A 500 Year-Old English House and its Famous Family
Inspire a New Furniture Collection
By Patricia Gerlach

Reluctant though we are to admit it, Americans are curious about how others live. Especially the rich and famous. That's why millions visit historic homes each year for an intimate glimpse of "the other half" - hoping for a peek at where the notables store their toothbrushes and coffee mugs. Or try to learn just who takes out the trash.

Consider Althorp (pronounced Ahl-thrup), a sprawling English estate in bucolic Northamptonshire, England. For 500 years, it has been the primary residence of the Spencers, one of the United Kingdom's most distinguished, aristocratic families with ties to Winston Spencer Churchill, George Washington and more recently the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Twenty generations of Spencers have lived and died there since pre-Tudor days when the 14,000 acre parcel was established as a sheep farm. Prior to Diana's tragic death a decade ago, Althorp was known primarily to connoisseurs of fine furniture and design history. Because of our continuing fascination with Diana's cachet and Althorp's setting and voluptious contents, it has more recently become a popular example of classic English stately homes.

But despite its storied history and grand appeal, Althorp is primarily a family home, says Charles Spencer, Diana's younger brother, who became the Ninth Earl in 1992 and considers himself merely Althorp's caretaker.

"Ask any of the occupants of Britain's great country houses what their greatest challenge is and they will - early on - touch on the responsibility they feel for preserving their heritage, says 40-year-old Spencer.But first and foremost, Althorp isn't a museum, it's still a home, says Charles. He and his wife, Caroline, Countess Spencer, have seven children ages 1 to 13 between them and throw frequent weekend parties for dozens of friends. They talk about the normal life their offspring enjoy at Althorp. Surfing the manse's elegant grand oak staircase on plastic trays known for their speed, for example.

But that's not to say the Spencers in any way trash their ancestral home which, on weekdays three months of the year, is open to the public. In 2007, nearly 60,000 visitors toured Althorp.

"In common with the majority of those entrusted with such duties, I view my role primarily as custodian rather than owner. I would be proud if, in my final days, I felt I was handing Althorp on to my heir in a better state than in which I had inherited it.

The constant need for the house and its impressive collection of paintings, furniture, china and sculpture to support itself led Charles and the family's trustees to throw open the mahogany doors of the circa 1508 estate to Theodore Alexander, a high end American furniture manufacturer, to produce a 300 piece collection of furniture and upholstery based on Althorp's antiques and heirlooms.

Theodore Alexander's Althorp Collection can be seen in Barrington this spring at Honquest Fine Furnishings, 1455 Barrington Road. For example, gilded carved mirrors, serpentine sideboards, tweedy wing chairs, leather-topped desks, wooden planters and a $7,500 wooden bar - an exact replica of Althorp - are included. The collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century reproductions and adaptations based on antiques in 90-room Althorp is being manufactured in Vietnam and will begin showing up in US stores this spring. Income from the collection will help support Althorp where maintenance, insurance and staff costs about $1 million annually.

"While it is centered on one house and one famous family, this interpretation of the Althorp Collection reflects the way a younger family lives in the 21st century, says Lori Stengren, vice-president of sales and merchandising at Richard Honquest Fine Furnishings. "It represents an excellent way to demonstrate how antiques can be displayed and mixed into a transitional or even a contemporary setting, says Stengren.

Diana's name is not on the collection's promotional material, says Paul Maitland-Smith, Theodore Alexander's chairman. "We told the family her name would not be used.p>

Maitland-Smith believes the history of the Washington chest will make it a notable piece for American consumers. In the early 17th century, the Washingtons , tenant farmers of the Spencer family, fell on hard times and John Washington, George's great-great-great grandfather emigrated to America in 1656. A century later the chest (Charles now uses it to store his cricket equipment) was acquired by the Spencers and remains at Althorp.

Charles and Caroline are one of the collection's best early customers. They purchased a dozen Theodore Alexander's Wootton Hall chairs (at $900 each), copies of the circa 1750 mahogany chairs in Althorp's entry and decorated with the family crest.

"Sometimes the public wants to sit on the originals and they are quite delicate. "these are a lot sturdier, Charles says.

Posted by Stephanie 2:08pm, April 7, 2008.