LONDON LUMINARIES: Painters, princes and personalities:Soane the entertainer at Pitzhanger Manor

Clare Gough, Director of Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, is the fifth speaker in the London Luminaries virtual lecture series. Twelve historic organisations collaborating together to share our collective histories.

Sir John Soane designed Pitzhanger as his country house between 1800-1804 to create a showcase for his architectural skills, as well as his growing collection of artefacts. It soon became his elegant stage set for the entertainment of friends, celebrities and potential clients: he threw grand garden parties and held fascinating dinners for the beau monde of the time. Guests included the artist JMW Turner, a fellow Academician, with whom Soane enjoyed fishing in the lake at Pitzhanger, and numerous other personalities from the worlds of finance, politics, theatre, journalism and literature. In this talk, Clare Gough will tour the entertaining rooms at Pitzhanger Manor, introducing some of the personalities that graced Soane’s table, and cast light on how Soane used these parties to show off his skill as a designer to potential clients.

Clare Gough is Director of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery. She joined Pitzhanger in 2016 and oversaw the £12M three-year conservation project to restore this rare and extraordinary example of Sir John Soane’s architecture to his original vision. The newly restored Manor and Gallery re-opened to the public in March 2019. Soane Restored, an exhibition that reveals the fascinating story of the restoration, runs at Pitzhanger until May 2022.