Ham House

Ham House is a 17th-century brick mansion beside the Thames in Ham, south-west London. Built in 1610 for an Elizabethan courtier, it began as a nine-bay H-plan house with three storeys. The river front was later filled in by the Lauderdales to create a grander garden elevation. Robert Smythson’s early survey drawings show the original layout and gardens. The house passed through royal favour and civil-war sequestration before becoming the seat of William Murray, a childhood friend of Charles I. The house reached its peak under Elizabeth Murray, daughter of William Murray, and her second husband John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale. They doubled the size of the house, added private apartments and princely guest suites, and furnished it with paintings, tapestries and furniture of the highest courtly taste. The gardens were redesigned to match the couple’s status, and the interiors were described as surpassing even what was fitting for their rank. The collections and interiors survive in unusually fine condition, making Ham a rare survival of 17th-century luxury. Visitors walk through rooms that still contain Jacobean and Caroline features and furnishings. The Great Hall was extended and linked to an ornate cantilever staircase, while the Long Gallery was remodelled with a Green Closet influenced by Charles I’s own cabinet at Whitehall. The Lauderdales’ private apartments and guest suites remain visible, along with their lavish collections. Outside, the formal gardens and riverside park offer views framed by the brick façades. Critics note the interior’s high architectural and decorative interest, while the exterior is acknowledged as less striking than other houses of the period.