The Charterhouse is an almshouse and a heritage site in central London, featuring both Grade I and Grade II listed buildings, gardens and an external square with iron railings, gas streetlamps and a 19th century setted road. With origins dating back to the 14th century, the Charterhouse has been a medieval monastery, a palatial Tudor mansion, and from 1611 an almshouse and a school which moved location in the 19th century.

The seven-acre site has a complex of buildings and courtyards from different eras. Interiors include the wood-panelled Great Hall (1300 ft²) which retains the original Tudor carved wood screen and a minstrel gallery, and a door in the Old Library (1100 ft²) next door opens onto the Norfolk Cloister (1300 ft²) where the medieval Carthusian monks lived in their two-story cells along its length. It was adapted during the Tudor period when a vaulted red-brick ceiling was added to create a ‘garden gallery’. On the upper floor is the last surviving Tudor great chamber in London (1600 ft²) where Elizabeth I held her privy council before her coronation, which features a 17th century painted fireplace. The room was restored in 2020 to reimagine its former splendour, and portraits of Restoration governors are hung on green silk covered walls. The Jacobean Chapel (1700 ft²) is approached through a light-filled cloister, and other rooms used for filming have included The Governor’s Meeting Room (100 ft²), the Tapestry Room (646 ft²) next to the Great Chamber which is hung with faded Flemish tapestries purchased by the Charterhouse in 1615, and various stairways and connecting spaces.

Master’s Court (6600ft²) forms the main entrance to the mansion, and behind it the atmospheric Wash House Court (2700 ft²) which was the former service area contains the oldest complete building at the Charterhouse. Many of the courtyards contain lawns or gardens, including the English country garden style Norfolk Gardens (4000 ft²). The Gate House at the front of the walled site retains the original medieval gates and opens onto an internal road through the site that is regularly transformed for street scenes using different aspects of the buildings, and the courtyards and archways are also used for crowd scenes.

Outside of the walls, Charterhouse Square (1 acre) is set in front of the historic walls and facades and includes a greenspace. The buildings that flank the square on three sides include the Art Deco Florin Court and the elegant Victorian Malmaison Hotel. Street scenes are also regularly filmed at the front and entrance to the main site.

The Charterhouse provides a unique opportunity for storytelling across different historic periods and genres, and is regularly used as a support location as well as for photoshoots. Films and High-end TV productions that have used our location include Mary and George (2024), The Crown (2022), The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies (2022), Pentaverate (2022), The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) Ted Lasso (2020) and Downton Abbey (2010 -15).

More information can be found here.