Strawberry Hill After Walpole: The Waldegrave and Stern Legacies

Strawberry Hill AFTER WALPOLE: The WALDEGRAVE AND STERN Legacies

COMING SOON IN MAY | The Pantry, across from the Great Cloister | Entry is included with General Admission

Strawberry Hill’s story did not end with Horace Walpole.

This exhibition spotlights a lesser-known chapter in the house’s history, when, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Lady Waldegrave and the Stern family revived it into a hub of political influence, artistic patronage, and high society.

Lady Waldegrave at Strawberry Hill (1846–1879)

“Strawberry Hill is more like a fairy palace than ever,” wrote Lady Frances Waldegrave in 1876, twenty years after her renovations began. “I now constantly find young people thinking that Horace Walpole made all my pet creations.” Gold stars adorned the vaulted ceilings like constellations in a midnight sky. Even in winter the house remained in perpetual bloom, with ivy climbing along the cornicing and strawberry leaf curling up the garden staircase — Lady Waldegrave’s botanical flourishes entwining with Walpole’s Gothic vision.

Yet, she did not erase his presence, she enshrined it alongside her own — setting his Saracen’s head opposite her countess’s coronet in the Gallery floor and showcasing their heraldry side by side in the Round Room — to ensure their names would forever stand together in the story of Strawberry Hill.

Prime ministers, artists, and royalty flocked to Lady Waldegrave’s famous Saturday-to-Monday gatherings, while her masked balls were among the most sought-after invitations of the season. One young lady left off the guest list for a royal ball, reportedly ‘fretted herself into a fever’ until Lady Waldegrave relented!

The Stern Family at Strawberry Hill (1883–1923)

At the turn of the century, Strawberry Hill entered a new chapter under the Stern family. Herman Stern, a Portuguese baron and member of the European merchant banking dynasty, purchased the estate. His son, Herbert Stern, later married Aimée Geraldine Bradshaw, and together they revived Strawberry Hill’s reputation as a glittering social hub. Following Herbert’s elevation to the peerage as Lord Michelham of Hellingly, the house became the backdrop for dazzling garden parties attended by prime ministers, foreign princes, and Edwardian high society.

Under their ownership, the Blue Breakfast Room was transformed into an opulent ‘Turkish Boudoir’, complete with a dramatic tented ceiling, intricate mahogany fretwork, and rich teal walls — embodying the era’s fascination with Orientalist aesthetics.

Why the Pantry?

This exhibition invites visitors into The Pantry, a newly opened space featuring two remarkable treasures…

Underfoot, the encaustic Minton tiles—originally installed by Lady Waldegrave in the Hall—were relocated here during the restoration. Designed by Augustus Pugin, these tiles mirror those used in the Houses of Parliament, signalling to guests that Strawberry Hill was a place for discussing matters of government.

The space is also home to a neoclassical relief sculpture of Virgilia by Thomas Woolner, a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It was commissioned by Lady Louisa Ashburton, and acquired for the Stern family by the Duveen Brothers at the 1904 Ashburton Sale.

From Research to Exhibition

This exhibition is the result of research undertaken during our project ‘Cataloguing the Legacy of Lady Waldegrave & the Stern Family’, funded by the Decorative Arts Society’s Collections Access Grant.

Discover more…

Continue your journey inside by following our house treasure trail to uncover the lasting traces of Waldegrave and Stern still visible in the house today.

Entry is included with general admission.

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