A drawing of Clarendon House published in 1829.

Clarendon House was a town mansion which stood on Piccadilly in London, England from the 1660s to the 1680s. It was built for the powerful politician Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and was the grandest private London residence of its era. Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ... The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower containing Big Ben Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London (see Wiktionary:London for the name in other languages) is the capital of the United Kingdom and England. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st... Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (February 18, 1609–December 9, 1674) was an English historian and statesman. ...

After the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, new houses began to spring up in the West End to accommodate Charles II's courtiers. Piccadilly was little more than a country lane, but the land to the north of it was just beginning to be utilised for housing; the next several decades would see the development the whole of this area, which was to become London's leading aristocratic residential district, Mayfair. Two other celebrated mansions were built close to Hyde's at around the same time. To east Sir John Denham was building the house that later became Burlington House, and to the west Lord Berkeley was building Berkeley House, later Devonshire House. The term West End is most commonly used to refer to the West End of London, an area mostly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden, in London, England. ... The name Charles II is used to refer to numerous persons in history: Kings Charles the Fat (also known as Charles II of France and Charles III of the Holy Roman Empire) Charles II of England Charles II of Naples Charles II of Navarre Charles II of Romania Charles II... Mayfair is an area in the City of Westminster London, named after the fortnight-long May Fair that took place there from 1686 until it was banned in that location in 1764. ... Burlington House is a courtyard building off Picadilly in London. ... A ball at Devonshire House in 1850. ...

Lord Clarendon acquired the 8 acre site for his house by royal grant in 1664. Clarendon House was built between that year and 1667 to designs by Roger Pratt. It was set well back from the street behind a courtyard. The central section had nine bays and the two side wings were each three bays wide. The house was built on the double pile plan, meaning that it was two rooms deep, and had two main storeys of roughly equal height. There was a raised basement below and a tall attic storey with dormer windows above. The roof was flat and balustrated and topped with a cupola. The style was typical of the English fashion of the day, clearly influenced by classical principals, symmetrical and pedimented, but lacking any classical orders. Little is known about the interior layout beyond what can be surmised from the exterior, from Pratt's other works, and from the conventions of the time. It probably had a large top lit central staircase hall and a series of state apartments. It had 101 hearths. Sir Roger Pratt (1620–1684) was an English Gentleman Architect of the 17th century. ... Cupola of St Peters Basilica, Rome In architecture, a cupola consists of a dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome, often used as a lookout or to admit light and remove stale air. ... A refined canonic version of the Orders engraved for the Encyclopédie, vol. ... Blenheim Palace, un-scaled plan of the piano nobile. ...

Clarendon House was praised both by contemporaries and by later architectural critics. John Evelyn thought it was, "the best contriv'd, the most usefull, gracefull and magnificent house in England." Three hundred years later John Summerson wrote, "Clarendon House was among the first great classical houses to be built in London and easily the most striking of them." It was to prove an influential model for future English houses, but its impact was felt much more in the design of country houses than London mansions. Belton House in Lincolnshire, which is sometimes said to be the exemplar of the English country house, was closely based on Clarendon House. John Evelyn (October 31, 1620 – February 27, 1706) was an English writer, gardener and diarist. ... Sir John Newenham Summerson (1904-1992) was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century. ... Belton House is a stately home near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, in the care of the National Trust. ... Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the East Midlands of England. ...

In the same year that his house was finished Clarendon fell from favour. His image had not been helped by the grandeur of his mansion, which is believed to have cost around £40,000. Among the many allegations against him it was charged that he has appropriated stone intended for repairs to St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire to build his house. On 14 June that year Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary, "some rude people have been... at my Lord Clarendon's where they cut down the trees before his house and broke his windows." The King abandoned his former favourite, who fled to France, where he died in 1674. In 1675 his heirs sold Clarendon House to Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle for £26,000, and in 1683 he sold it on to a consortium of investors led by Sir Thomas Bond who demolished it and built Dover Street, Albemarle Street and Bond Street on the site. Albemarle Street ran right through the centre of the site of the house, which had faced directly down St. James's Street. St Pauls Cathedral is a cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London in London, and the seat of the Bishop of London. ... London, as it appeared from Bankside, Southwark, During the Great Fire — Derived from a Print of the Period by Visscher The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the City of London from September 2 to September 5, 1666, and resulted more or less in the... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle (14 August 1653 - 6 October 1688) was an English statesman and failed soldier. ... An arcade in Old Bond Street Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. ...

References

• London's Mansions by David Pearce, (1986) ISBN 071348702X
• The London Rich by Peter Thorold (1999) ISBN 0670874809