184-599: Stowe House is a grade I listed country house in Stowe , Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of the private Stowe School and is owned by the Stowe House Preservation Trust. Over the years, it has been restored and maintained as one of the finest country houses in the UK. Stowe House is regularly open to the public. The gardens (known as Stowe Gardens , formerly Stowe Landscape Gardens ), are
368-709: A Catholic heiress Mary Nugent, who had an income of £14,000 a year. He was created 1st Marquess of Buckingham in 1784 by King George III . On the death in 1788 of the Marquess's father-in-law Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent he inherited the Earl's Irish (8,900 acres (3,600 ha)) and Cornish estates. The 2nd Marquess of Buckingham married in 1796 Anna Eliza Brydges the daughter and heiress of James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos who had died in 1789. He thus acquired this wife's estates in Hampshire and Middlesex. Up until 1822
552-441: A cour d'honneur . Today, the wings have been demolished but the square corps de logis remains. Lathom House (demolished in 1929) was a truly Palladian house with a large corps de logis, from which spread twin segmented colonnades linking it to two monumental secondary wings of stables and domestic offices . The secondary wings or blocks, each crowned with a cupola , were similar in style to those built by Henry Flitcroft for
736-646: A heritage asset legally protected) is called 'designation'. Several different terms are used because the processes use separate legislation: buildings are 'listed'; ancient monuments are 'scheduled', wrecks are 'protected', and battlefields, gardens and parks are 'registered'. A heritage asset is a part of the historic environment that is valued because of its historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have extra legal protection through designation. Buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest can still be regarded as
920-524: A hexastyle portico supporting a pediment in the middle of the facade, there is a minor order of 48 Ionic columns over 20 feet (6.1 m) high that runs the length of the facade. The portico fronts a loggia that contains the doorway to the Marble Saloon, this is flanked by large niches that used to contain ancient Roman statues, between the columns of the portico used to be the marble sculpture of Vertumnus and Pomona by Laurent Delvaux now in
1104-436: A material consideration in the planning process. As a very rough guide, listed buildings are structures considered of special architectural and historical importance. Ancient monuments are of 'national importance' containing evidential values, and can on many occasions also relate to below ground or unoccupied sites and buildings. Almost anything can be listed. Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in
1288-481: A box-like structure above its pediment . This squat tower , known as a "hamper," is on the site of Leoni's intended cupola , which was rejected by the owner. Leoni reconstructed Lyme in an early form of what was to become known as the Palladian style, with the secondary, domestic and staff rooms on a rusticated ground floor, above which was a piano nobile , formally accessed by an exterior double staircase from
1472-661: A building. Listed building consent must be obtained from local authorities before any alteration to a listed structure. There are about 8,500 listed buildings in Northern Ireland, divided into four grades, defined as follows: In Scotland, listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947, and the current legislative basis for listing is the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 . As with other matters regarding planning, conservation
1656-463: A commitment to sharing the understanding of the historic environment and more openness in the process of designation. In 2008, a draft Heritage Protection Bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny before its passage through UK Parliament. The legislation was abandoned despite strong cross-party support, to make room in the parliamentary legislative programme for measures to deal with the credit crunch, though it may be revived in future. The proposal
1840-426: A gentleman's library. In 1738 Isaac Ware, with the encouragement of Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington , produced a more accurate translation of Palladio's work with illustrations which were faithful to the originals, but Leoni's changes and inaccuracies continued to influence Palladianism for generations. On the frontispiece of his edition of Palladio, Leoni titled himself "Architect to his most serene Highness
2024-404: A group that is—for example, all the buildings in a square. This is called 'group value'. Sometimes large areas comprising many buildings may not justify listing but receive the looser protection of designation as a conservation area . The specific criteria include: The state of repair of a building is not generally deemed to be a relevant consideration for listing. Additionally: Although
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#17327835918842208-451: A list of locally listed buildings as separate to the statutory list (and in addition to it). There is no statutory protection of a building or object on the local list but many receive a degree of protection from loss through being in a Conservation Area or through planning policy. Councils hope that owners will recognise the merits of their properties and keep them unaltered if at all possible. Listing began later in Northern Ireland than in
2392-403: A listed building is a criminal offence and owners can be prosecuted. A planning authority can also insist that all work undertaken without consent be reversed at the owner's expense. See also Category:Grade II* listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales. See also Category:Grade II listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales. It
2576-558: A listed building which involves any element of demolition. Exemption from secular listed building control is provided for some buildings in current use for worship, but only in cases where the relevant religious organisation operates its own equivalent permissions procedure. Owners of listed buildings are, in some circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them and can face criminal prosecution if they fail to do so or if they perform unauthorised alterations. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained,
2760-687: A listed structure. Applications for consent are made on a form obtained from Historic Environment Scotland. After consulting the local planning authority, the owner, where possible, and an independent third party, Historic Environment Scotland makes a recommendation on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. The scheme for classifying buildings is: There are about 47,400 listed buildings in Scotland. Of these, around 8 percent (some 3,800) are Category A, 50 percent are Category B, and 42 percent are listed at Category C. Although
2944-653: A man now in the Art Gallery of Ontario and Portrait of a Woman now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ; Orazio Gentileschi 's The Rest on the Flight into Egypt now in the J. Paul Getty Museum ; Claude Joseph Vernet 's Rocky Coast in a Storm in the Wallace Collection ; Giovanni Battista Lusieri 's A View of Naples over nine feet in length this water colour remained in the house until sold in 1985 to
3128-558: A non-statutory basis. Although a limited number of 'ancient monuments' were given protection under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 , there was reluctance to restrict the owners of occupied buildings in their actions related to their property. The extensive damage to buildings caused by German bombing during World War II prompted efforts to list and protect buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. Three hundred members of
3312-546: A paw on a ball. These are the original lions dating from the late 1700s. They were sold in 1921 to Blackpool Corporation and had been standing in Stanley Park in Blackpool but were reinstated in 2013 in a swap deal that saw copies going to Blackpool. Either side of the portico are two tripartite windows separated and flanked by Ionic columns. These are enclosed with an arch that contains a carved Portland stone tondo in
3496-532: A process of reform, including a review of the criteria used for listing buildings. A Review of Heritage Policy in 2006 was criticised, and the Government began a process of consultation on changes to Planning Policy Guidance 15 , relating to the principles of selection for listing buildings in England. The government's White Paper "Heritage Protection for the 21st Century", published on 8 March 2007, offered
