figures in English and Australian society.[5]

It is currently owned by Sir Henry Keswick.[6][7]

  1. ^ a b c Historic England. "Oare House (1035754)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. ^ Historic England. "Summer House to south garden, Oare House (1364675)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  3. ^ Historic England. "Oare House (1001241)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Summer house architect wins top award". BBC News. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. ^ Hancock, I. (2007) "Downer, Sir Alexander Russell (Alick) (1910–1981)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University: Canberra.
  6. ^ "Open Garden: Oare House". Marlborough News. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Pavilion at Oare wins award". This Is Wiltshire. Retrieved 23 September 2017.