Kings Weston House

Kings Weston House is a historic building in Kings Weston Lane, Kingsweston, Bristol, England.HistoryIt was built between 1712 and 1719 was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Edward Southwell on the site of an earlier Tudor house, remodelled 1763–1768 by Robert Mylne and again between 1845 and 1850 by Thomas Hopper. A significant architectural feature is the grouping of all the chimneys into a massive arcade. The Kings Weston estate possesses one of the largest collections of buildings designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in the UK. Whilst the house and the majority of the estate buildings are still standing others have been demolished or been heavily altered. Bristol is the only UK city outside London to possess buildings designed by Vanbrugh.The house passed through several generations of the Southwell family until the estate was sold in 1833 to Mr Philip John Miles for £210,000, and became the family seat. During the World War I the House was converted into a hospital though the house continued as a family home until 1935 when, on the death of Philip Napier Miles, it was auctioned and bought by Bristol Municipal Charities and leased to the education authority for use as a school. It later became the Bristol Technical College School of Architecture which later developed into Bath University School of Architecture. In 1970 Bristol Corporation obtained a 50% grant from the Home Office and purchased the House for £305,000 to set up a Police Training Centre for Bristol Constabulary and was used as such until 1995. It was then abandoned for five years and between 2000 and 2012 was leased from Bristol City Council and partially restored as a Business and Conference Centre by local businessman John Hardy. After April 2011 the lease on Kings Weston House was put on the market for £2 million. Following a short period of closure to the public the house was sold to a new leaseholder, local businessman Norman Routledge in December 2012. Since then the house has been extensively renovated and has opened again as a conference and wedding venue, as well as a communal residence.