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70-574: Houghton Hall ( / ˈ h aʊ t ən / HOW -tən ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk , England. It is the residence of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley . It was commissioned by the de facto first British Prime Minister , Sir Robert Walpole , in 1722, and is a key building in the history of Neo-Palladian architecture in England. It is a Grade I listed building surrounded by 1,000 acres (4.0 km) of parkland, and

140-467: A formal rose garden laid out in a pattern based on one of the William Kent ceilings in the house; a French garden of pleached limes and plum trees which have been underplanted with spring bulbs; and a croquet lawn. Danish artist Jeppe Hein created a Water Flame sculpture/fountain for this garden. In all seasons, this jet of water surmounted by a ball of flame illustrates a 21st-century folly on

210-428: A fortunate few; it was the centre of its own world, providing employment to hundreds of people in the vicinity of its estate . In previous eras, when state benefits were unheard of, those working on an estate were among the most fortunate, receiving secured employment and rent-free accommodation. At the summit of this category of people was the indoor staff of the country house. Unlike many of their contemporaries prior to

280-529: A mixture of high architecture , often as interpreted by a local architect or surveyor, and determined by practicality as much as by the whims of architectural taste. An example of this is Brympton d'Evercy in Somerset, a house of many periods that is unified architecturally by the continuing use of the same mellow, local Ham Hill stone . The fashionable William Kent redesigned Rousham House only to have it quickly and drastically altered to provide space for

350-533: A smaller scale than the contemporary pieces outside the garden walls. In 2015, James Turrell created an artistic illumination of Houghton House as part of the LightScape festival celebrating the house and gardens. The Houghton International Horse Trials have been held in the park annually in May since 2007. National events run alongside the three-day international event. The stable block at Houghton Hall houses

420-424: A watertower (1731–32) with the appearance of an architectural folly which was designed by Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke . It was restored in 1982 and is a Grade I listed building. In this well-established context, a number of contemporary outdoor sculptures have been commissioned in recent years by David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley . To the west of the house is a circle of Cornish slate at

490-451: Is Thomas Gainsborough 's oil painting of his own family, Thomas Gainsborough, with His Wife and Elder Daughter, Mary (circa 1751–52). Walpole's collection of marble Roman busts was also considerable. In the early 1990s, Hans Holbein 's Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (1528) was removed from the walls of Houghton where it had hung since 1780. It was put up for auction to raise money to pay inheritance taxes and for maintenance of

560-518: Is a few miles from Sandringham House . The house has a rectangular main block which consists of a rustic basement at ground level, with a piano nobile , bedroom floor and attics above. There are also two lower flanking wings joined to the main block by colonnades . To the south of the house is a detached quadrangular stable block. The exterior is both grand and restrained, constructed of fine-grained, silver-white stone. The Gibbs-designed domes punctuate each corner. In line with Palladian conventions,

630-480: Is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house . This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry who dominated rural Britain until

700-510: Is called a castle, but not all buildings with the name "castle" are fortified (for example Highclere Castle in Hampshire ). The term stately home is subject to debate, and avoided by historians and other academics. As a description of a country house, the term was first used in a poem by Felicia Hemans , "The Homes of England", originally published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1827. In

770-503: Is focused upwards and inevitably lured into contemplating the sky as framed by the open roof. "The Sybil Hedge" is another folly in this vicinity. It is based on the signature of the current marquis' grandmother, Sybil Sassoon . Scottish artist Anya Gallaccio has created a sarcophagus -like marble structure which is sited at the end of a path; and nearby is a copper-beech hedge which is planted in lines mirroring Sybil's signature. A 5-acre (20,000 m) walled kitchen garden lies beyond

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840-470: Is from 1696, in the diary of John Evelyn : "My L: Pembroke..shewed me divers rare Pictures of very many of the old & best Masters, especially that of M: Angelo..,& a large booke of the best drawings of the old Masters." The term is also used to refer to a painting or sculpture made by an Old Master, a usage datable to 1824. There are comparable terms in Dutch, French, and German; the Dutch may have been

