# Why do some British buildings use "House" as part of their name?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 20, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120 "2022-01-20T18:08:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/1 "2022-01-20T18:08:38Z")
An example here. [Athlone House - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlone_House)
Is it just a tendency in the language that stuck? I wasn’t sure how to Google it.
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### Author:  [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/2 "2022-01-20T18:17:44Z")
The large houses in a British town often use the name of the town with a second element to distinguish it.
In my own little town we have Clifton Lodge, Clifton Holme, Clifton Villa, Clifton Lawn, Clifton Lodge, and yes, Clifton House. Often the building named ‘House’ is one of the most important of these buildings; in my town Clifton House is a hospital.
Obviously not every ‘House’ is named after its location. Athlone House, for instance was renamed when it became a hospital, but not all ‘Houses’ are hospitals or government buildings by a long chalk.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/3 "2022-01-20T18:25:59Z")
I’m not sure I understand why you think this needs any explanation. Is it because these buildings are much larger than something that you’d usually associate with the word “house”?
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/4 "2022-01-20T18:35:50Z")
It think it’s true to say that most buildings called “house” were originally residences, even the grandest. But I guess I’ve occasionally seen office buildings called “house” too.
e.g.
[Somerset House - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_House)
There is a huge list of them here - all originally grand private residences called house, hall, manor, park etc.
> **[List of country houses in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_houses_in_the_United_Kingdom)**
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> This is intended to be as full a list as possible of country houses, castles, palaces, other stately homes, and manor houses in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands; any architecturally notable building which has served as a residence for a significant family or a notable figure in history. The list includes smaller castles, abbeys and priories that were converted into a private residence, and also buildings now within urban areas which ...
The fact that there are many more of them in the U.K. than the U.S. reflects our history. But the obvious parallel in the U.S. is the White House.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/5 "2022-01-20T18:40:21Z")
It’s a feature in Ireland as well. It’s hard to pin down anything these buildings have in common. Some buildings called “House” are modern official or government buildings of some kind, some are private houses (or former private houses) ranging from enormous Palladian mansions like Carton House, Russborough House or Castletown House to more modest farmhouses, some are modern buildings that are headquarters of companies, some are [public authority housing complexes](https://www.dolphinhouse.ie/about/).
In my area, private houses called “X House” where “X” is the name of the road or locality generally tend to be about 200-250 years old.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/6 "2022-01-20T18:45:43Z")
In old enough cities in the United States there are similar places - like [Chase–Lloyd House - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase%E2%80%93Lloyd_House) in Annapolis (there are several other “Houses” in Annapolis, but this one still has residents)
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/7 "2022-01-20T19:01:41Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> I’m not sure I understand why you think this needs any explanation. Is it because these buildings are much larger than something that you’d usually associate with the word “house”?
No, it was more why the official name of the place included “House,” since that isn’t as common where I live besides the White House. Though I see by @Andy_L 's post and link that I’m wrong and there are more in the United States than I’d thought.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/8 "2022-01-20T19:10:15Z")
If your area has an “historic district” with lots of old homes, take a stroll and look for historical designation plaques. You’ll probably see that most every single one has a name of some kind, and a number of them will be some variation of “\_\_\_\_\_\_ House.”
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/9 "2022-01-20T19:11:48Z")
One of the plaques on a more dilapidated house will say “crack”.
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### Author:  [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/10 "2022-01-20T19:16:48Z")
It is not just residences, it is office buildings. For example… “I’ll meet you in front of the elevators in Telecom House at 9:00 a.m. and we’ll go up to meet them on the 4th floor.”
…and it is not necessarily their corporate headquarters building. Just signage that says TELECOM.
…or in my case…the building held Telecom for about 40 years…and now it no longer does, and there is no signage that says so…but EVERYBODY still calls it TELECOM house.