3680-471: A provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 covering England and Wales, and the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947 covering Scotland. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1972. The listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. The process of protecting the built historic environment (i.e. getting
3864-419: A pupil of Grinling Gibbons . The most elaborate pieces of carving were the gallery on the south side, the octagonal pulpit dated 1707 and the elaborate reredos that reached nearly the full height of the room, the lower half having two Corinthian columns flanking the altar above which used to hang a copy of Rubens 's painting of 'Holy Lamb'. This in turn was flanked by rich carving of fruit and plants. Above
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#17327835918844048-470: A richly detailed Doric entablature of white plaster with satyrs on the metopes . Hanging from the soffit of the entablature between each pair of columns are replica brass lanterns with glass domes, these are copies of the original light fittings. These columns flank four doors on the cardinal directions , the rest flank plain niches that once contained eight Ancient Roman statues. These were sold in 1848, recently new plaster casts of eight statues from
4232-484: A series of 52 family portraits, including: The Rt Hon. George Greville prime minister, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now in the Bass Museum ; a posthumous portrait of George, Marquess of Buckingham , by John Jackson now at Christ Church, Oxford ; Mary Nugent, Marchioness of Buckingham by Sir Joshua Reynolds, last sold in 1989 and present whereabouts unknown; William Wyndham, Lord Grenville by John Hoppner now in
4416-692: A significant example of the English garden , and, along with the Park, passed into the ownership of the National Trust in 1989. National Trust members have free access to the gardens but there is a charge for all visitors to the house which goes towards costs of restoration. The gardens and most of the parkland are listed Grade I separately from the House. The park and gardens saw 213,721 visitors during 2020/21. The medieval settlement of Stowe clustered around
4600-557: A single document, the National Planning Policy Framework . A consultation draft of this was published on 25 July 2011 and the final version on 27 March 2012. This became a material consideration in planning matters on publication. It has since been revised in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission in England and Cadw in Wales list buildings under three grades, with Grade I being
4784-432: A slight projection in the facade. Thus in no way could the portico be seen as a corps de logis . This has led some architectural commentators to describe the south front as more Baroque than Palladian in style. However, at this early stage of his career Leoni appears to have been still following the earlier and more renaissance-inspired Palladianism which had been imported to England in the 17th century by Inigo Jones . This
4968-434: A vaulted ceiling, the western end of the room has a recess flanked by two Egyptian style lotus columns that originally contained a heating stove in the form of a carved sarcophagus , removed in 1922. The frieze around the ceiling is decorated with a winged solar disk, the symbol of the god Ra , and uraei between falcon wings, which alternate with Ankh , the symbol of life, flanked by sceptres , symbols of power. There
5152-618: A wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and structures. These include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. However, in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Dill v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and another that buildings in
5336-432: Is a central skylight also elliptical. The floor is made of 72 four-foot-square slabs of white Carrara marble resting on a brick vault; in the centre of the floor is a metal grille, part of the heating system. This is the first room to be fully restored to its pre-1848 condition. The State Music Room, to the east of The Marble Saloon, is approximately 30 by 40 feet (12 m), probably designed by Valdrè and finished in
5520-802: Is a power devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government . The authority for listing rests with Historic Environment Scotland (formerly Historic Scotland ), an executive agency of the Scottish Government, which inherited this role from the Scottish Development Department in 1991. The listing system is administered by Historic Environment Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. Listed building consent must be obtained from local authorities before any alteration to
5704-884: Is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England , Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland , Cadw in Wales , and the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland . The classification schemes differ between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (see sections below). The term has also been used in
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5888-403: Is an illuminated sun globe over the south door. Also sold in 1922 were seven canvas sepia paintings on the walls which depicted Egyptian figures and hieroglyphics and two sculptures of Sphinxes that used to be at the base of the staircase. The designer of the room is not known for certain, though Sir John Soane implied in a lecture that the 1st Marquess was responsible for the concept. In 2012 all
6072-529: Is circular and is of The Dance of the Hours after Guido Reni , and is flanked to the north and south by two rectangular paintings of the four seasons. Between these large paintings are four smaller ones of landscape scenes. All the paintings are believed to be by Valdrè. The central chandelier is a recreation of 2012 of the one sold in 1848. The ancient Roman sculpture the Marine Venus , that used to stand in
6256-417: Is decorated with emblems of Bacchus, including four thyrsi surrounding an ornate jug with a handle in the form of a satyr . Encircled by a wreath of vine-leaves and grapes. The four corners have relieves of Venus, Flora , Vulcan and Venus, the crystal chandelier is modern replacement for the original one as is the fireplace. Displayed in the room are several pieces of the 'Stowe Service' commissioned from
6440-609: Is evident by his use of classical pilasters throughout the south facade, in the same way that Jones had used them, a century earlier, at the Whitehall Banqueting House and Leoni's mentor, Alberti, had employed them at the Palazzo Rucellai in the 1440s. These features, coupled with the heavy mannerist use of rustication on the ground floor with segmented arches and windows, is the reason that Lyme appears more "Italian" than many other English houses in
6624-441: Is not unusual for historic sites, particularly large sites, to contain buildings with multiple, sometimes varying, designations. For example, Derwent Valley Mills , a World Heritage Site contains 838 listed buildings, made up of 16 listed at Grade I, 42 at Grade II* and 780 at Grade II. A further nine structures are Scheduled monuments . Many councils, for example, Birmingham City Council and Crawley Borough Council , maintain
6808-552: Is possible but is rare. One example is Anmer Hall in Norfolk, which was listed in 1984 and de-listed in 1988. In an emergency, the local planning authority can serve a temporary " Building Preservation Notice " (BPN), if a building is in danger of demolition or alteration in such a way that might affect its historic character. This remains in force for six months until the Secretary of State decides whether or not to formally list
6992-552: Is recorded that in 1734, Lord Fitzwalter of Moulsham gave him £25 to ease his "being in distress.". Later, as Leoni lay dying in 1746, Lord Fitzwalter sent him a further £8 "par charité" He is known to have had a wife, Mary, and two sons, one of whom is "thought" to have been a clerk to the great exponent of Palladianism Matthew Brettingham . Leoni did not only design grand mansions. His lesser designs included an octagonal garden temple at Cliveden for Lord Orkney, in 1735; an elegant arch in purest Palladian tradition, at Stowe , for
7176-630: The Arts of War and were designed by Lambert de Hondt the Younger. The largest tapestry depicted the Battle of Wijnendale and included a depiction of Lord Cobham who was one of Marlborough 's generals at the battle. The ceiling was destroyed in 1935 when the western pavilion of the south front was reconstructed due to structural problems. Also known as "The Servery", the Garter Room, which served as
7360-465: The Baroque and Palladian styles. Clandon was built of a fiery red brick, with the west front dressed with stone pilasters and medallion ornamentation. The interiors contrasted with the exterior: the huge double-height marble hall is in muted stone colours, to provide a foil for the vibrant colours of the adjoining suite of staterooms. The interiors were altered slightly later in the 18th century, but here
