Welcome to Historic Danson
Danson House was built c 1766 in Bexleyheath. The house is primarily the creation of two men: John Boyd, the owner, and his architect Robert Taylor. It reflects a preoccupation with the Golden Age of antiquity and is full of the symbolism of classical mythology. It is a revival of Italian villa design from the area around Vicenza in the second half of the sixteenth century. The leading architect at that time was Andrea Palladio.
In the twentieth century the house fell into an almost ruinous state. In 1995 English Heritage, which had identified the house as ‘the most significant building at risk in London’ began ten years of restoration. The restoration won the Georgian Group National Award in 2004, and the following year the house was formally opened by Her Majesty the Queen, after thirty five years of closure. The grounds were restored as part of the Danson Park project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, in 2006. The house, admired by Pevsner as ‘crystalline’ in its architecture, has a principal floor, sumptuous after painstaking investigations and reconstruction, a fine entrance hall, a stunning dining room with the original 18th century wall paintings, an elegant salon and an opulent library with the Danson organ (which is still played at recitals in the house).
Visitors can also ascend the elliptical staircase and see the bedroom floor. On the lower floor, the breakfast room, looking out over the parkland, now houses a tea room serving tea, coffee, home made cakes and light lunches. The shop in the basement has a unique range of items evocative of the house and its history.