2 Rutland Gardens

Built circa 1880. From at least 1899, this was the townhouse of Hamilton Cuffe, the Anglo-Irish 5th (and last) Earl of Desart, Solicitor to the Treasury at Whitehall, Queen's Proctor, and Director of Public Prosecutions. His family divided their time between here and his ancestral home in Ireland, Desart Court. When his younger daughter, Lady Sybil Cuffe, married William Bayard Cutting of New York, the Countess hosted the wedding reception here. After the Earl and Countess died, the house became Sybil's London home as she divided her time between here, New York and Italy.