Uncovering the secrets of the Rothschild mansion - Left to history

Описание

Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as "Mentmore", is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George Henry Stokes designed the building in the 19th-century revival of late 16th and early 17th-century Elizabethan and Jacobean styles called Jacobethan.The house was designed for the banker and collector of fine art Baron Mayer de Rothschild as a country home, and as a display case for his collection of fine art. The mansion has been described as one of the greatest houses of the Victorian era. Mentmore was inherited by Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery, née Rothschild, and owned by her descendants, the Earls of Rosebery.

Mentmore was the first of what were to become virtual Rothschild enclaves in the Vale of Aylesbury. Baron Mayer de Rothschild began purchasing land in the area in 1846. Later, other members of the family built houses at Tring in Hertfordshire, Ascott, Aston Clinton, Waddesdon and Halton.

The Grand Hall at Mentmore. Aged just six months, Hannah de Rothschild laid the foundation stone for the great mansion on 31 December 1851.
Much of the parkland was sold in 1944, but Mentmore remained with the family until 1977. At that point, unable to come to an arrangement with the nation to preserve the building and contents intact as a heritage property, the contents were auctioned, and it was sold to the Maharishi Foundation. In 1999, it was sold to investor Simon Halabi, who planned to build additional hotel and conference facilities. In 1992 the Mentmore Golf and Country Club opened, with two 18-hole courses.

Second World War
The second wife of the sixth Earl, Eva Primrose, Countess of Rosebery (DBE), was interested in the arts and was acquainted with Kenneth Clark and other national art museum directors. As a result of Lady Rosebery's friendships, Mentmore was chosen by the British government to store part of the British national art collections during the Second World War. The collections of the National Portrait Gallery were subsequently stored at Mentmore for the duration of the war, along with pieces from the Royal Collection, including the Gold State Coach. Further works transferred to Mentmore included the portraits from Speaker's House in the Palace of Westminster, and tapestries, furniture and Grinling Gibbons carvings from Hampton Court Palace.

The collection was stored in the "battery room" subsequently nicknamed the "refuge", part of the "gas house", a group of outbuildings where gas and electric light were supplied for the estate. Four men guarded the refuge at night, and two during the day.

Film location
The house has appeared in many films, including Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985), Slipstream (1989), Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Philip Kaufman's Marquis de Sade biographical film Quills (2000), The Mummy Returns (2001), Ali G Indahouse (2002) as the Prime Minister's residence Chequers,[32] Johnny English (2003), and Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), where it was used as the Gothic Wayne Manor.

In 1982 director Howard Guard filmed the Roxy Music video to "Avalon", starring Sophie Ward, at the house. It also served as the filming location of Mike Oldfield's Alex Proyas-directed "Magic Touch" (1987/88), Enya's Dan Nathan-directed "Only If ..." (1997), the Five Max and Dania-directed "Until the Time Is Through", the Spice Girls Howard Greenhalgh-directed "Goodbye" (1998) and ATC's Patric Ullaeus-directed "Thinking of You" (2000) music videos. It was also featured as the location of the rave party in the Inspector Morse episode "Cherubim and Seraphim".

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