The Orangery in Holland Park is a glass‑and‑stone former garden pavilion within Holland Park, now used primarily as an events venue.
A surprising find. A long, elegant orangery building with large windows, flooded with natural light and overlooking lawns and formal planting in the centre of Holland Park.
Historically the surrounding estate started as Cope Castle, built for Sir Walter Cope in the early 17th century; it later passed to Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, whose wife’s family gave it the name Holland House. The Orangery itself was added much later, in 1849, by the fourth Lord Holland as part of a Victorian wave of improvements to the grounds, functioning as a fashionable glass pavilion associated with his summer ballroom.
Holland House was one of the great Whig salons of the 19th century, and the Orangery formed part of the setting for the “many receptions of Lord and Lady Holland”, where leading political and literary figures of the day gathered.
Interesting facts….
The Orangery is one of the very few substantial survivors of the Holland House complex after the 1940 bombing; most visitors don’t realise they’re standing in a fragment of what was once a vast Whig power‑house estate rather than just a pretty park pavilion.