7544-563: The Berlin State Museums were added to the niches flanking each door and were unveiled in September 2009. Added at the same time to the niches between each pair of statues were fibreglass copies of the original gilded Athéniennes (or Torchieres ), the originals were made of timber and painted and gilded to resemble metal. Above the niches and doorways are white plaster rectangular reliefs depicting arms and trophies . Above
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7728-640: The Chandos Delta Dormitory . Immediately to the east of the Breakfast Parlour, originally dated 1748, the room was extended and redecorated in 1775. In a relatively plain room, the painting that used to be in the centre of the ceiling, Venus at her toilet by Vincenzo Valdrè was sold in 1922 along with the marble chimneypiece with its central relief of Hebe and Jupiter's Eagle . The room once contained eleven paintings attributed to Rembrandt although only three are considered so now,
7912-659: The Chandos portrait of William Shakespeare now in the National Portrait Gallery, London , also from this room and now in the National Gallery, London, are two paintings, a portrait of Martin Luther which used to be ascribed to Hans Holbein the Younger and Francesco Raibolini 's portrait of Bartolomeo Bianchini . The north-east closet was a water-closet. In the niches in the walls that flank
8096-482: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to deliver the government policy on the protection to historic buildings and other heritage assets. The decision about whether or not to list a building is made by the Secretary of State, although the process is administered in England by Historic England . The listed building system in Wales formerly also operated under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, as in England, until this
8280-504: The Doge's Palace which are now in other British collections. They include a hexagonal side table, the top inlaid with various marbles and now in the Wallace Collection , and two gilt gesso side tables. One is in the V&;A, the other at Sudeley Castle . The State Dining Room measures 75 by 25 feet (22.9 by 7.6 m). Located to the west of The State Drawing Room , created in the 1740s
8464-617: The Duke of Bedford twenty years later at the far larger Woburn Abbey . However, Leoni's clients were not always satisfied, especially when he designed for clients unaware of the intricacies of Palladian architecture. Leoni had been commissioned by Edward and Caroline Wortley to rebuild the decayed Wortley Hall in South Yorkshire . A magnificent residence arose. However, in 1800, the Wortleys complained they were unable to move in, as
8648-477: The Duke of Kent and James, Earl Stanhope, first lord of the Treasury , remained unexecuted. His first built design in England was Queensberry House, 7 Burlington Gardens, for John Bligh, Lord Clifton, in 1721. This was to be an important architectural landmark, as the first London mansion to be built on a terrace with an "antique temple front." Throughout this career in England, Leoni was to be responsible for
8832-630: The Kunstmuseum Winterthur ; and attributed to John Closterman, General Michael Richards and his Brother, General John Richards, at the siege of Belgrade now in the Slovak National Gallery . Also originally in the corridor but sold in 1848 were eleven Greek vases , three from the Lucien Bonaparte 's excavations at Canino , also a Roman sarcophagus dating from Trajan 's reign. Located immediately to
9016-571: The Large Library . These housed the extensive print collection. Over 55,000 prints were sold in 1834 at Philips auction house, but raised only £6,700. The remaining English prints were sold in March 1849 at Sotheby's for £3,800. After this sale the bookshelves were removed and replaced with panels of blue silk with matching curtains, (these were sold off in 1922), and the room assumed its present name. The plaster ceiling dated between 1774 and 1775
9200-484: The Marquis of Buckingham ; and a Portland stone bridge at Stone Court, Carshalton . Leoni is thought to have designed a new church when working for the 8th Lord Petre at Thorndon Hall , Essex. The original church had been swept away to make room for the new mansion he was designing there. Today, it is difficult to assess Leoni's works as much has been destroyed. Amongst his country houses, Moulsham , built in 1728,
9384-695: The North Carolina Museum of Art . Reached from the south-west door in the North Hall via the Stucco Corridor with its plaster barrel vaulted coffered ceiling is the cantilevered stone West staircase with iron balustrade, dating from the 1730s, James Gibbs is thought to be the designer. There are various smaller rooms on the main floor of the house, mainly plain in decoration but used to house many important paintings, including: two paintings of 1648 by Frans Hals , Portrait of
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#17327835918849568-618: The Palazzo Corpi . Leoni was not the first to import Palladian Architecture to England; that accolade belongs firmly to Inigo Jones , who had designed the Palladian Queen's House at Greenwich in 1616 and the more ornate Banqueting House in Whitehall in 1619. Nor was he the only architect practising the concept during Palladianism. William Kent designed Holkham Hall in 1734 in the Palladian manner; Thomas Archer
9752-558: The Republic of Ireland , where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is " protected structure ". A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency. In England and Wales , a national amenity society must be notified of any work to be done on
9936-645: The Royal Institute of British Architects and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings were dispatched to prepare the list under the supervision of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, with funding from the Treasury. The listings were used as a means to determine whether a particular building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing, with varying degrees of success. In Scotland,
10120-551: The Worcester Porcelain Factory in 1813 by the 1st Duke while he was still a Marquess. The service was sold in two batches, 206 pieces in 1848, and the remaining 164 pieces in 1921. But as pieces have appeared on the market they have been repurchased. Also on display in the room are several family portraits that have also been bought as they have come on the market, they are The Marquess of Buckingham painted in his Garter robes by John Jackson ; William Pitt
10304-524: The tympanum with carvings of The four seasons , and is in turn flanked by twin Corinthian pilasters the same size as the columns of the portico. The facade is surmounted by a balustraded parapet , in the centre of the parapet of the east pavilion is a sculpture of two reclining figures of Ceres and Flora the corresponding figures on the west pavilion are of Liberty and Religion. The end pavilions each have three tripartite windows matching those on
10488-469: The wood carvings by Grinling Gibbons were left intact. In the central courtyard Leoni achieved the Palladian style by hiding the irregularities and lack of symmetry of the earlier house in a series of arcades around the courtyard. The transformation at Lyme was a success. However, it has been claimed that the central Ionic portico, the focal point of the south front, was a little spoiled later by English architect Lewis Wyatt 's 19th-century addition of
10672-404: The 'piano nobile' and had no need to go upstairs, hence only secondary/back staircases would reach the floors that were occupied by children, servants and less favoured guests. Indeed, these houses often did have a grand staircase, but it was external—the elaborate flights of stone steps to the main entrance on the piano nobile. From photographs of Wortley Hall, one can see the large, tall windows of
10856-581: The 'piano nobile' on the lower floor, and the much smaller windows of the secondary rooms above. It did not require a 'grand' staircase'. Wortley Hall survives today as a hotel; the owners still tell the story of the forgetful architect. Among Leoni’s other designs is Alkrington Hall in Middleton , now in Greater Manchester . Leoni also designed the longtime US Consulate building in Istanbul,
11040-402: The 1710s to the 1740s, leading garden designers were employed by Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham , these included Charles Bridgeman , James Gibbs , William Kent and Capability Brown , as well as architect Sir John Vanburgh . After Viscount Cobham's death, his nephew Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple , inherited and he began a programme of naturalisation in the parkland, altering
