On Wednesday 24th September 2025, 17 Plaisterers & guests, including the Master and his Consort, Holly, visited Spencer House in St James’, one of the last and finest surviving examples of the grand 18th-century aristocratic town houses.
The ‘London Town House’ was at one time ubiquitous for the ‘landed gentry’, enabling them to come up from their Country Seats to socialise and experience art, fashion, theatre and also for their offspring to access the “marriage market”!
We met in St James’ Place, but the grandest aspect of the house is the West Façade, which originally directly bordered Green Park until the Spencers were granted Crown Land in 1795, giving them a garden!
Historical Background of Spencer House
Built between 1756 and 1766 for John, the first Earl Spencer (ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales), Spencer House is one of the finest surviving 18th-century aristocratic townhouses in London. It remains a leading example of Neoclassical architecture, featuring contributions from renowned architects John Vardy and, later, James "Athenian" Stuart, who introduced authentic Greek influences on the first floor.
The house was designed to reflect the social stature of the Spencer family and has retained much of its original layout and interior ornamentation. Many of the artefacts came from the first Lord and Lady’s Grand Tour.
I won’t go into a full history, but suffice to say that since the Spencer family moved out in 1927, the house entered a long period of decline (including suffering during The Blitz), but was revived considerably in 1985 when Lord Rothschild’s investment company took over the lease and embarked on a ten-year project to restore the house to its 18th Century splendour. 80 years remain on that lease, and the Spencer family are apparently still allowed to have 4 parties per year at the house.
The house was also used as one of the venues to host the Olympic Committee, leading to the 2012 London Olympics, as evidenced by the gift of one of the golden Olympic torches ~ Lindsay, our excellent guide, observed that they still don’t really know what to do with it! The King also came to tea at the house on his 70th birthday, with a number of others reaching that same milestone.
Interior Observations including, Plasterwork
The plasterwork throughout Spencer House is of exceptional historical and artistic importance; most notably:
• The Palm Room and Lady Spencer’s Room feature intricate Rococo-style ceilings, with scrollwork, floral motifs, and classical reliefs. In fact, our own Jon Riley took many photographs throughout the visit ~ definitely a testament to the quality of the decoration, and he also remarked that the Palm Room is often referred to in decorative/heritage plasterwork. The amount of gold leaf on display would also put Trump to shame!
• In rooms influenced by Stuart’s Greek Revival style, such as the Ante Room, the plaster detailing includes precise geometric borders and classical friezes.
• Much of the original 18th-century work has been expertly conserved or restored, but has been supplemented by copies of the originals – in many cases moved to the Earl of Spencer’s Country Seat at Althorp, Northamptonshire. These included a half dozen or so marble chimney breasts, which were painstakingly carved by hand, taking up to 10,000 man-hours to complete.
At the end of the visit (around 1.5 hours) we collected our ‘goody bags’ and a number of us repaired to the nearby Mark Masons’ Hall for lunch. If you missed this visit it is open to the public most Sundays 10.30am- 4.30pm www.spencerhouse.com
A big thank you to Joanna Cadman and the Social/Livery committee for organising this excellent event - great fun & highly recommended
