Knebworth House

The ancestral home of the Lytton family since the 14th century, it was remodelled and enlarged to its present Tudor-Gothic style in the 1840s by Mrs Bulwer-Lytton (1770-1843), mother of the 1st Baron Lytton and grandmother of the 1st Earl Lytton. In 1899, the 2nd Earl of Lytton leased Knebworth to the new Canadian High Commissioner, Lord Strathcona, who maintained it as his country place until his death in 1914. The following year, for £3,000 p.a., the Earl leased it to Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia. In 1927, the 2nd Earl disposed of many of Knebworth's treasures where they were sold off at the Anderson Galleries in New York. One of the staircases was retrofitted into Mallow on Long Island. Today, Knebworth is open to the public.