11224-459: The 1740s to 1760, under Viscount Cobham, the western and the eastern state apartments were expanded. From 1770 to 1779, Earl Temple obtained a first design from Jacques-François Blondel for the new south front of the house. However this design did not meet with the Earl's approval, in 1771 Robert Adam produced a new design for the south front; this design was adapted and made more uniform by Thomas Pitt assisted by Giovanni Battista Borra and
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#173278359188411408-495: The 1760s. Above each chimneypiece is a mirror. The bookcases are of mahogany there are over five hundred shelves on the lower walls and they have their original doors with brass wire grilles. The walls are completely covered by the shelving, and even the walls between the seven windows of the south wall. The upper two hundred and forty shelves are accessed via a gallery running around the east, north and west walls. The over 20,000 volumes that were on these shelves, largely collected by
11592-503: The 1st Duke and the 1st Marquess's nephew Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke . The Foreign Secretary (from 1938 to 1940) Lord Halifax was also related to the family, through his mother Lady Agnes Elizabeth Courtenay, daughter of Lady Elizabeth Fortescue, herself daughter of Hester Grenville, daughter of George Grenville , the Prime Minister. George Nugent-Temple-Grenville undertook the grand tour in 1774. In 1775 he married
11776-650: The 1st Duke in 1827–1829 toured the Mediterranean aboard his yacht the Anna Eliza named after his wife. Many of the art works that adorned the house were acquired both during these trips and through the 1st Duke inheriting his father-in-law's art collection. The 1st Duke, before he inherited Stowe, also bought paintings at the sale of the Orleans Collection in 1798 and continued to buy paintings for another twenty years as well as books, engravings and
11960-473: The 1st Marquess of Buckingham were sold in January 1849, at Sotheby's ; the sale lasted 24 days. There is a series of three marble busts in the windows that were sold from the house in 1921 but have been repurchased. These are: 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos by Raimondo Trentanova, Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal both carved by Tito Angelini. Also there are small busts above
12144-484: The 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the north front, and the west and east pavilions of the south front, where the 2nd floor is disguised in the same way as in the central pavilion. Described by historian Christopher Hussey as the "outstanding monument to English landscape gardening", the gardens and parkland of Stowe are Grade I listed. The gardens were developed by several generations of the Temple and Grenville families. From
12328-558: The 2008 draft legislation was abandoned, Historic England (then part of English Heritage) published a single list of all designated heritage assets within England in 2011. The National Heritage List for England is an online searchable database which includes 400,000 English Listings, this includes individual listed buildings, groups of multiple listed buildings which share the same listing, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, protected historic wrecks and registered battlefields and World Heritage Sites in one place. The 400,000 in
12512-702: The Ashmolean Museum; Aert de Gelder 's The Temple Entrance now in the Mauritshuis . The house contains over 400 rooms. The ground floor rooms to the east of the Gothic Library were used by the family as personal rooms including the Billiard room , Sitting room, Water closet , Manuscript room, Gun room and Plunge pool . The rest of the ground floor was given over to the service areas . The house has low wings that are set back and project from
12696-538: The DCLG published Planning Policy Statement 5 , "Planning for the Historic Environment". This replaced PPG15 and set out the government's national policies on the conservation of the historic environment in England. PPS5 was supported by a Practice Guide, endorsed by the DCLG, the DCMS, and English Heritage, which explained how to apply the policies stated in PPS5. In December 2010, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced that in England all PPSs and Planning Policy Guidance Notes would be replaced by
12880-473: The Eastern Pavilion, the Chapel was created in 1742–1748 and originally rose through two floors. The room was divided into two floors in 1929 when the new school chapel was built, all the timber panelling being reused in the new chapel. Only the plaster ceiling decoration survives, this consists of octagons, crosses and hexagons. The elaborate carved wood panelling of cedarwood came from a house in Cornwall also called Stowe. It had been carved by Michael Chuke,
13064-544: The Elder by William Hoare ; William Pitt the Younger by John Hoppner ; a copy of Anne Chambers, Countess Temple by Allan Ramsey ; Sir Peter Temple, Second Baronet by Cornelius Johnson ; Sir Richard Temple, Third Baronet attributed to Henri Gascar ; a photographic copy of Earl Temple by Allan Ramsey the original is in the National Gallery of Victoria ; Alice Anne, Duchess of Buckingham by Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope ; Viscount Cobham by Jean-Baptiste van Loo ; The Third Duke of Buckingham and Chandos an engraving of
13248-548: The Elder who became Prime Minister of Great Britain. Their son William Pitt the Younger also served as Prime Minister. George Grenville the brother of the 2nd Earl Temple was also to serve as Prime Minister. William Grenville youngest brother of the 1st Marquess of Buckingham also served as Prime Minister, and it was during his premiership that the Atlantic slave trade was abolished . The final family member to be Prime Minister
13432-563: The Elector Palatine." This claim, however, remains unsubstantiated. Leoni followed his Palladian volume with an English translation of Alberti 's De Re Aedificatoria ("On Architecture"), the first modern book on the theories and practice of architecture. Giacomo Leoni's principal architectural skill was to adapt Alberti's and Palladio's ideals to suit the landed classes in the English countryside, without straying too far from
13616-665: The Firestone demolition, the Secretary of State for the Environment , Michael Heseltine , also initiated a complete re-survey of buildings to ensure that everything that merited preservation was on the lists. In England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) works with Historic England (an agency of the DCMS), and other government departments, e.g. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and
13800-570: The Government's Heritage Protection Reform (HPR) report in July 2003 by the DCMS, entitled "Protecting our historic environment: Making the system work better", asked questions about how the current designation systems could be improved. The HPR decision report "Review of Heritage Protection: The Way Forward", a green paper published in June 2004 by the DCMS, committed the UK government and English Heritage to
13984-782: The Graces west. There are also eight smaller octagonal panels depicting pairs of vases and classical reliefs. The areas between these paintings are decorated with painted acanthus and all the paintings are bordered by white and gilt plaster beams decorated in guilloché . The two chimneypieces on the north wall date from the 1920s the original pair were sold in 1922 and are now at Benham Park , these were of white and yellow Siena marbles, with elaborately carved wooded overmantels that contained paintings now in America, these are Goddess conducting Learning east and Mercury conducting Tragedy and Comedy to Parnassus . There are four paintings above
14168-615: The Great in its centre flanked by two doors. Works of art sold in 1848 that used to be in this room include Anthony van Dyck 's portrait of the Marquess of Vienville , and among other sculpture two marble vases bought as Ancient Roman but actually the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi , one of these is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . This is the grandest interior in the House, located immediately behind
14352-633: The J. Paul Getty Museum; Joshua Reynold's painting of the Marquess of Buckingham was sold by Lady Kinloss in 1899 and is now in the National Gallery of Ireland ; John Martin 's The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum now in the Tate Britain collection, originally thought to be destroyed in 1928 when the Thames flooded the gallery basement, it has since been rediscovered and restored in 2010–2011; Jan van Huysum 's self-portrait now in
