Lowther Lodge is a house in South Kensington

South Kensington

South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England, immediately south of Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

. It was designed by Richard Norman Shaw

Richard Norman Shaw

Richard Norman Shaw RA , was an influential Scottish architect from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings.-Life:...

 and built between approximately 1872 and 1875. It is an important example of Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 Queen Anne architecture, with gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 influences. The client was William Lowther

William Lowther (diplomat)

William Lowther was a British diplomat and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1892....

, an MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 who was a nephew of the Earl of Lonsdale

Earl of Lonsdale

Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 , and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowther family....

, the head of the Lowther landowning family of Westmorland

Westmorland

Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...

 and Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

. After Lowther died in 1912 his son sold the house to the Royal Geographical Society

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

, which converted it into its headquarters, commissioning extensions from G. L. Kennedy and F. B. Nightingale in 1928 to 1930, which included the Society's lecture theatre. A further extension, including a new exhibition space, reading room and storage area for the Society's collections, was completed in 2004.

The building is also notable for having one of the first passenger lifts in a private house. It is a Grade II* listed building.

External links

• Survey of London entry (one quarter of the way down the page)
• History of Lowther Lodge (pdf file from Royal Geographical Society website)
• Albertopolis: Lowther Lodge Architecture and history of the building