Addington Palace

The beauty of an historic building is the way it gathers stories over the centuries which alter and are reflected in the fabric of the building itself. The Addington Palace we know was built in the 1770s as Addington Place, replacing the earlier manor house of the same name, home of the Leigh family. When Sir John Leigh died in 1737 a 40-year legal battle ensued until the estate was eventually granted to his cousin Anne Spencer who sold it to Barlow Trecothick, Alderman of the City of London and Lord Mayor in 1770-71.

Trecothick engaged Robert Mylne as architect but died before the new house was complete. He had insisted that his nephew James Ivers take the name Trecothick in order to come into his inheritance. The building, a Palladian-style mansion of two main storeys plus mansard roof and a basement, was completed in 1778. It was followed by an avenue of limes leading across the park to the house and providing a spectacular view.

In 1807 an Act of Parliament purchased the mansion and estate for the use of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Part of the finance came from the sale of the Old Palace, it being "in so low and unwholesome a situation". Six archbishops lived at Addington Palace, five of them being buried in St Mary's churchyard.

Archbishop Benson was succeeded by Frederick Temple who ended the long association in 1898, selling the Palace and grounds to Frederick Alexander English, a South African diamond merchant. English engaged Richard Norman Shaw to restructure the house. To create his magnificent Salon, Shaw had to enlarge the whole front portion of the main building in both length and depth to maintain proportion.

After English's death in 1909 there were attempts to sell the estate and in 1911 there was a proposal for a massive housing development in the park but the reserve price was not reached and the sale was withdrawn. A substantial part of the estate was sold to Addington Golf Club in 1913 and the house was taken over in 1914 by the Red Cross as a hospital for enteric fever and malaria. After the war the house remained empty for many years. The golf course was laid out and opened in 1922.

In 1928 the mansion and remainder of the estate were acquired by Addiscombe Garden Estates who sold some of the land for building and converted the remainder to the Addington Palace Golf Club. The mansion was became "a very comfortable but not deluxe hotel". Around 1930 the southern part of the estate was sold to the Croydon Corporation and converted into a public park. The Corporation purchased the remainder of the estate, including the house, in 1951, leasing the park back to the golf club. In 1953 the mansion was leased to the Royal School of Church Music who resided there until 1996. Addington Palace is currently leased to a private company who are currently developing the site and grounds for a greater public use.

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Saturday, 5 July, 2008

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