Now used for diplomatic receptions and related functions by the Foreign Office, it is a historic Grade I listed building,[1] and its interiors are sometimes used in films or television as a stand in for Buckingham Palace.

The interior, featured an imperial staircase which was designed by Sir Charles Barry, as well Louis XIV Style rooms which were lavishly decorated.

[1] The Sutherlands’ liberal politics and love of the arts attracted many distinguished guests, including factory reformer the Earl of Shaftesbury, anti-slavery author Harriet Beecher Stowe and Italian revolutionary leader Giuseppe Garibaldi.

With its ornate decoration and the dramatic sweep of the great staircase, the Grand Hall is a magnificent introduction to one of the finest town houses in London.

[7] In 1912 the lease was purchased by the Lancastrian industrialist and philanthropist Sir William Lever, 1st Baronet (later 1st Viscount Leverhulme) who renamed it in honour of his native county of Lancashire and presented it to the nation in the following year.

[10] The allied government's European Advisory Commission on the political and social future of Europe after the Second World War met here throughout 1944 and into 1945.

In 1979 it was the scene of the Lancaster House Agreement, which led to the independence of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, from the United Kingdom.