Bell House is a large Georgian house on College Road in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of H ...

, South East London. It is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

. It was built in 1767 for Thomas Wright, who was Sheriff of the City of London in 1779 and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

in 1785. Thomas Wright made his fortune as a stationer and from publishing almanacs. The house gets its name from the striking bell tower. Whenever a fire broke out in the village, the bells of Bell House and the

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

chapel were rung to gather help in pumping up water for the village fire engine. Thomas Wright lived at Bell House until his death on 7 April 1798. In 1833, the house was extended to provide servants' quarters. Further extensions were made in the 1870s and Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

was engaged to carry out certain alterations in 1918. Dulwich College took over the lease of Bell House in 1926 and it became the official residence of the Master of the College in 1927.Hodges, S, (1981), God's Gift: A Living History of Dulwich College, page 108, (Heinemann: London) During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Master moved out of Bell House to a smaller house and in 1947 the building became a junior boarding house. In 1993 it was returned to private ownership, as the college recognised the reduced need for a second junior boarding house. The house was bought in the summer of 2016 by an educational charity – Bell House Dulwich.

References

Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark Dulwich Houses completed in 1767 Works of Edwin Lutyens in England Grade II* listed houses in London Country houses in London {{London-struct-stub