For those rich McCain and Obama supporters coveting ambassadorships next year, Winfield House is definitely the place to be. Barbara Hutton, the heir to the Woolworth fortune and one of the richest women in the world, returned to London in 1945 to find the red brick mansion she had built for herself in decay (it had been used by the air force). She bequeathed the neo-Georgian pile for use as the residence of American ambassadors to the Court of St James's.rnIt was a generous gift. The house, set in 12 acres of garden in Regent's Park, has served as an elegant soft-power asset for America in Britain since 1955. The thousands of guests invited every year to dinner parties, cocktails, business lunches, even serious diplomatic negotiations, find themselves in a handsome setting that is grand yet warm.rnThe character of Winfield House-named after Hutton's grandfather, Frank Winfield Woolworth-fluctuates with the occupants. The current ambassador, Robert Turtle, and his wife, Maria, a well-to-do couple from Los Angeles with a taste for contemporary American art, have taken a special interest in the house.
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