Harewood House

Harewood House (as if written Harwood) is a country house located in Harewood (pronounced as if written Hairwood), near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a member of Treasure Houses of England, a marketing consortium for nine of the foremost stately 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 II and II*.

A brief history of Harewood House

The house was built from 1759 to 1771 for the Lascelles family, who had bought the estate after making their 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.

Artist Thomas Girtin stayed at the house many times, painting the house itself and also the surrounding countryside and landmarks, such as the nearby Plumpton Rocks which at the time was owned by the Harewood Estate.

Harewood house has a long history of taking visitors interested in its imposing architecture, and collections of paintings. The first guidebook to Harewood House was published early in the nineteenth century.

The house served as a convalescent hospital during both World War I and World War II.

Harewood House today

The house is still the family home of the Lascelles family. Lord Harewood, George Lascelles, is the seventh Earl. His mother was Mary, Princess Royal, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary.

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 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. The grounds also contain Yorkshire's first planetarium, the Yorkshire Planetarium.

The Leeds Country Way passes through the Harewood Estate, to the south of the house and lake.

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 and this pronunciation for both house and title is still used by Harewood House. Nevertheless, the typical pronunciation nowadays is Harewood.