Palace listed as being at risk

7:20am Tuesday 5th June 2012 in Chelmsford News

A GRADE II listed building is in need for a new use and a saviour to take it on and restore it to its former glory.

Danbury Palace is set to feature on the Save Britain’s Heritage Annual Buildings at-risk report.

The annual catalogue of buildings at risk is published tomorrow by conservation charity, Save Britain’s Heritage.

The building, in Main Road, Danbury, is an imposing 19th-century country house with a colourful past.

It was built in 1834 for John Round, a local banker and MP who bought the estate in 1830 from the Mildmay family – Walter Mildmay was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Henry VIII, and replaced a
Tudor house of about 1589.

The designer of the new house was Thomas Hopper, an architect and master of a variety of different styles.

Hopper used elements of the demolished house in his design – and created a picturesque facade with parapets and an octagonal corner turret.

The interior was decorated by the popular London firm of decorators and cabinet makers, George Morant and Son and the park was remodelled to include a large garden to the north-west of the main
lake.

After a brief spell as a country house, Danbury Park was sold in 1845 to the Bishop of Rochester and a chapel was added in 1850 at the south end of the building.

Danbury Palace, as it became known, was then occupied by the Bishop of St Albans before returning to secular hands again in 1890.

Most recently, between 1970 and 2004, it was used by Anglia Ruskin University as a management training centre.

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