| 1769 |
Chandos House construction was started by
the Adam family, supported with finance from the banker Sir George
Colebrooke. The house was built speculatively on land which was
part of the Duke of Portland's estate |
| 1771 |
Chandos House was completed. The House
remained unsold and eventually was put up for sale by auctioneers
Christies |
| 1774 |
James Brydges, the third and last Duke of
Chandos acquired the lease for £11,000 |
| 1815 |
The unexpired portion of the lease (51
years) was purchased by the Austro-Hungarian Embassy |
| 1815 |
The resident Ambassador was Prince
Esterhazy and for the next twenty five years Chandos House was the
scene of entertainment on a most lavish style. |
| 1842 |
Prince Esterhazy leaves the Embassy |
| 1843 |
Baron Neuman became Ambassador, followed
by Count Dietrichstein (1847-1849), Count Colloredo-Waldsee (1850
and 1852-1856), Count Buol (1851-1852) and Count Apponyi
(1856-1866). The Embassy moved before the lease expired |
| 1866 |
Chandos House was acquired on a 99 year
lease by The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, a descendant through
marriage of the third Duke of Chandos. He only lived there for a
short time but it remained in the possession of the family until
the end of the century |
| 1890 |
The lease was assigned to William
Stephen, Earl Temple, the Duke's nephew |
| 1902 |
The Earl Temple dies and brought to an
end the Chandos connection |
| 1905 |
Cora, Countess Stafford took over the
lease |
| 1924 |
The Earl of Shaftesbury took over the
lease and modernised the property with additional bathrooms and
windows. |
| 1927 |
The tenancy passed to the newspaper
tycoon, Sir James Gomer Berry, Viscount Kemsley |
| 1963 |
The Royal Society of Medicine acquired a
99 year lease for £250,000 and the house underwent restoration and
conversion to meet the needs of the RSM. A hotel for Fellows was
established in the Chandos House mews to the rear of the property
at 10 Duchess Street |
| 1967 |
The work was completed and Chandos House
soon became a favourite rendezvous for the Royal Society of
Medicine's Fellows. It additionally provided the RSM with book
storage, meeting rooms and offices to rent. The College of
Pathologists, The Nutrition Society, The Royal Medico-Psychological
Association and Excerpta Medica Foundation all took short
leases |
| 1986 |
Chandos House was sold to help finance
the refurbishment of 1 Wimpole Street and acquisition of the
adjoining building, the former Western Sorting Office |
| 1990 |
Chandos was sold to Fairgate Estates but
remained unoccupied |
| 1994 |
The house had been neglected and was
eventually placed on the English Heritage Buildings At Risk
Register. It continued to be neglected and English Heritage in
conjunction with Howard de Walden Estates (the freeholders) served
a repairs notice on the leaseholders. This was followed by a
compulsory purchase order. |
| 1995 |
Chandos House was chosen as one of the
locations for Ang Lee's film of the Jane Austen novel Sense and
Sensibility. This in itself is ironic in that Jane Austen, the
worlds most famous romantic novelist, was a relative of the Dukes
of Chandos. Jane Austen's grandfather, the Reverend Thomas Leigh
was the son of Mary Brydges, sister to James Brydge, the first Duke
of Chandos for whom Handel composed the famous Chandos
Anthems. |
| 2002 |
Howard de Walden Estates saved the house
by purchasing the lease after identifying the Royal Society of
Medicine as future tenants. |
| 2004 |
After extensive restoration work the
house was returned to its former splendour and is now open again
for use |