14536-660: The North Hall to which it is connected by the staircase by the east wall which was inserted at this time, and was created as the winter entrance, linked to the Porte-cochère created at the same time, beneath the North Portico with ramps connecting to the forecourt to allow carriages to pick up and set down passengers under cover. Decorated in the Egyptian style of decoration. The room has inward sloping walls and
14720-474: The Palladian style and has led to it being described as "the boldest Palladian building in England." In 1730 Leoni was commissioned by the 2nd Lord Onslow to build what is probably his masterpiece, Clandon House , near Guildford in Surrey . The result was a house of "exuberant grandeur and at the same time endearing naivety". This coupling of grandeur and naivety was to become Leoni's own style, as he mixed
14904-786: The Saxon Manuscripts were inherited from Thomas Astle under the terms of his will in 1803 on payment of £500, the Irish manuscripts were purchased from Charles O'Conor in 1804. These are now either in the British Library or Royal Irish Academy including the Stowe Missal . The manuscripts now in the British Library include The Medieval Bestiary , Stowe MS 1067 and the Psalter , Stowe 2 (Psalter) . The room
15088-636: The Small Tapestry Dining Room is located to the west of The State Dining Room, originally dating from the late 1750s, but having undergone drastic reconstruction little of the original decoration survives. Only the gilt cornice and plaster frieze, and the frames that enclosed the tapestries are still in place. The elaborate marble chimneypiece and its carved-wooden overmantel, which contained an oval portrait of Lord Cobham dressed in armour by Sir Godfrey Kneller, were sold in 1922. The four tapestries sold in 1921 were from Brussels and depicted
15272-466: The State Bedroom, is to the west of The Small Tapestry Dining Room . Designed by Borra in 1755 and completed over the next five years. None of the original decoration survived the reconstruction of the west pavilion in 1935. There is a reconstruction of the original plaster ceiling with its Garter insignia in the centre. The most important painting in the room, that used to hang on the east wall,
15456-546: The Stowe Service of Worcester Porcelain, as well as archaeological specimens. The main rooms are mainly located on the 1st floor (referred to in the US as the 2nd floor) Piano nobile , a few are on the ground floor (referred to in the US as the 1st floor). During the sales of 1921 and 1922, all the remaining furnishings and art works not sold in 1848 were auctioned , as were several fittings, including chimneypieces . Some of
15640-569: The Swan and Juno and her peacock ; these are both now in the Wallace Collection. The Large Library is one of the three libraries in the house, is 75 by 25 feet (22.9 by 7.6 m), it is located to the east of The State Music Room . This room was created in 1793 from the former East Gallery . The plaster ceiling dates from then, with its elaborate cornice supporting a deep coffered cove in each corner of which are clusters of grapes,
15824-696: The UK's architectural heritage; England alone has 14,500 listed places of worship (4,000 Grade I, 4,500 Grade II* and 6,000 Grade II) and 45% of all Grade I listed buildings are places of worship. Some of the listed churches are no longer in use; between 1969 and 2010, some 1,795 churches were closed by the Church of England , equalling roughly 11% of the stock, with about a third listed as Grade I or Grade II. The criteria for listing include architectural interest, historic interest and close historical associations with significant people or events. Buildings not individually noteworthy may still be listed if they form part of
16008-622: The V&A. Above the niches is a large frieze on a Bacchic theme, this is based on an engraving in James Stuart 's and Nicholas Revett 's Antiquities of Athens of the frieze on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates . There is a flight of thirty-three steps the full width of the portico which descends to the South Lawn. The staircase has solid parapets either side that end in sculptures of Medici lions standing and resting
16192-568: The Wallace Collection; Philip Baptising the Eunuch by Aelbert Cuyp now at Anglesey Abbey ; View of a Village by David Teniers the Younger now in the National Gallery and The Persian Sybil by Domenichino now in the Wallace Collection; several of these works were acquired at the sale of the Orleans Collection . Also the finest pieces of Sèvres porcelain of the over 200 in the collection used to be displayed in this room, but these were sold in 1848. The furnishings included several pieces from
16376-410: The architect had forgotten to build a staircase. One hundred years later, a Duchess of Marlborough made the same complaint against Sir John Vanbrugh 's Blenheim Palace . Both owners had rather missed the point of a house built on a 'piano nobile' design. A piano nobile is the principal floor, usually above a lower floor or semi-basement. It contains all the rooms necessary for the grandees who inhabit
16560-549: The architectural and historic interest. The Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether to list or delist the building. In England, the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 . Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England 'Heritage at Risk' Register . In 1980, there
16744-523: The architecture, walls, ceilings, floors and historic artefacts that the building housed were destroyed. The house currently remains a shell. Leoni designed Moor Park , Hertfordshire, during the 1720s, assisted by the painter Sir James Thornhill . The commission was received from Bengamin Styles , an entrepreneur later to lose his fortune in the South Sea Bubble . Leoni completely redesigned
16928-508: The bookcases on the window wall, Homer , Francis Bacon , Isaac Newton , Horace , Demosthenes and another of Homer. These were sold in 1921 but donated to the House and returned to their original positions. Also called The Temple Room, the State Drawing Room is to the west of The Marble Saloon and measures approximately 30 by 40 feet (12 m), with an apse in the centre of the north wall. There are doors at each end of
17112-557: The building. Until the passing of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 an application for a Certificate of Immunity from Listing (CoI) could only be made if planning permission was being sought or had been obtained in England. However, the changes brought about by the Act means that now anyone can ask the Secretary of State to issue a Certificate of Immunity in respect of a particular building at any time. In England and Wales,
17296-564: The ceiling contains a circular panel 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m) in diameter that contains 726 painted armorial bearings of the various families that the then Marquess was descended. the wooden bookshelves include glazed bronze doors based on the bronze screen around Henry VII 's tomb in Westminster Abbey . The fireplace was supplied by a brass-founder Thomas Catherwood in 1807 for £100. This room used to contain amongst other treasures 1085 Saxon & Irish manuscripts ,
17480-524: The central block around 130 feet (40 m) in width, the lower linking sections 75 feet (23 m) wide that contain on the west the State Dining Room and on the east The Large Library, then at the ends the two pavilions the same height as the central block about 90 feet (27 m) in width. The central block and the end pavilions are articulated at piano nobile level with unfluted Corinthian pilasters over 35 feet (11 m) tall which becomes
17664-401: The central block, the tondos of which are each carved with a sacrificial scene. The ground floor is lower than the floor above, about 15 feet (4.6 m) in height and visually acts as a base to the facade, it is of banded rustication with simple arched windows beneath each window on the upper floor. In 1790 a balustrade was added parallel to the façade that ran from the bottom of the steps
17848-657: The collection hung on the walls. There were in 1838 fifty-two paintings hanging on the walls, including: Helena Fourment by Rubens . She was his second wife, now in the Barber Institute ; The Exposition of Moses by Nicolas Poussin now in the Ashmolean Museum ; The Finding of Moses by Salvator Rosa now in The Detroit Institute of Arts ; Assumption of the Virgin by Murillo now in
18032-421: The colonnades are linked to screen-walls containing gateways by William Kent which were moved from the forecourt to this position and heightened in 1775 by Vincenzo Valdrè. The east gateway leads to the stable court the west to the kitchen court. At right angles to these walls stand the arches designed by Giacomo Leoni c. 1740; these were formal entrances to the gardens, they now lead to various buildings put up by
