Harewood House is a country house located in Harewood near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Designed by the architects John Carr and Robert Adam, it was built from 1759 to 1771 for wealthy trader Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood.
Still home to the Lascelles family, Harewood House is a member of Treasure Houses of England, a marketing consortium for nine of the foremost historic homes in England. The house itself is a Grade I listed building, there are a number of features in the grounds and courtyard that have been listed as Grade I, II and II*.
History
The house was built from 1759 to 1771 for Edwin Lascelles, whose family had bought the estate after making its fortune in the West Indies through Customs positions, slave trading and lending money to planters. The house was designed by the architects John Carr and Robert Adam.
Much of the furniture is by the eighteenth-century English furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, who came from nearby Otley.
Lancelot "Capability" Brown designed the grounds to which Sir Charles Barry added a grand terrace, in 1844.[1]
Artist Thomas Girtin stayed at the house many times, painting the house itself and also the surrounding countryside and landmarks, such as the nearbyPlumpton Rocks which at the time was owned by the Harewood Estate.[2]
Harewood House has a long history of hosting visitors interested in its imposing architecture and collections of paintings. The first guidebook to the home was published early in the nineteenth century.
The house served as a convalescent hospital during both World War I and World War II.
The archives of the Lascelles family and the Harewood estate are held at West Yorkshire Archive Service.[3] in Leeds.
Since 1996, part of the house's grounds have been used as the Beckindale village in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, which had been based in two different Yorkshire villages since its inception 24 years earlier.[4]
State rooms
§ Ante Room
§ Below Stairs
§ China Room
§ Cinnamon Drawing Room
§ Dining Room
§ East Bedroom
§ Gallery
§ HRH Princess Mary Display Room
§ Princess Mary's Dressing Room
§ Lord Harewood's Sitting Room
§ Music Room
§ Old Kitchen
§ Old Library
§ Pastry Room
§ Servants Database
§ Servants' Hall
§ Spanish Library
§ State Bedroom
§ Steward's Room
§ Still Room
§ Terrace Gallery
§ The Library
§ Vegetable Scullery
§ Watercolour Rooms
§ Yellow Drawing Room
Today
The house is still the family home of the Lascelles family. David Lascelles is the eighth Earl. His grandmother was Mary, Princess Royal, daughter of King George V andQueen Mary. She also lived at the house and died there in 1965.[5]
The estate has been transferred into a trust ownership structure, and as a result is managed by Harewood House Trust and is open to the public most of the year. Harewood won a Large Visitor Attraction of the Year award in the 2003 national Excellence in England awards[6] and remains a popular Yorkshire tourist attraction. As well as tours of the house and grounds, visitors can enjoy the Himalayan Garden and its stupa, an educational bird garden, an extensive adventure playground and catering facilities, including fine dining [7]. From May 2007 to October 2008 the grounds also contained Yorkshire's first planetarium, the Yorkshire Planetarium.
The Leeds Country Way passes through the Harewood Estate, to the south of the house and lake, as does the route of The White Rose Way.
Harewood Bird Garden
The Bird Garden at Harewood House has a collection of over 90 species of birds, of which more than 30 are listed as vulnerable or endangered in the IUCN listings. Harewood Bird Garden is a full member of both the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).
Some of the birds that can be seen in the garden are Humboldt Penguins, Chilean Flamingo, Java Sparrow, Macaws,Waldrapp Ibis and Snow Goose.
Pronunciation of 'Harewood'
There is often debate as to the exact pronunciation of the word 'Harewood'. In the eighteenth century, the customary pronunciation (and spelling) was Harwood[1] and this pronunciation for both house and title is still used by Harewood House and the Earl of Harewood. The pronunciation Hairwood is generally used for the village, and also sometimes used for the house and title.
References
^ a b Mauchline, M. (1992) Harewood House. One of the Treasure Houses of Britain. Asbourne: Moorland Publishing Co Ltd.
^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
^ Harewood House website. Harewood Card Newsletter. Autumn/Winter 2003-04 Harewood.org retrieved 1 December 2006.
^ http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/community/michelin-star-restaurant-moves-into-stately-home-to-offer-tasty-posh-nosh-1-4776971
^ "BIAZA Zoos and Aquariums". biaza.org.uk. BIAZA. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
^ "EAZA Member Zoos & Aquariums". eaza.net. EAZA. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
