Home House

George III’s architect, James Wyatt was commissioned in 1773 by the rich, widowed, childless, Elizabeth, Countess of Home, to build an entertainment ‘pavilion’ at No. 20 Portman Square.  

James Wyatt was sacked from the project in 1775 and one of the most celebrated architects of his day, Robert Adam, was employed to complete the interior of the house in the stunning Neo-Classical style.  The building is known as Robert Adam’s finest surviving London town house.

The House was left to the Countess’s young nephew in 1784, after her death.  It was subsequently let to tenants which included the French Ambassador, the Dukes of Atholl and Newcastle as well as Earl Grey.

For almost 60 years from 1932, Home House was leased to the Courtauld Institute of Art, whose director between 1947 and 1974 was Anthony Blunt, the art historian, Master of the Queen’s Pictures and infamous spy.  On the top floor of the House, academics and politicians would meet and it is believed that a secret listening device was concealed by MI5 in the connecting wall between Nos. 20 & 21 Portman Square.

Home House was vacant between 1989-1996 and was occasionally used as a film location and it famously featured in Annie Lennox’s 1992 music video ‘Walking of Broken Glass’.

Home House was rescued by Berkley Adam in 1996 and restored to its former glory and opened as it is now in 1998 as a private members club.

In 2004, the club was acquired by a small group of investors who later purchased No.21.  The idea was to fuse the old with the new which merged glamour of the existing buildings at 19 & 20 with modern décor of the newly refurbished 21.  The refurbishment was completed in early 2010 and has resulted in an exciting and exclusive club.

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