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  Up the great staircase trooped the 2,500 guests, resplendent in tiaras and jewels or white tie and tails, to be greeted by their hostess, the Marchioness of Londonderry, glamorous in a clinging black satin Paris dress.
  
  Either side of her impressive cleavage gleamed great swathes of diamonds.
  Round her neck hung a heavy row of pearls that fell below her waist.
  On her head was the largest of the Londonderry tiaras, so big it was known in the
  family as ‘the fender'.
  
  
  
  
  Pale rays illuminate the top-lit gallery of
  Londonderry house
  
  Beside her stood her handsome husband Charles, the seventh
  Marquess of Londonderry, and the Prime Minister, Lloyd George.
  
  That November night in 1919 was Edith Londonderry's first Eve of Parliament reception, a tradition that continued for 20-odd
  years.
  
  
  
  
  The Marchioness of Londonderry wears ‘the fender' to greet guests, 1934
  
  Londonderry House, like many of London's great houses, was built for entertaining.
  In the 18th and 19th centuries, most aristocrats and others who lived on their estates for much of the year had a town house to which
  they migrated for ‘the Season' - those summer months filled with balls and parties,
  when débutantes were presented at court and launched into ‘society' in the hope of making
  a splendid marriage.
  
  
  
  
  The ballroom, Devonshire House
  
  These houses were as magnificent as their owners
  could manage. Built and decorated by the most talented of the age,
  they were sumptuously furnished - walls were hung with silk, damask and wonderful paintings -
  and often embellished with marble statuary. The mustard-yellow drawing
  rooms of Londonderry House were filled with blue Sèvres vases and gold plate;
  in the entrance hall stood a Canova statue of Theseus and the Minotaur (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum).
  Suites of rooms, with a ballroom at one end, could be flung open for entertaining.
  
  
  
  
  
  Georgiana Cavendish (1757-1806), a lover of gambling - and threesomes
  
  Today most of these palatial mansions have been pulled down or turned into blocks of flats.
  With their disappearance went their furnishings, objets and paintings.
  But what their wonderful rooms looked like can be
  seen in London: Lost Interiors, a book compiled from superb black-and-white photographs
  of these amazing houses, some of which belonged to aristocratic landowners, others
  to plutocrats or society figures.
  
  
  
  
  The drawing room, Grosvenor House
  
  Most of the townhouses - those used for the Season rather than permanent residences - were clustered round Park Lane,
  Mayfair or on Piccadilly, like Devonshire House.
  Here once lived the fifth Duke of Devonshire and his wife Georgiana (pronounced jaw-janer), whom
  he had married in 1774 when she was just 17. She was a celebrated beauty who quickly became a leader of fashion, famous for her towering hairstyles three
  feet high, decorated with birds, fruit, even ships in sail.
  The couple spent 20 years in a ménage à trois with Lady Elizabeth Foster, Georgiana's close
  friend, who was also the Duke's mistress. Meanwhile,
  Georgiana's gambling led to mounting debts: on her death
  in 1806 they were found to be the equivalent of £4 million in today's money.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The rich, restless second Duke of Westminster, AKA Bendor, in his 20s
  
  Another Park Lane mansion was Grosvenor House, belonging to the dukes of Westminster and
  one of the largest in London, as befitted the family's status and wealth (their huge fortune came from their ownership of Mayfair).
  
  Bendor, the blond and handsome second duke (1879-1953) was known as one of the richest men in England, lavishing jewels on his mistresses, chief among whom was Coco
  Chanel.
  
  
  
  
  The picture gallery, Grosvenor House
  
  A restless soul, Bendor would arrive without warning at
  any of his houses (or yachts). All were kept ready: cars fuelled, silver polished,
  servants in livery. But after the First World War, during which
  Grosvenor House had been requisitioned as a hospital, land prices had risen so high that even for Bendor it had become uneconomic and
  he sold it. It was demolished in 1927 and the
  Grosvenor House Hotel was built on the site.
  
  
  
  
  
  Designer Oliver Messel, Devonshire House, 1934
  
  At the other end of the scale was 8 Pelham Place, the South Kensington home of Cecil Beaton from 1940 to 1975.
  Superbly furnished by this brilliant photographer, it was described loftily by the diarist Chips Channon (for
  whom the word ‘snob' could have been invented - in his diaries he declares, ‘I am
  only really happy with royalty') as ‘a tiny
  but super-attractive snuffbox of a house'. Beaton,
  himself no social slouch, ran him close: at his parties the women often wore stiletto
  heels, which pitted the floor, and later he would point them
  out, saying, ‘That's Princess Marina, that's Julie Andrews, that's Vivien Leigh…'
  
  
  
  
  French furnishings at 8 Pelham Place, the South Kensington home of Cecil Beaton
  
  Beaton's near neighbour in Pelham Place, until the mid-60s, was the great stage designer Oliver Messel.
  When Messel's nephew Tony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon) became engaged to Princess Margaret, Messel laid on a lunch, asking the Princess if there was anyone she would particularly like to meet.
  She said she had always greatly admired the witty cabaret star
  Bea Lillie and so Messel invited her.
  
  What none of them knew was that Bea Lillie had a drinking habit.
  At the end of lunch she slid quietly under the table and was carried upstairs to sleep it off.
  Tony and the Princess took their leave and Messel rushed back to his studio, where he
  was busy with fittings for Elizabeth Taylor, only to be interrupted by a telephone call.
  
  
  
  
  
  Cecil Beaton at home in Pelham Place, 1947
  
  ‘It's Kensington Police Station here, Mr Messel,' said the
  voice at the other end. ‘We thought you ought to know that there's a
  naked woman on your balcony, throwing bottles at everyone who passes by.'
  
  Among the last of these fascinating residences to survive was the aforementioned Londonderry House.
  Throughout the 20s and 30s it had seen receptions and balls, hosted by the Londonderrys
  for their four daughters and two granddaughters.
  When eventually it had to go, in July 1962, a farewell party
  for 300 was given by Alastair, the 9th Marquess. Live sounds were supplied by a blues
  band featuring a swaggering young Mick Jagger,
  no less - presaging the rise of a whole new swinging London generation.
  
  
   
  
  
  London: Lost Interiors by Steven Brindle is published by Atlantic, £50.
  
  To order a copy for £42.50 with free UK delivery until 22 December, go
  to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. 
  
  historic england, getty images
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