Catalogue description Grove House/Nuffield Lodge, papers

It is comprised of letters, photographs, prints, printed histories, sales particulars, newspaper cuttings and wallpaper samples relating to the house and a number of its occupants, particularly George Bellas Greenough (1778-1855), Frank Smedley (1818-64) and Sigismund Goetze (1866-1939).

The collection is arranged in the following order:

Correspondence

Newspaper and magazine articles

Additional printed material

Photographs

Wallpaper samples

Greenough, George Bellas, 1778-1855, president of the Royal Geographic Society

The diverse collection of material relating to Nuffield Lodge was received as a donation from Marylebone Information Service, Marylebone Library in October 1997

• Nuffield Foundation, c 1952-1986
• Smedley, Frank, 1818-1864, author
• Goetze, Sigismund, 1866-1939, artist

Grove House (initially called Grove Lodge) was designed by Decimus Burton and built in 1823-24 for George Bellas Greenough (the first president of the Geological Society and President of the Royal Geographical Society 1830-40), who had obtained a building lease from the Crown Estate. On the death of Greenough in 1855, Grove House passed to Francis Smedley (High Bailiff of Westminster) and then to his son the author Francis Edward (Frank) Smedley. Following his death Mrs Smedley continued to occupy the house until 1877. The family connection was maintained by Thomas Greer who occupied the house from Christmas 1878 to his death in 1905.

When the Greer family returned to Ireland in 1907, Grove House was purchased at auction by the artist Sigismund Goetze and much of the material in this collection relates to the period of his occupation of the house. He undertook a number of significant alterations to the house including the conversion of the stables into a studio and wall painting in the entrance hall and the music room. The music room was decorated with seventeen panels drawn from incidents in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Much use was made of the gardens for garden parties and philanthropic activities. Goetze died in 1939 and following the Second World War the Midland Bank purchased the house for the occupation of their Chairman, Lord Linlithgow until his death in 1952, when it was sold to the Nuffield Foundation. This resulted in the change of name to Nuffield Lodge. A major programme of restoration and redecoration of the house was undertaken in 1973-74. Following the Nuffield Foundation's surrender of the lease in 1986, the house reverted to the name Grove House and was purchased privately.

• View Record