910-504: Is not. Edward Lucie-Smith gives an end date of 1800, noting "formerly used of paintings earlier than 1700". The term tends to be avoided by art historians as too vague, especially when discussing paintings, although the terms "Old Master Prints" and "Old Master drawings" are still used. It remains current in the art trade. Auction houses still usually divide their sales between, for example, "Old Master Paintings", "Nineteenth-century paintings", and "Modern paintings". Christie's defined

980-473: Is politics; they talk politics; and they make politics, quite spontaneously. There are no written terms for distinguishing between vast country palaces and comparatively small country houses; the descriptive terms, which can include castle , manor and court , provide no firm clue and are often only used because of a historical connection with the site of such a building. Therefore, for ease or explanation, Britain's country houses can be categorised according to

1050-460: Is the ITV series Downton Abbey . Old Master In theory, "Old Master" applies only to artists who were fully trained, were Masters of their local artists' guild , and worked independently, but in practice, paintings produced by pupils or workshops are often included in the scope of the term. Therefore, beyond a certain level of competence, date rather than quality is the criterion for using

1120-520: Is unlikely to be let go, and it remains on view at Houghton; but the Marquess admits that he is very aware that risk of theft is neither negligible nor negotiable. Jean-Baptiste Oudry 's White Duck, stolen from the Cholmondeley collection in 1990, is still missing. Charles Bridgeman's landscaping plan for the parkland at Houghton remains intact. His "twisting wilderness paths" were cleared in

1190-508: The Reform Act 1832 . Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in manor houses . With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until the agricultural depressions of the 1870s , the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However,

1260-512: The 1850s, with the English economy booming, new mansions were built in one of the many revivalist architectural styles popular throughout the 19th century. The builders of these new houses were able to take advantage of the political unrest in Europe that gave rise to a large trade in architectural salvage. This new wave of country house building is exemplified by the Rothschild properties in

1330-419: The 18th century with houses such as Castle Howard , Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall . Such building reached its zenith from the late 17th century until the mid-18th century; these houses were often completely built or rebuilt in their entirety by one eminent architect in the most fashionable architectural style of the day and often have a suite of Baroque state apartments, typically in enfilade , reserved for

1400-466: The 1st Earl of Orford in 1742. Ownership passed to his son and grandson, the second and third earls . On the death of the third earl in 1791, it reverted to Sir Robert Walpole's youngest son and uncle of the 3rd Earl, Horace Walpole , who became the 4th Earl of Orford. Sir Robert and his successors as Earls of Orford are buried in St Martin's Church nearby. On his death in 1797, possession passed to

1470-488: The 20th century, the term was later popularised in a song by Noël Coward , and in modern usage it often implies a country house that is open to visitors at least some of the time. In England, the terms "country house" and "stately home" are sometimes used vaguely and interchangeably; however, many country houses such as Ascott in Buckinghamshire were deliberately designed not to be stately, and to harmonise with

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1540-474: The 20th century, they slept in proper beds, wore well-made adequate clothes and received three proper meals a day, plus a small wage. In an era when many still died from malnutrition or lack of medicine, the long working hours were a small price to pay. As a result of the aristocratic habit of only marrying within the aristocracy, and whenever possible to a sole heiress, many owners of country houses owned several country mansions, and would visit each according to

1610-522: The Cholmondeley Collection of Model Soldiers, previously at Cholmondeley Castle and moved to Houghton Hall in 1980 soon after it was opened to the public. The collection was started in 1928 by the 6th Marquess , expanded throughout his life, and now includes about 20,000 figures. 52°49′37″N 0°39′27″E  /  52.82690°N 0.65760°E  / 52.82690; 0.65760 Country house An English country house

1680-575: The Cholmondeleys to the Victoria and Albert Museum . A major sale of items of pictures, furniture, silver and objets d'art from Houghton estimated at $ 23 million was held at Christie's in London on 8 December 1994, with the intention of establishing an endowment fund for the future preservation of the building. Some artwork, such as William Hogarth 's portrait of the Cholmondeley family

