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Up the great staircase trooped the 2,500 guests, resplendent in tiaras and jewels or white tie and tails, to be greeted by their hostess, the <br> <br> Marchioness of Londonderry, glamorous in a clinging <br> <br> black satin Paris dress. Either side of her <br> <br> impressive cleavage gleamed great swathes of diamonds.<br> <br> Round her neck hung a heavy row of pearls that fell below <br> <br> her waist. On her head was the largest of the Londonderry <br> <br> tiaras, so big it was known in the family as ‘the fender'.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Pale rays illuminate the top-lit gallery of Londonderry house<br> <br> <br> <br> Beside her stood her handsome husband Charles, the seventh Marquess of Londonderry, and the Prime Minister, Lloyd George.<br> <br> That November night in 1919 was Edith Londonderry's first Eve of Parliament reception, a tradition that continued for 20-odd <br> <br> years.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The Marchioness of Londonderry wears ‘the fender' to greet guests,<br> <br> 1934<br> <br> <br> <br> Londonderry House, like many of London's great houses, <br> <br> was built for entertaining. In the 18th and 19th <br> <br> centuries, most aristocrats and others who lived on their <br> <br> estates for much of the year had a town house <br> <br> to which they migrated for ‘the Season' - those summer months filled with <br> <br> balls and parties, when débutantes were presented at court and launched into ‘society' in the hope of making <br> <br> a splendid marriage.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The ballroom, Devonshire House<br> <br> <br> <br> These houses were as magnificent as their owners could manage.<br> <br> Built and decorated by the most talented of the age, they <br> <br> were sumptuously furnished - walls were hung with silk, damask and wonderful paintings - and often embellished with marble statuary.<br> <br> <br> <br> The mustard-yellow drawing rooms of Londonderry House were filled with blue Sèvres vases and gold plate; in the entrance hall stood a Canova statue of Theseus and <br> <br> the Minotaur (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum).<br> <br> Suites of rooms, with a ballroom at one end, could be flung open for entertaining.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Georgiana Cavendish (1757-1806), a lover of gambling - and threesomes<br> <br> <br> <br> Today most of these palatial mansions have been pulled <br> <br> down or turned into blocks of flats. With their disappearance <br> <br> went their furnishings, objets and paintings.<br> <br> But what their wonderful rooms looked like can be seen in London: Lost Interiors, a book compiled from superb black-and-white photographs of these amazing houses, some of which belonged to <br> <br> aristocratic landowners, others to plutocrats or society figures.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The drawing room, Grosvenor House<br> <br> <br> <br> Most of the townhouses - those used for the Season rather than permanent <br> <br> residences - were clustered round Park Lane, Mayfair or on Piccadilly,<br> <br> like Devonshire House. Here once lived the fifth Duke of Devonshire and his wife Georgiana (pronounced <br> <br> jaw-janer), whom he had married in 1774 when she was just 17.<br> <br> <br> <br> She was a celebrated beauty who quickly became a leader of fashion, <br> <br> famous for her towering hairstyles three feet high, decorated with birds,<br> <br> fruit, even ships in sail. The couple spent 20 years in a ménage à trois with Lady <br> <br> Elizabeth Foster, Georgiana's close friend, who was also the Duke's mistress.<br> <br> Meanwhile, Georgiana's gambling led to mounting debts: on her death <br> <br> in 1806 they were found to be the equivalent of <br> <br> £4 million in today's money.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The rich, restless second Duke of Westminster,<br> <br> AKA Bendor, in his 20s<br> <br> <br> <br> Another Park Lane mansion was Grosvenor House, belonging <br> <br> to the dukes of Westminster and one of the largest <br> <br> in London, as befitted the family's status and wealth (their <br> <br> huge fortune came from their ownership of Mayfair).<br> <br> Bendor, the blond and handsome second duke (1879-1953) was known as one of the richest men in England, lavishing jewels on his mistresses, chief <br> <br> among whom was Coco Chanel.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The picture gallery, Grosvenor House<br> <br> <br> <br> A restless soul, Bendor would arrive without warning at any of his <br> <br> houses (or yachts). All were kept ready: cars fuelled,<br> <br> silver polished, servants in livery. But after the First World War, during which Grosvenor House had <br> <br> been requisitioned as a hospital, land prices had risen so high that even for Bendor it had become <br> <br> uneconomic and he sold it. It was demolished <br> <br> in 1927 and the Grosvenor House Hotel was built on the site.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Designer Oliver Messel, Devonshire House, 1934<br> <br> <br> <br> At the other end of the scale was 8 Pelham Place, the <br> <br> South Kensington home of Cecil Beaton from 1940 to 1975.<br> <br> Superbly furnished by this brilliant photographer, it was described loftily by the diarist Chips Channon (for <br> <br> whom the word ‘snob' could have been invented - <br> <br> in his diaries he declares, ‘I am only really happy with royalty') as ‘a tiny but super-attractive snuffbox of a house'.<br> <br> Beaton, himself no social slouch, ran him close: at his parties the women often wore stiletto heels,<br> <br> which pitted the floor, and later he would point them out, saying, ‘That's Princess Marina,<br> <br> that's Julie Andrews, that's Vivien Leigh…'<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> French furnishings at 8 Pelham Place, the South Kensington home of Cecil <br> <br> Beaton<br> <br> <br> <br> Beaton's near neighbour in Pelham Place, until the mid-60s, was the great <br> <br> stage designer Oliver Messel. When Messel's nephew Tony <br> <br> Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon) became engaged to Princess Margaret, Messel laid on a lunch, asking the <br> <br> Princess if there was anyone she would particularly like to meet.<br> <br> She said she had always greatly admired the witty cabaret star Bea <br> <br> Lillie and so Messel invited her.<br> <br> <br> <br> What none of them knew was that Bea Lillie had <br> <br> a drinking habit. At the end of lunch she slid quietly under the table and was carried upstairs to sleep it off.<br> <br> <br> <br> Tony and the Princess took their leave and Messel <br> <br> rushed back to his studio, where he was busy with fittings <br> <br> for Elizabeth Taylor, only to be interrupted by a telephone call.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Cecil Beaton at home in Pelham Place, 1947<br> <br> <br> <br> ‘It's Kensington Police Station here, Mr Messel,' said the voice at the other end.<br> <br> ‘We thought you ought to know that there's a naked woman on your balcony, <br> <br> throwing bottles at everyone who passes by.'<br> <br> <br> <br> Among the last of these fascinating residences to <br> <br> survive was the aforementioned Londonderry House.<br> <br> Throughout the 20s and 30s it had seen receptions and balls, hosted by the Londonderrys for their four <br> <br> daughters and two granddaughters. When eventually it had to go, in July 1962, a farewell party for 300 was given by Alastair, the 9th <br> <br> Marquess. Live sounds were supplied by a blues band featuring a swaggering young Mick <br> <br> Jagger, no less - presaging the rise of a whole new swinging London generation.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br>  <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> London: Lost Interiors by Steven Brindle is published by Atlantic, £50.<br> <br> <br> <br> To order a copy for £42.50 with free UK delivery until 22 <br> <br> December, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. <br> <br> <br> <br> historic england, getty images<br> <br> <br> <br> Have a look at my blog; ขายไวน์ - https://www.google.com.ai/url?q=https://carver-randolph.thoughtlanes.net/7-aenwthaangaekpayhaakhaaythiisraangsrrkhcchnkhunknuekaimthueng
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