18216-408: The courtyard. Above the piano nobile were the more private room and less formal rooms for the family. In a true Palladian house (one villa designed by Palladio himself), the central portion behind the portico would contain the principal rooms, while the lower flanking wings were domestic offices usually leading to terminating pavilions which would often be agricultural in use. It was this adaption of
18400-497: The cove, Mercury , Jupiter , Venus , Saturn , Apollo and Diana . There are also nine of the signs of the zodiac . The flat centre of the ceiling is enclosed in a plaster beam, which in turn encloses a square with a circle within which encloses a painting of Mars . The south wall has in its centre a large set of doors which lead into The Marble Saloon , either side of these doors are portraits by Sir William Beechey of on left Richard, first Duke of Buckingham & Chandos on
18584-676: The debts of £1,464,959 (well over £100,000,000 in 2003 terms) he had accrued by 1845. He was called the Greatest Debtor in the world . The Duke left to live abroad in August 1847 to escape his creditors. That year saw the sale of the family's London home Buckingham House in Pall Mall . In March 1848 the family estates in Ireland, Hampshire , Gloucestershire, Somerset , Cornwall, Oxfordshire , Northamptonshire & Middlesex some 36,000 acres (15,000 ha) of land, were sold. Followed by
18768-407: The decision to list a building may be made on the basis of the architectural or historic interest of one small part of the building, the listing protection nevertheless applies to the whole building. Listing applies not just to the exterior fabric of the building itself, but also to the interior, fixtures, fittings, and objects within the curtilage of the building even if they are not fixed. De-listing
18952-419: The design of at least twelve large country houses and at least six London mansions. He is also known to have designed church monuments and memorials. In the early 1720s, Leoni received one of his most important challenges: to transform a great Elizabethan house, Lyme Hall , into a Palladian palace . This he did so sympathetically that internally, large areas of the house remained completely unaltered, and
19136-543: The design of the house on that of Coleshill . From the 1720s to 1733, under Viscount Cobham , additions to the house included the Ionic North tetrastyle Portico by Vanburgh , as well as the re-building of the north, east and west fronts. After Vanburgh's death in 1726, work continued under William Kent , and it was probably he who designed the now-demolished two-tier south portico, which consisted of four Tuscan columns with four Ionic or Composite columns above. From
19320-401: The early 1780s. With an apse in the centre of the north wall, there are doors at each end of the side walls, though only the northern pair are real, the other two are false doors . The north has within the apse two sets of doors flanking a niche that is surrounded by a decorative frame. There are two un-fluted scagliola Corinthian columns on the corners of the apse and also within it flanking
19504-402: The east and west pavilions of the south front. These extend north before projecting even further east and west. The full length of the house is over 900 feet (270 m). These wings to the east included the riding school , coach houses and at the extreme east the stables designed by Vanbrugh. The west area includes the kitchen (still used as such by the school), the laundry, the dairy and at
19688-423: The entablature is the very elaborate frieze , this consists of over 280 human and 14 animals in plaster all alto-relievo , the sculptor was probably Charles Peart. The subject of the frieze is the suovetaurilia . The dome is coffered of white plaster, there are 160 coffers nearly all of unique shape. The coffers contain highly decorated rosettes , and the ribs in between are also very elaborately decorated. There
19872-602: The extreme west the 138-foot-long (42 m) orangery , designed by Vanbrugh. Although the Central Pavilion of the south front appears to be only two floors high, there are in fact bedrooms over the State Music & Drawing rooms, these are lit by windows facing respectively east and west. The centre is filled by the Marble Saloon which rises to the full height of the building. There are more bedrooms on
20056-502: The family had been staunch Whigs , but in order to obtain the long sought Dukedom the family became Tories . The Dukedom was bestowed in 1822 by King George IV on Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville 2nd Marquess who became the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. The deal was to support the then Prime Minister Lord Liverpool 's administration. The family spent a great deal of money to control several rotten boroughs , including Old Sarum , whose M.P.s switch their support to
20240-496: The family portraits and other items associated with the house have since been bought back and are now on display in the house. located behind the north portico this is the main Entrance Hall of the house and the least changed of the rooms dating from the 1730s. The ceiling has a deep cove , and was painted by William Kent in grisaille on a gold background imitating mosaic . There are six classical deities depicted in
20424-475: The first decade of the 19th century, on the ground floor created the Gothic Library to the designs of Sir John Soane . This is a rare example of Soane using the Gothic style. In 1834, Richard, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos , inherited the library of Lord Grenville , his uncle, of which in 1824 The Times had claimed Following the bankruptcy of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1847, much of
20608-414: The flat centre of the ceiling has elaborate decoration, including in the border of the central panel mermen holding and feeding a griffin . The main entrance is in the centre of the long north wall. There are chimneypieces in the centre of each end wall. These are of white marble with flanking caryatids ; the jambs are of black marble, one dates from 1792 which is a copy of the other probably dating from
20792-405: The formation of lakes and woodland, as well as moving monuments to new locations. The park and gardens saw 213,721 visitors during 2020/21. John Temple was the first member of the family to serve as high sheriff of Buckinghamshire and also justice of the peace . Sir Thomas Temple first purchased a knighthood in 1603 from James I then purchased from the same monarch the baronetcy in 1611. He
20976-458: The full length of the house and then returned at both ends, there are a series of 30 pedestals along the balustrade, that until their sale in 1921 were topped by bronze urns . These were replaced by replicas in 2013. This was probably added to keep visitors from the lower windows of the house, and formal flower beds were laid out in the area. In 1793 George, 1st Marquess of Buckingham , converted The East Gallery into The Large Library and, in
21160-602: The highest grade, as follows: There was formerly a non-statutory Grade III , which was abolished in 1970. Additionally, Grades A, B and C were used mainly for Anglican churches in active use, loosely corresponding to Grades I, II and III. These grades were used mainly before 1977, although a few buildings are still listed using these grades. In 2010, listed buildings accounted for about 2% of English building stock. In March 2010, there were about 374,000 list entries, of which 92% were Grade II, 5.5% were Grade II* and 2.5% were Grade I. Places of worship are an important part of
21344-481: The house was fortunate; the changes were made in the style of Robert Adam , so were sympathetic to Leoni's original intentions. The marble hall is considered one of the most imposing 18th-century architectural features in England, as are the magnificent plasterwork ceilings. From this point in time the house was largely unaltered, until the 2015 fire. A fire in April 2015 left the house gutted, apart from one room. Much of
21528-508: The house, originally built for the Duke of Monmouth in 1680, giving it a massive Corinthian portico which leads into a vast hall with a painted and gilded ceiling, with a trompe-l'œil dome, painted by Thornhill. The house was to have similarities with one of Leoni's more ambitious projects, Lathom House. Both were similar in concept to Andrea Palladio 's never-built Villa Mocenigo , with great spreading and segmented collonaded wings embracing
21712-478: The house. It usually consists of a central salon or saloon (the grandest room beneath the central pediment); on either side of the saloon (in the wings) there is often a slightly less grand, withdrawing room, and then a principal bedroom. After that perhaps would follow a smaller more intimate room, a "cabinet". The point both the Duchess and owners of Wortley had failed to grasp was that the owners lived in 'state' on
