The History of Winfield House, the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in London
Much of the action in Netflix's new show The Diplomat revolves around Winfield House, the U.S. ambassador to the UK's residence in London. In the first episode, Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) and Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) move into Winfield House upon their arrival to the city, and in episode three, U.S. President Rayburn (Michael McKean) meets Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) at the residence.
Here, a brief history of Winfield House, the "official residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Court of St. James’s."
St. Dunstan's Villa was built in 1825.
Until the 19th century, the land on which Winfield House is now located—Regents Park—was rural countryside, used as hunting grounds for King Henry VIII. John Nash, an architect to the crown and friend of the then-Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, laid out plans to develop the area. Nash's plans included 56 villas and a zoo; however, only 8 villas were built—one of which included St. Dunstan's, also called Hertford Villa.
St. Dunstan's was commissioned by the Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford and designed by Decimus Burton. Per the U.S. Embassy to the UK, "It was actually two buildings connected by a single-storied hall, 'the tent room' spacious enough for 'magnificent receptions.' On the wall adjacent to the tent room the Marquess installed a huge clock with the life-size figures Gog and Magog striking the hours. Burton had rescued it from the demolished St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleet Street and he now gave this name to the house in Regent’s Park. (The clock with Gog and Magog striking the hours has since been returned to a completely rebuilt St. Dunstan's [Church].)"
American heiress Barbara Hutton purchased the property in 1935.
By the 1920s, many of the Regent's Park villas had fallen into disrepair. St. Dunstant's Villa, then owned by newspaper magnate Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (he developed the Daily Mail), was sold to Barbara Hutton, an American heiress (her grandfather, Frank Winfield Woolworth, founded the Woolworth store chain). Hutton, at the time, was married to Count Kurt Haugwitz-Reventlow. They purchased the villa, tore it down, and rebuilt a Georgian-style house designed by Leonard Rome Guthrie in its place. They moved in in 1937 and named their house Winfield House, after Barbara's grandfather.
Winfield House was damaged during World War II.
In 1939, with Europe on the brink of World War II and Barbara and Kurt having recently divorced, Barbara and her son, Lance Reventlow, move to California. (Where she meets Cary Grant, a story for another day...) During World War II, Winfield is commandeered by a RAF unit, and used as an Air Crew Reception Center. The house was damaged during the German bombing of London.
Post war, Hutton donated Winfield House to the U.S. Government.
Here's how the Embassy explains what went happened: "A year after the war, Barbara Hutton came back to visit Winfield House. She found buckled floorboards, peeling walls, broken windows and dangling wires. The next day she telephoned her New York lawyer and told him she wanted to give the house to the U.S. Government to be repaired and used as the official residence of the American Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s. Her 'most generous and patriotic offer' was accepted in a personal letter from President Harry Truman. For the token price of an American dollar, Winfield House passed into official American ownership."
In 1955, Winthrop Aldrich, then the U.S. Ambassador to the UK, was the first to use the house as a residence. It has served as the residence ever since.
Winfield House in the present day.
Winfield House is a Grade II listed building on Historic England, as "an exceptional ambassador's residence and as a notable Neo-Georgian town house containing numerous features of note."
Over the years, there have been many notable visitors, including Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana and her sons, Princes William and Harry, and many U.S. presidents.
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