Where Byron met his lover, Sheridan enjoyed one too many and The Queen Consort’s mother threw a ball as ‘Debutante of the Year’. Welcome to Belvedere—Holland Park’s famous Italian restaurant, with a somewhat surprising history…
Illustrious history
Built between 1638 and 1640, Belvedere was originally part of the stables and coach house serving Holland House and Park, a 500-acre estate inherited by Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland.
Costing an eye-watering £4,000 – more than any modern stables in the country at the time – it is thought Covent Garden Piazza architects Inigo Jones and Isaac de Caus were behind its ornate design.
Skip forward to the 19th century, and stables it was no longer. Now, a splendid ballroom – complete with a viewing gallery, or belvedere – and orangery, created so for the influential Henry Richard Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, and his wife, Elizabeth.
It was this charismatic couple – ostracised by many for the scandalous affair which brought them together – who was responsible for the creation of a political salon which drew some of the era’s most prominent figures. So powerful was it, history has given its attendees a name: the Holland House set.
Political heavyweights from Prime Minister Lord Melbourne to Lord John Russell were members, as were literature’s Samuel Rogers and Lord Byron. The latter even met his future lover, Lady Caroline Lamb, at the Hollands, although she appeared to have disproved of him at first – “mad, bad and dangerous to know” was how she famously described him afterwards.
Politician and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan was another guest. He liked to get drunk and not inconspicuously so – “Sheridan lost his dinner,” Lady Holland once recorded – while Charles Dickens and William Wordsworth were also invited to dine.
Into the next century – to 1939 – and Belvedere welcomed royalty. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth attended a lavish ball for ‘Debutante of the Year’ Rosalind Cubitt (mother to Camilla, the Queen Consort). The party attracted over one thousand guests – playwright Noël Coward among them – and was considered the last great soiree at the house before it was largely destroyed by bombing during the Blitz.
The ballroom, however, survived and was later converted into a restaurant and given the name it is renowned for Belvedere, a 16th-century term with Italian roots, meaning ‘beautiful view’.
Today, with its tantalising Mediterranean menu and rich Tuscan interiors, Belvedere offers a taste of Southern Italy. Re-launched by Wild Tavern co-founders George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev in 2022, it includes a private dining room for exclusive events and a balcony for alfresco eating.
Its warm atmosphere and relaxed approach make it a perfect choice for day and evening dining all year round while ensuring its centuries-old tradition of entertaining the effervescent crowds of London continues.