21896-574: The important graves lost. By the time of his death, Palladianism had been taken up by a whole new generation of British architects working in the classical forms, and was to remain in fashion until it was replaced by the Neoclassical interpretations of such architects as Robert Adam . His final intended publication, which would have added to an evaluation of his work " Treatise of Architecture and ye Art of Building Publick and Private Edifices—Containing Several Noblemen's Houses & Country Seats ’
22080-476: The letters patent, creating it through the female line to a nephew of the 3rd Duke William Temple-Gore-Langton , the son of Lady Anna Eliza Mary Grenville sister of the 3rd Duke. The fall of the family engendered Lord Rosebery's comment "The glories of the House, built up with so much care and persistence, vanished like a snow wreath". Listed building In the United Kingdom , a listed building
22264-410: The listing should not be confused with the actual number of listed buildings, which will be much larger than the listing, because a listing can include more than one building that share the same listing number. The legislative frameworks for each type of historic asset remains unchanged. A photographic library of English listed buildings was started in 1999 as a snapshot of buildings listed at the turn of
22448-536: The management of listed buildings is the responsibility of local planning authorities and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (i.e., not DCMS, which originally listed the building). There is a general principle that listed buildings are put to 'appropriate and viable use' and recognition that this may involve the re-use and modification of the building. However, listed buildings cannot be modified without first obtaining Listed Building Consent through
22632-537: The millennium. This is not an up-to-date record of all listed buildings in England – the listing status and descriptions are only correct as at February 2001. The photographs were taken between 1999 and 2008. It is maintained by the Historic England archive at the Images of England project website. The National Heritage List for England contains the up-to-date list of listed buildings. Giacomo Leoni Giacomo Leoni (1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni ,
22816-467: The missing decoration and sculpture was recreated, returning the room to its original form. The East Corridor and Grand staircase Dating from the 1730s, connects the North Hall via the south-east door with the Ante-Library , this is a relatively plain room, the stone staircase at the east end of the corridor is cantilevered from the walls and has a wrought iron balustrade, the ceiling above
23000-479: The most valuable of the paintings, furniture, the household silver was sold in 836 lots over a week in September, and other art works at Stowe, the over 21,000 bottles of wine and over 500 of spirits in the wine cellars below the Marble Saloon , were all sold from 15 August to 7 October 1848 by Christie's . The auction was held in The State Dining Room , but only raised £75,400. At the end of
23184-741: The murals has yet to be taken. The walls of the corridor are now lined with paintings of former headmasters of the school and in the east window above the staircase there is white marble bust a copy of the head of the Apollo Belvedere . There used to be forty-five paintings on the walls, including: Godfrey Kneller 's portrait of John, Duke of Marlborough now in the Institute of Directors ; Henry Fuseli 's paintings of characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream , Titania and Bottom now in Tate Britain and his Oberon wakes Titania now in
23368-411: The niche, was purchased by Queen Victoria at the 1848 sale and is now at Osborne House . This has been replaced in the niche by a bust of William Pitt the Elder by Joseph Wilton , which is on loan to the house. There is mention of a chamber organ in the room in 1779. Also sold in 1848 were two Italian neo-classical side tables with Verd antique tops, the frames being carved with plaques of Leda and
23552-512: The niche. The walls are painted with panels in the form of Grotesques and Arabesques . The chimneypiece in the centre of the east wall is of white marble inset with panels of rosso antico marble and with carved decoration of musical instruments in white marble and ormolu . This chimneypiece was sold in 1922 but bought back in 1991, and a new mirror above the chimneypiece was made to replace the original one. The plaster ceiling has gilt moulded decoration and seven inset paintings. The central painting
23736-413: The north of the Large Library , created in 1805, this is really a wide corridor, about 50 feet (15 m) long, and low in height, with a plain ceiling and walls, the fireplace on the east wall is a replacement for the carved marble one sold in 1922. The main feature of the room are the eight Tuscan columns of scagliola imitating Verd antique marble, the work of Domenico Bartoli. The room housed in 1838
23920-671: The owners are often required to use specific materials or techniques. Although most sites appearing on the lists are buildings, other structures such as bridges, monuments, sculptures, war memorials, milestones and mileposts , and the Abbey Road zebra crossing made famous by the Beatles , are also listed. Ancient, military, and uninhabited structures, such as Stonehenge , are sometimes instead classified as scheduled monuments and are protected by separate legislation. Cultural landscapes such as parks and gardens are currently "listed" on
24104-472: The paintings sold in 1848 fetched) both now in the Wallace Collection. Also originally in this room and now in the Wallace Collection are the almost 10 feet (3.0 m) high astronomical regulator clock by Michael Stollewerck formerly at the Palace of Versailles and a Boulle armoire . Also from this room was a German marquetry cabinet, later bought by Mayer Amschel de Rothschild for Mentmore Towers . It
24288-463: The parish church of St Mary's, Stowe. From 1330, Osney Abbey maintained a manor house at Stowe occupied by a steward. Osney Abbey retained Stowe until it was forced to surrender its estates to the Crown in the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. Sir George Gifford MP owned Stowe Manor and Rectory. He willed it to his son Thomas Gifford (born about 1542 died 16 February 1593). The Stowe estate
24472-700: The portrait by C.A. Tompkins & a possible portrait of Earl Temple by Robert Edge Pine . Also in the room are two of the original Athéniennes from the Marble Saloon. Now called the Chandos Sigma Dormitory . It is immediately to the east of the Blue Room dating from 1773 to 1775. This is a relatively plain room. The ceiling is coved , centre of the ceiling is decorated with a circular painting of Venus blindfolding Cupid surrounded by plaster decoration that includes incense burners. The marble fireplace dated 1774 with its relief of Venus and Cupid
24656-431: The present site. This house is now the core of the mansion known today. The house is the result of four main periods of development. Between 1677 and 1683, the architect William Cleare was commissioned by Sir Richard Temple to build the central block of the house. This building was four floors high, including the basement and attics and thirteen bays in length. Cleare had worked as Christopher Wren 's chief joiner and based
24840-644: The prime minister, although the 1832 Reform Act would end this practice. The 1st Duke was a colonel in the Royal Buckinghamshire Militia (King's Own) , he led his battalion in 1814 to France under the command of The Duke of Wellington . The 2nd Duke through his mother Anna was descended from the House of Plantagenet and was an active member of the Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry . His support of which added to
25024-503: The principles of the great masters. He made Palladian architecture less austere, and adapted his work to suit the location and needs of his clients. The use of red brick as a building component had begun to replace dressed stone during the William and Mary era. Leoni would frequently build in both, depending on availability and what was indigenous to the area of the site. Leoni's first commissions in England, though for high-profile clients
25208-555: The probable architect being either Henry Flitcroft or 'Capability' Brown. The Stowe House Preservation Trust are currently fundraising to restore this room to its former magnificence. This was The State Gallery until 1817 when it assumed its current name. The ceiling has an elaborate plaster entablature supporting a deep cove, this has painted decoration dated 1747 by Francesco Sleter, including Hebe feeding Jupiter 's Eagle east, Cupid playing with two Graces north, Cupid asleep with two Graces south and Diana and her Hounds west,