1750-477: The Hall. The ha-ha barriers at Houghton were an innovative feature credited to Bridgeman. In his 1780 Essay upon Modern Gardening , Horace Walpole explained: "The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without." Sir Robert Walpole constructed

1820-474: The architecture and design are disputed. It is most likely that Walpole initially instructed his friend Thomas Ripley to head the design, having appointed him surveyor in 1722 when construction started, with his apprentice Isaac Ware employed in the Works Office and Robert Hardy as Clerk of Works. The first stone was laid on 24 May 1722, and by 7 December that year the brick cellars had been completed and

1890-467: The best-known examples of the showy prodigy house , often built with the intention of attracting the monarch to visit. By the reign of Charles I , Inigo Jones and his form of Palladianism had changed the face of English domestic architecture completely, with the use of turrets and towers as an architectural reference to the earlier castles and fortified houses completely disappearing. The Palladian style, in various forms, interrupted briefly by baroque ,

1960-427: The ceilings for the reception areas and ground floor, as well as some furniture. In the context of the day, Campbell, Gibbs and Kent were not just rivals, but very much disliked each other. Ripley's own records show that he took a larger role in the project during the later stages of construction of the external edifices, with his drawings showing him greatly altering the earlier works of both Campbell and Gibbs. Walpole

2030-524: The circumstances of their creation. The great houses are the largest of the country houses; in truth palaces, built by the country's most powerful – these were designed to display their owners' power or ambitions to power. Really large unfortified or barely fortified houses began to take over from the traditional castles of the crown and magnates during the Tudor period, with vast houses such as Hampton Court Palace and Burghley House , and continued until

2100-523: The country saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses. Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries saw many former ecclesiastical properties granted to the King's favourites, who then converted them into private country houses. Woburn Abbey , Forde Abbey and many other mansions with abbey or priory in their name became private houses during this period. Other terms used in

2170-428: The design of the wing around the next corner. These varying "improvements", often criticised at the time, today are the qualities that make English country houses unique. Wealthy and influential people, often bored with their formal duties, go to the country in order to get out of London, the ugliest and most uncomfortable city in the world; they invented the long week-end to stay away as long as possible. Their métier

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2240-536: The early 18th century; and they have been maintained since then. The park, which extends into Bircham and Harpley parishes, was designated Grade I on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens in 1987. Bridgeman replaced the formal geometry of intersecting avenues with blocks of woodland and parkland which, as he saw it, was better able to complement the hall's compelling architectural statement. Tree-lined vistas in four directions are aligned on

2310-427: The early 1970s, hundreds of country houses were demolished . Houses that survived destruction are now mostly Grade I or II listed as buildings of historic interest with restrictions on restoration and re-creation work. However such work is usually very expensive. Several houses have been restored, some over many years. For example at Copped Hall where the restoration started in 1995 continues to this day. Although

2380-475: The end of a path mown through the grass. This land art feature was designed by the British sculptor Richard Long . Two modern follies lie in a wooded area to the side of the west front. American artist James Turrell contrived Skyspace for Houghton. Turrell's construction presents itself from the exterior as an oak-clad building raised on stilts. From the inside of the structure, the viewer's point of view

2450-585: The family of his sister, Lady Mary, Countess of Cholmondeley, who had died aged just 26 more than 65 years earlier in 1731. She had married George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley and Houghton Hall has been modified and maintained by her Cholmondeley family descendants to the present day. Colonel Robert Walpole borrowed a book about the Archbishop of Bremen from the Sidney Sussex College library in 1667 or 1668. The overdue library book

2520-476: The final design of the tower domes was undertaken by James Gibbs , with: the south-west tower dated 1725; the south-east 1727; and the others dated from 1729. Both the interior and exterior were extravagant, later estimated by Walpole himself to have cost over £200,000; he admitted to burning most of the receipts, adding further to the difficulty of verifying the architecture timeline. The best materials and designers were employed, including William Kent who designed

