Clandon Park House

Clandon Park House
The south front and parterre of Clandon Park House in 2014, a year before the fire
Type	Country house
Location	West Clandon, Surrey
Coordinates	51°15′02″N 0°30′30″W / 51.25046°N 0.50836°W / 51.25046; -0.50836
OS grid reference	TQ 04210 51218
Built	Early 18th Century
Architect	Giacomo Leoni
Architectural style(s)	Palladian
Owner	National Trust
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Clandon Park
Designated	14 June 1967
Reference no.	1294591
Location of Clandon Park House in Surrey

Clandon Park House is an early 18th-century grade I listed Palladian mansion in West Clandon, near Guildford in Surrey.^[1]

It stands in the south east corner of Clandon Park, a 220-hectare (540-acre) agricultural parkland estate which has been the seat of the Earls of Onslow for over two centuries. The house and gardens were given to the National Trust in 1956,^[2] but the park remains in private ownership.^[3] Some of the house's contents have also been acquired by the Trust in lieu of estate duty.^[4]

Construction of the house, designed by Italian architect Giacomo Leoni, began about 1730, and the interiors were finished by continental sculptors and plasterers in the 1740s. It replaced an Elizabethan house. The park was landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown in 1781, and there are two formal gardens on either side of the house. On the Epsom Road, leading to the park and house, are the Grade II* 18th century wrought iron gates with armorial overthrow, which Brown installed, and the gatehouses (1776), designed by Brown himself.^[5]

Near the house is a Māori meeting house, one of only four outside New Zealand, that was brought to England in the late 19th century. After being transferred to the National Trust, the house underwent restoration before it was opened to the public, and later became a wedding venue and filming location for period dramas.

Clandon Park House was badly damaged by fire in April 2015, probably caused by an electrical fault in the basement, leaving it "essentially a shell", with only one room, the Speaker's Parlour, intact. Thousands of historic artefacts, paintings, and items of furniture were lost in what has been described as a national tragedy.^[6] In January 2016, the National Trust announced that some of the principal rooms on the ground floor would be fully restored to the original 18th-century designs, and upper floors will be used for exhibitions and events. However, the Trust has since announced in 2022 its intention to restore only the Speaker's Parlour, the external walls, the roof and the windows and conserve the rest of the house in its ruined state while making it accessible to the public.^{[7] [8]}