Belair Park
Belair Park is located in West Dulwich part of the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England. Formerly the grounds belonged to Belair House, a country villa built in Adam style and now a Grade II listed building. There are two other Grade II listed structures within the park: the lodge and entrance gate and an old stable building.
History
1726–1781:
The original estate consisted of two farms.
1785–1818:
The estate was leased to John Willes, corn factor of Whitechapel, who erected a house in the style of, or possibly by Robert Adam. This house was named College Place. The lake was mentioned by Willes when he first leased the land from Dulwich College, which would indicate that the original boundary of the estate was beyond that point.
1818–1859:
After John Willes' death there was a new owner, Charles Ranken, a solicitor, who renamed the house Belair.
1859–1893:
Charles Hutton, a wool merchant and sheriff for London and Middlesex, purchased the remainder of the lease. It would seem that the majority of structural changes occurred during his ownership. North and South wings, together with conservatories and numerous outbuildings were constructed and added on. Eventually Belair had 47 rooms, which is very much bigger than it is today. He lived there with his wife, their eleven children, and ten live-in servants. However the house fell into disrepair when Hutton's Berlin wool business started to lose money.