2590-527: The first stone course laid. Colen Campbell is the architect most credited with the design. However, later investigation and studies show that his first works on the design are dated from 1723 CC onwards, which using the modern calendar would be from March 1723 onwards. Campbell can be connected to the project, but his initial and later designs show his preferred Wilton-style towers, as published by him in Vitruvivs Britannicus in 1725. However,

2660-662: The first to make use of such a term, in the 18th century, when oude meester mostly meant painters of the Dutch Golden Age of the previous century. Les Maitres d'autrefois of 1876 by Eugene Fromentin may have helped to popularize the concept, although "vieux maitres" is also used in French. The famous collection in Dresden at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister is one of the few museums to include

2730-479: The home counties and Bletchley Park (rebuilt in several styles, and famous for its code-breaking role in World War II). The slow decline of the English country house coincided with the rise not just of taxation, but also of modern industry, along with the agricultural depression of the 1870s. By 1880, this had led some owners into financial shortfalls as they tried to balance maintenance of their estates with

2800-530: The house and grounds; and eventually, negotiations led to the painting's sale to the National Gallery for £17 million tax free because of special incentives in England for selling works of art that are considered national treasures. In the 21st century, art market inflation has placed enormous temptations in the way of the old families with substantial collections. In recent years, ownership of several pieces have been transferred in lieu of tax from

2870-435: The household. These houses were always an alternative residence to a London house. During the 18th and 19th centuries, for the highest echelons of English society, the country house served as a place for relaxing, hunting and running the country with one's equals at the end of the week, with some houses having their own theatre where performances were staged. The country house, however, was not just an oasis of pleasure for

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2940-556: The immediately preceding war then in World War I, were now paying far higher rates of tax, and agricultural incomes had dropped. Thus, the solution for many was to hold contents auctions and then demolish the house and sell its stone, fireplaces , and panelling . This is what happened to many of Britain's finest houses. Despite this slow decline, so necessary was the country house for entertaining and prestige that in 1917 Viscount Lee of Fareham donated his country house Chequers to

3010-438: The income they provided. Some relied on funds from secondary sources such as banking and trade while others, like the severely impoverished Duke of Marlborough , sought to marry American heiresses to save their country houses and lifestyles. The ultimate demise began immediately following World War I . The members of the huge staff required to maintain large houses had either left to fight and never returned, departed to work in

3080-402: The interiors are much more colourful, exuberant and opulent than the exteriors. The park surrounding Houghton Hall was redesigned in the 18th century by Charles Bridgeman . In the process, the village of Houghton was demolished and rebuilt at the main gates of the park, with the exception of the medieval Church of St Martin , which now sits alone in the park. This new building was placed on

3150-491: The landscape, while some of the great houses such as Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall were built as "power houses" to dominate the landscape, and were most certainly intended to be "stately" and impressive. In his book Historic Houses: Conversations in Stately Homes , the author and journalist Robert Harling documents nineteen "stately homes"; these range in size from the vast Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard to

3220-415: The late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swansong of the traditional English country house lifestyle. Increased taxation and the effects of World War I led to the demolition of hundreds of houses ; those that remained had to adapt to survive. While a château or a Schloss can be a fortified or unfortified building, a country house, similar to an Ansitz , is usually unfortified. If fortified, it

3290-544: The latter two are ducal palaces, Montacute, although built by a Master of the Rolls to Queen Elizabeth I, was occupied for the next 400 years by his descendants, who were gentry without a London townhouse , rather than aristocracy. They finally ran out of funds in the early 20th century. However, the vast majority of English country houses, often owned at different times by gentlemen and peers , are an evolution of one or more styles with facades and wings in different styles in

