The financier, racing driver and prolific party animal who saved — and then lost — one of the 20th century's most notable country houses
Ardenrun Place was a short-lived yet architecturally notable English country house. Melanie Bryan tells its tale.
Ardenrun Place, in Surrey, did not live a long life, but did, at least enjoy a riotous, Gatsby-esque few years for the time it was around.
In the September 17, 1921, issue, Country Life run an article about the modern mansion's surprising sale. Built by Ernest Newton in 1905 for Hans Henry Konig and featured in the magazine's architectural section in 1911, Ardenrun had failed to sell at auction in 1919.
Ardenrun Place, photographed in 1911 for Country Life.
The tapestry Hall from Konig’s tenure.
Konig was a confirmed bachelor who made his considerable fortune as a banker, in London and New York. His pennies paid for Ardenrun — in which he installed electricity, central heating and a telephone — as well as 1,000 acres, a working farm, golf course and stables.
Rather than restrict himself to one architectural style, Konig commissioned an Adam-style breakfast room, a Georgian-style dining room (complete with Wedgwood friezes), and a Louis XVI-style tapestry room, orangery and an elegant billiard room. There were also marble floors, carved Portland stone features, plasterwork ceilings and an unpolished Italian walnut staircase with intricate limewood carvings in the style of Grinling Gibbons.
Konig enjoyed a decade in his new-build palace, but, in 1919, his poor health dictated a move to the South of France. Even in the wake of the First World War, it was presumed that Ardenrun would sell quickly, but two years went by before swashbuckling racing driver Captain Woolf Barnato stepped in to save the day.
Intricate plasterwork and elegant fireplaces inside the throughly modern Ardenrun.
Barnato, an entrant in a six hour endurance race, organised by the Essex Motor Club, pictured with his Bentley, in 1928.
Barnarto stood at an imposing six feet — several inches taller than the average British man in the first half of the 21st century, and still tall for a driver — and had inherited his father’s gold and diamond mining fortune. He served in the War, including at Ypres, and, afterwards, dedicated his time to having fun.
The Champagne-swilling, fun-loving man soon instilled the spirit of the jazz age in Ardenrun. In 1923, newly-divorced from his American first wife, Dorothy, he installed a mock-Tudor pub in the basement called the Ardenrun Arms — and developed a reputation for lavish parties. (He once entertained the Australian cricket team, including Don Bradman.)
A talented sportsman, Barnarto kept wicket for Surrey, boxed, played tennis to a 'country house standard' and had a love of racing power boats. However, he reserved his strongest affections for anything on four wheels. Soon after purchasing Ardenrun, Barnato bought his first Bentley. Twelve months later, he purchased a controlling share in the company itself.
The leader of the glamorous Bentley Boys (a group of wealthy British motorists who drove Bentley sports cars to victory in the 1920s), Barnarto achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race — a perfect record which stands to this day. He also staged time trials in the grounds of Ardenrun, including alongside his good friend, Ettore Bugatti.
Barnarto's desire to win wasn’t just confined to sports. On March 28, 1932, The Pittsburgh Press reported that San Franciscan society beauty Jacqueline Quealey was bombarded by radiograms from a desperately in love Barnato. His persistence and charm paid off. She agreed to marry the fast-living, fun-loving sportsman, and upped sticks from California to Surrey.
The intricate, but highly-flammable walnut and limewood staircase.
On the morning of Tuesday, January 17, 1933, a fire was discovered in the nursery at the very top of the house. Despite the efforts of three fire brigades, little could be done to stop is spreading. Furniture and other valuables were carried out by staff and a dressing-gown-clad Barnato and two wings saved, but the main body of the house and fine staircase were reduced to ashes.
Barnato and his new, pregnant wife, San Franciscan society beauty Jacqueline Quealey, moved to a hotel in London (Jacqueline gave birth to a son the following month) and then to Grosvenor Square, where they lived until a new house, named Ridgemead in Englefield Green, Surrey, was built for them by Robert Lutyens.
As for Ardenrun? It were abandoned. Like Gatsby, it couldn’t live forever.
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