15 September 2004 . . Conte Giacomo

Mentmore Towers is a large English country house in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. It takes its name both from the village in which it stands, and the fact that the house has numerous towers and pinnacles. Historically it was always known as just Mentmore, and by locals and estate staff as The Mansion, as is the case at nearby Tring Park. However, the name Mentmore Towers seems to have stuck and is the accepted one today. One of the house's former owners, Lord Rosebery, once said: "Mentmore Towers sounded like a second-rate boarding house". Mentmore Towers is a Grade 1 listed building.

The house was built between 1852 and 1854 for Baron Mayer de Rothschild who needed a house close to London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring in Hertfordshire, Ascott, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon Manor and Halton House. He had slowly since 1846 been buying land in the area. However, it was not until 1850 that he bought the manor and advowson of Mentmore for £12,400 from the trustees of the Harcourt family.

The plans for the new mansion which was begun in 1852, imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottingham; they were drawn by the well known architect Joseph Paxton, famous for The Crystal Palace (see Plans and interiors of Mentmore).

The old manor house, with its later Georgian facade, which had been built by the Wigg family in the 16th century, became known as the 'Garden House', and became the home of the Rothschild's head gardener; later it became the Estate Office. Today (2004) it is once again the village Manor House.

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