3360-655: The minuscule Ebberston Hall , and in architecture from the Jacobean Renaissance of Hatfield House to the eccentricities of Sezincote . The book's collection of stately homes also includes George IV's Brighton town palace, the Royal Pavilion . The country houses of England have evolved over the last five hundred years. Before this time, larger houses were usually fortified, reflecting the position of their owners as feudal lords , de facto overlords of their manors . The Tudor period of stability in

3430-416: The most eminent guests, the entertainment of whom was of paramount importance in establishing and maintaining the power of the owner. The common denominator of this category of English country houses is that they were designed to be lived in with a certain degree of ceremony and pomp. It was not unusual for the family to have a small suite of rooms for withdrawing in privacy away from the multitude that lived in

3500-399: The munitions factories, or filled the void left by the fighting men in other workplaces. Of those who returned after the war, many left the countryside for better-paid jobs in towns. The final blow for many country houses came following World War II ; having been requisitioned during the war, they were returned to the owners in poor repair. Many estate owners, having lost their heirs, if not in

3570-468: The names of houses to describe their origin or importance include palace , castle , court , hall , mansion , park , house , manor , and place . It was during the second half of the reign of Elizabeth I , and under her successor, James I , that the first architect-designed mansions, thought of today as epitomising the English country house, began to make their appearance. Burghley House , Longleat House , and Hatfield House are among

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3640-454: The nation for the use of a prime minister who might not possess one of his or her own. Chequers still fulfills that need today as do both Chevening House and Dorneywood , donated for sole use of high-ranking ministers of the Crown. Today, many country houses have become hotels, schools, hospitals and museums, while others have survived as conserved ruins, but from the early 20th century until

3710-468: The owner of a "power house" or a small manor, the inhabitants of the English country house have become collectively referred to as the ruling class, because this is exactly what they did in varying degrees, whether by having high political influence and power in national government, or in the day-to-day running of their own localities or "county" in such offices as lord/deputy lieutenant , magistrates , or occasionally even clergy. The Country house mystery

3780-529: The owner's twelve children. Canons Ashby , home to poet John Dryden 's family, is another example of architectural evolution: a medieval farmhouse enlarged in the Tudor era around a courtyard, given grandiose plaster ceilings in the Stuart period , and then having Georgian façades added in the 18th century. The whole is a glorious mismatch of styles and fashions that seamlessly blend together. These could be called

3850-512: The ownership or management of some houses has been transferred to a private trust , most notably at Chatsworth , other houses have transferred art works and furnishings under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme to ownership by various national or local museums, but retained for display in the building. This enables the former owners to offset tax, the payment of which would otherwise have necessitated

3920-407: The private sale of the art works. For example, tapestries and furniture at Houghton Hall are now owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum . In addition, increasing numbers of country houses hold licences for weddings and civil ceremonies . Another source of income is to use the house as a venue for parties, a film location or a corporate entertainment venue. While many country houses are open to

3990-472: The public and derive income through that means, they remain homes, in some cases inhabited by the descendants of their original owners. The lifestyles of those living and working in a country house in the early 20th century were recreated in a BBC television programme, The Edwardian Country House , filmed at Manderston House in Scotland. Another television programme which features life in country houses

4060-464: The season: Grouse shooting in Scotland , pheasant shooting and fox hunting in England. The Earl of Rosebery , for instance, had Dalmeny House in Scotland, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, and another house near Epsom just for the racing season. For many, this way of life, which began a steady decline in 1914, continued well into the 20th century, and for a few continues to this day. In

4130-444: The second category of Britain's country houses are those that belonged to the squirearchy or landed gentry . These tend either to have evolved from medieval hall houses, with rooms added as required, or were purpose-built by relatively unknown local architects. Smaller, and far greater in number than the "power houses", these were still the epicentre of their own estate, but were often the only residence of their owner. However, whether

4200-481: The shooting. Houghton still belongs to the current Marquess of Cholmondeley , and parts of the structure and grounds are opened to the public throughout the year. Houghton once contained part of Sir Robert Walpole's great picture collection , which his grandson the 3rd Earl sold in 1779 to Catherine the Great of Russia to pay off some of the estate's accumulated debt. Included in the current collection of paintings

