thumb|Quartered arms of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, KG

Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, (22 March 1767 – 17 February 1845) was the son of the 1st Earl Grosvenor, whom he succeeded in 1802 as 2nd Earl Grosvenor. He was created Marquess of Westminster in 1831. He was an English Member of Parliament (MP) and an ancestor of the modern-day Dukes of Westminster. Grosvenor continued to develop the family's London estates, he rebuilt their country house, Eaton Hall in Cheshire where he also restored the gardens, and built a new London home, Grosvenor House. He maintained and extended the family interests in the acquisition of works of art, and in horse racing and breeding racehorses.

Personal life

Robert Grosvenor was born on 22 March 1767 in the parish of St George Hanover Square, London. He was the third son and the only surviving child of Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor and Henrietta, Lady Grosvenor, and was initially known as Viscount Belgrave. He was educated at Westminster School, Harrow School, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA in 1786. In addition to his formal education, William Gifford acted as his private tutor. Gifford accompanied Grosvenor when the latter undertook his Grand Tour between 1786 and 1788. Gifford described him as a "most amiable" and "accomplished" pupil.

When Grosvenor entered parliament, he continued the family tradition of being a Tory and supporting William Pitt the Younger. However, after Pitt's death in 1806, he changed his allegiance and became a Whig. This led to his support for the victims of the Peterloo massacre, for Catholic Emancipation, for the abolition of the Corn Laws, and his voting for the Reform Bill. He participated in the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837.

Development of the estate

thumb|left|[[William Porden|Porden's Eaton Hall]]

Soon after Robert Grosvenor inherited the Eaton estate, he rebuilt the country house at Eaton Hall in Cheshire, and he also developed the London estate, creating the areas now known as Belgravia and Pimlico. Eaton had become "an unfashionable and run-down estate". The existing country house had been built for his great-grandfather, Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet and designed by William Samwell. He appointed William Porden as architect, who had previously surveyed his London estate. The original plan was for the new house to cost £10,000 (equivalent to £ as of ), and for it to take two years to build. In the event, it took just under ten years and cost over £100,000 (equivalent to £ as of ). The previous house was encased and surrounded by "every possible permutation of the gothic style". It included turrets, pinnacles, arched windows, octagonal towers, and buttresses (both regular and flying). Four new wings were added to the house. When the future Queen Victoria visited in 1832 at the age of 13, she wrote in her journal: "The house is magnificent". It was described as "the most gaudy concern I ever saw" and "a vast pile of mongrel gothic which ... is a monument of wealth, ignorance and bad taste". New terrace walls were created on the east side of the house. Belgrave Avenue, the approach to the house from the west, was levelled and drained, and 130,000 trees were planted along it. The paths along the approach, which was long, were made between and wide, so that they would be suitable for the use of carriages. On the east side of the house, a serpentine lake was created on the near side of the River Dee. By the 1820s, formal garden beds were becoming fashionable and William Andrews Nesfield was employed to design formal parterres around the house. He added more terracing, balustraded walls, and flower beds surrounded by box edging.

thumb|[[Grosvenor House, showing the new entrance]]

For the London estate, Grosvenor created a "fashionable new residential quarter" near Buckingham House (later Buckingham Palace). He appointed Thomas Cundy as architect and surveyor, and Thomas Cubitt as builder. The entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states: "This urban development was to make the Grosvenors one of the richest families in Britain". In 1998 a statue of Grosvenor, by Jonathan Wylder, was erected in Belgrave Square, London. On the statue is a quotation by Ruskin that reads "When we build let us think we build for ever".

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