Hylands House is a beautiful Grade II listed Georgian villa set in a large park, lovingly restored over a number of years by Chelmsford City Council, with some funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Humphry Repton is known to have made alterations to both house and estate after 1797. The House is owned by Chelmsford City Council and exhibits a number of large and appropriate oil paintings, including some of its past owners, such as Sir John Comyns (on loan from Valance House Museum, Dagenham), Arthur and Elizabeth Pryor (on loan from the Pryor Glossop Foundation). A portrait of Sir John Tyssen Tyrell, Bt, MP of Boreham, attributed to James Lonsdale, and Sir John Bramston, style of Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen, are on loan from Essex County Council. Paintings owned by Chelmsford Museum and on display at Hylands include two portraits of Juliana Margaretta Waltersdorff by the Danish master Jens Juel; and cut down head and shoulder portraits of John and Christine Hanbury, the last private owners of the house, by Charles Buchel.