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/11 "2022-01-20T19:39:39Z")
And to expand on @phxjcc’s point, there are other uses of house that are centred around the use of a building which isn’t a dwelling: picture house, full house (in a theatre), free house (i.e. pub), “the house wins”, etc - there may be others I haven’t thought of.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/12 "2022-01-20T19:40:27Z")
State house, school house, coffee house, etc.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/13 "2022-01-20T19:45:02Z")
Googling random names and “House” finds a bunch of stuff - including a lot of “Thomas Houses” in the US
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/14 "2022-01-20T19:54:54Z")
I know there are a huge number of U.S. Houses that are historic buildings that were named after either the builder or a notable later tenant.
The point is that before they got historic they were just somebody’s home. Nobody called the George Eastman House that until he died and it became a museum. Before it was just the big mansion where George Eastman lived.
Does this also hold true for the English Houses? I see that the Athlone House started with a a different name. Is that the general order of things?
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/15 "2022-01-20T20:34:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
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> I know there are a huge number of U.S. Houses that are historic buildings that were named after either the builder or a notable later tenant.
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> The point is that before they got historic they were just somebody’s home. Nobody called the George Eastman House that until he died and it became a museum. Before it was just the big mansion where George Eastman lived.
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> Does this also hold true for the English Houses?
No. They might be named X House after just about anything : some association with the history of the land it stands on (the 18th century government block called Somerset House reflects the original palace built for Edward VI’s “Lord Protector”, his uncle the Duke (Earl?) of Somerset), or the locality, or the boss of the company whose HQ it is or was (e.g., Bracken House in London), or to honour somebody. People honoured/commemorated in that way can be many and various: maybe royalty or a powerful local landowner, but also are a fair few Nelson Mandela Houses around in local authority housing estates, likewise blocks commemorating local councillors or other local heroes or dignitaries (my local council has offices in Jack Dash House - he was a communist shop steward in the docks).
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/16 "2022-01-20T20:35:52Z")
There are plenty of purpose built office buildings called _something_ House in the UK. Not sure when that started but some say the East India Company was the first business that had bespoke office space (rather than a working space above a shop). It was called East India House. However that building was a mansion called Craven House. So perhaps that started the trend.
> **[East India House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_House)**
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> East India House was the London headquarters of the East India Company, from which much of British India was governed until the British government took control of the Company's possessions in India in 1858. It was located in Leadenhall Street in the City of London. The first East India House on the site was an Elizabethan mansion, previously known as Craven House, which the Company first occupied in 1648. This was completely rebuilt in 1726–29;...
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/17 "2022-01-20T20:43:37Z")
Church house, gin house
School house, outhouse
Right there on Highway 19.
Also, historically purpose-built office buildings are an unusual and modernish thing. If you were a government official into the 19th century you often got a house or accommodation and all administration happened there in a separate wing if it was palatial, in the official rooms, or on the kitchen table if not.
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### Author:  [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/18 "2022-01-20T21:45:00Z")
I assume it refers to where the person, business, or organization is “housed” and through use became a common reference. House can refer to a lot more than just a suburban domicile. Even the noble families were named like that - “The House of Windsor” comes to mind.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/19 "2022-01-20T22:13:41Z")
In Pakistan (at least until the 1970s early 80s) it was common to have the HQ of an organization to be named “[organization name] House”. e.g. PIDC was run out of PIDC house, Alfa Insurance out of Alfa House. The Customs department was run out of Customs House, but maybe that is some kind of generic name for a customs facility.
I am sure with the de-Britishification that has been going on for 75 years this is falling out of favor.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-british-buildings-use-house-as-part-of-their-name/958120/20 "2022-01-20T22:50:00Z")
Here’s an article about a place called the “Old Smith House” [The Old Smith House in Benton getting well deserved makeover | thv11.com](https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/the-old-smith-house-in-benton-getting-well-deserved-makeover/91-552033888) - I don’t think it’s a museum and the Smiths who used to live there weren’t particularly famous. I suspect people called it the Smith house when the Smiths lived there (and “The Old Smith” house after they passed on).
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