4270-405: The site of earlier Walpole family houses. Sir Robert Walpole had inherited the property and its associated 17,000-acre (6,900 ha) estate in 1700. He had commissioned some upgrades, but in 1720 commissioned Thomas Badeslade to survey the house and its immediate block of land, which included a garden in the style of Stephen Switzer . Although Palladian in style, the exact timeline and style of

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4340-602: The stables. Over the course of time, the productive area was reduced in size, and the enclosure was mostly grassed over. In 1996, the fallow enclosure was redesigned and replanted. The effort was rewarded in 2007 when it was named Historic Houses Association and Christie's Garden of the Year. Yew hedges divide the space into a formal grid of discrete areas or "rooms", each intending to provoke a different interest and mood. The hedges, some cut in swags, give height and form. The garden rooms include an Italian enclosure with box parterres ;

4410-914: The term as ranging "from the 14th to the early 19th century". The relevant part of the large and important collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in their main building in Brussels was renamed in recent years as the Oldmasters Museum in Dutch and English, and Musée Oldmasters in French. It was previously called the "Royal Museum of Ancient Art" in English (French: Musée royal d'art ancien ; Dutch: Koninklijk Museum voor Oude Kunst ). Artists, most often from early periods, whose hand has been identified by art historians, but to whom no identity can be confidently attached, are often given names by art historians such as Master E.S. (from his monogram), Master of Flémalle (from

4480-561: The term in its actual name, although many more use it in the title of departments or sections. The collection in the Dresden museum essentially stops at the Baroque period. The end date is necessarily vague – for example, Goya (1746–1828) is certainly an Old Master, though he was still painting and printmaking at his death in 1828. The term might also be used for John Constable (1776–1837) or Eugène Delacroix (1798–1868), but usually

4550-434: The term. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the term was often understood as having a starting date of perhaps 1450 or 1470; paintings made before that were "primitives", but this distinction is no longer made. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as "A pre-eminent artist of the period before the modern; esp. a pre-eminent western European painter of the 13th to 18th centuries." The first quotation given

4620-493: The true English country house. Wilton House , one of England's grandest houses, is in a remarkably similar vein; although, while the Drydens, mere squires, at Canons Ashby employed a local architect, at Wilton the mighty Earls of Pembroke employed the finest architects of the day: first Holbein , 150 years later Inigo Jones, and then Wyatt followed by Chambers. Each employed a different style of architecture, seemingly unaware of

4690-520: Was a popular genre of English detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s; set in the residence of the gentry and often involving a murder in a country house temporarily isolated by a snowstorm or similar with the suspects all at a weekend house party. Following the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, a third category of country houses was built as newly rich industrialists and bankers were eager to display their wealth and taste. By

4760-630: Was an extravagant host; hunting parties with local Norfolk gentry would last for weeks at a time. Visits from royalty were common and his fellow politicians, particularly members of his Cabinet , held their meetings each spring over a three-week period in the rooms at Houghton. These meetings were known as the Norfolk Congress . A grand Palladian pile, Houghton was intended to be the permanent home for more than 400 of his Old Master paintings, including works by Van Dyck , Poussin , Rubens , Rembrandt and Velázquez . Sir Robert Walpole became

4830-566: Was discovered at Houghton in the mid-1950s, and returned 288 years late. The house, including the north and south attachments, was designated as Grade I listed in 1953. Houghton has remained largely untouched, having remained "unimproved" despite the Victorian passion for remodelling and redecorating, due to the fact that for most of the 19th century the family lived mainly at Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire, and only stayed at Houghton for

4900-422: Was to predominate until the second half of the 18th century when, influenced by ancient Greek styles, it gradually evolved into the neoclassicism championed by such architects as Robert Adam . Some of the best known of England's country houses were the work of only one architect/designer, built in a relatively short, particular time: Montacute House , Chatsworth House , and Blenheim Palace are examples. While

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