A red-brick Georgian villa beside Greenwich Park holding the Wernher Collection, a magnate's trove of Renaissance jewels, paintings and bronzes
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Vice-Admiral Francis Hosier built this house around 1722, not long before he succumbed to yellow fever while his fleet lay off Panama. Philip Stanhope, who became the 4th Earl of Chesterfield and is remembered for the letters of advice he wrote his son, moved in two decades later and added a gallery wing to show off his own art collection. For much of the 19th century, the honorary title of Ranger of Greenwich Park came with this house as a residence, which is how it got its name; occupants included minor royals and a field marshal.
Since 2002 the house has held the Wernher Collection, around 700 works of art gathered by Julius Wernher, a magnate born in Germany who made his fortune from gold and diamonds mined in South Africa. Its rooms hold Dutch Old Master paintings, Renaissance bronzes and silver, and medieval and Renaissance jewellery; the house’s exterior also stands in for the fictional Bridgerton family’s home on the Netflix show.
English Heritage has cared for Ranger’s House since 1986. Greenwich Park is right outside the door, and the Thames Path and Greenwich Station are both a short walk away.