25392-401: The process slightly predated the war with the Marquess of Bute (in his connections to the National Trust for Scotland ) commissioning the architect Ian Lindsay in September 1936 to survey 103 towns and villages based on an Amsterdam model using three categories (A, B and C). The basis of the current more comprehensive listing process was developed from the wartime system. It was enacted by
25576-572: The recess between the two southern closets used to be displayed a collection 120 pieces of Maiolica . One of the finest pieces a dish painted with St. Thomas touching Christ's wound from Deruta is now in the Courtauld Institute of Art . The Blue Room is to the east of the Large Library , used as a small drawing room. Until the 1849 sale this was known as the Print Room and the walls were lined with bookshelves similar to those in
25760-539: The relevant local planning authority. In Wales, applications are made using a form obtained from the relevant local authority. There is no provision for consent to be granted in outline. When a local authority is disposed to grant listed building consent, it must first notify the Welsh Parliament ( i.e. Cadw ) of the application. If the planning authority decides to refuse consent, it may do so without any reference to Cadw. Carrying out unauthorised works to
25944-571: The responsibility for the listing process rests with the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities , which took over the built heritage functions of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly the Environment and Heritage Service) following the break up of the Department of the Environment. Following the introduction of listing, an initial survey of Northern Ireland's building stock
26128-717: The rest being School of Rembrandt. All the paintings were sold in 1848. They included: Samson Threatening his Father-in-law , in 1989 this was sold by the estate of the late P Chrysler Jr; Bellona now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Self-Portrait as a Young man now in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ; Eleazor Swalmius now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp ; A Young Negro Archer and (genuine Rembrandt) The Centurion Cornelius sold for £2,300 (the highest price any of
26312-579: The rest of the UK: the first provision for listing was contained in the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1972; and the current legislative basis for listing is the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991. Under Article 42 of the Order, the relevant Department of the Northern Ireland Executive is required to compile lists of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest". Since 2016,
26496-508: The right Anna Eliza, First Duchess of Buckingham & Chandos she is depicted with her son later the 2nd Duke. The west wall has above the fireplace Thomas Banks 's white marble relief of Caractacus before the Emperor Claudius in its centre which is flanked by two doors. The east wall has above a small staircase leading to the ground floor, Christophe Veyrier 's white marble relief of The family of Darius before Alexander
26680-600: The room prior to 1935 contained separate closets. The south-western closet was called the Japan Closet and was decorated in a Japanese style , this used to contain the Chandos Jewels finally sold for nearly £10,000 by Lady Kinloss in 1929, also the room used to have a staircase to the dressing room on the floor above. The south-eastern closet was called the Shakespeare Closet because it contained
26864-434: The sales the estate had contracted to the core 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) in Buckinghamshire. The garden staff were cut from 40 to 4. In January 1849 there was a 24-day sale at Sotheby's of the books from the library, that raised £10,356. Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (10 September 1823 – 26 March 1889), usually shortened to Richard Temple-Grenville,
27048-440: The same king. In 1715 he married Anne Halsey an heiress of a rich London brewer . She brought a dowry of £20,000 (equivalent to £3,950,000 as of 2023). He was a member of the Kit-Cat Club where he probably first met fellow members John Vanbrugh and Joseph Addison whose writings on garden design influenced the development of the gardens at Stowe. Cobham was the centre of the Whig party grouping of Cobhamites . His sister Hester
27232-400: The scheme must meet certain criteria – "a three-fold test which involved considering size, permanence and degree of physical attachment" – referred to as the Skerritts test in reference to a previous legal case in England. Both Historic Environment Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners. In England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to
27416-469: The school. The exterior of the house has not been significantly changed since 1779, although in the first decade of the 19th century, the Egyptian Hall was added beneath the North Portico as a secondary entrance. The showpiece of the House is the south facade overlooking the gardens. This is one of the finest examples of neoclassical architecture in Britain. The main front stretches over 460 feet (140 m). Divided into five major sections, these are:
27600-413: The secretary of state; this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England . The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed. Full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on
27784-455: The side walls, though only the northern pair are real, and the other two are false doors . The plaster ceiling is probably a design of Valdrè. Decorated in neo-classical style with a symmetrical arrangement of nereids , tazzas , paterae and other motifs, originally the details were gilt but this was replaced by silver in a 1965 restoration. The ceiling dates from 1776 and was executed by James Lovell . The original marble fireplace dated 1777
27968-582: The south portico. It is based on the Pantheon in Rome. It is elliptical in plan, 63 by 45 feet (19 by 14 m); the domed ceiling is over 56 feet (17 m) high. The room was probably designed by Vincenzo Valdrè, the basic structure was built between 1775 and 1777 but decoration was probably only complete by 1788 at a cost of £12,000. The lower half of the walls are surrounded by 16 unfluted Roman Doric columns made from red scagliola with white veins that mimics Sicilian Jasper (the work of Domenico Bartoli) and with white marble capitals and bases, supporting
28152-444: The spaces between these paintings are decorated with animals including swans and their cygnets, pigeons and rabbits. There are three large octagonal paintings on the central flat of the ceiling. These are probably early 19th-century replacements for the original by Robert Jones. They are Venus disarming Cupid east, Venus on her Chariot, crowned by Cupid and attended by the Three Graces centre and Venus at her Toilet, attended by
28336-399: The staircase is painted with Fame and Victory , by Francesco Sleter, the same artist's wall paintings on the staircase were thought to no longer survive, but in 2016 it was discovered that beneath later paintwork the wall murals are largely intact. Small sections have been exposed, revealing a grisaille scheme of trompe-l'œil statues in niches, a decision on whether to uncover and restore
28520-471: The studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller ; in the centre of the north wall Lady Christian Lyttelton the sister of Viscount Cobham, a copy of a portrait by Kneller; over the western fireplace King George II from the studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller; and on the west wall A Lady in Eastern Costume on a Terrace with a Peacock possibly Lady Hester Stanhope by James Northcote , she was the great-granddaughter of Sir Richard Temple 3rd Baronet. Also known as The Snug ,
28704-419: The two doors in the west and east walls of male and female centaurs with Bacchic emblems and lyres , probably painted by Robert Jones. The walls used to be hung with five Brussels tapestries commissioned by Viscount Cobham from O. Leyneir, they depict the triumph of classical deities: Ceres , Bacchus, Neptune , Mars and Diana, sold in 1921 they are now in Switzerland. The dining table when fully extended
28888-409: The valuable collection was sold. The library has provided provenance to many valued manuscripts including the Stowe 2 Psalter , Stowe 54 , the Stowe Breviary and the " Stowe manuscripts ". Several owners of Stowe undertook the Grand Tour , Earl Temple spent 1729–1733 in France, Switzerland & Italy, the 1st Marquess in 1774 visited Italy, the 2nd Duke before he inherited his title in 1817, and
29072-427: The wings and pavilions into the body of the house that was to be a hallmark of the 18th-century Palladianism that spread across Europe, and of which Leoni was an early exponent. At Lyme, while the central portico, resting upon a base reminiscent of Palladio's Villa Pisani , dominates the facade, the flanking wings are short, and of the same height as the central block, and the terminating pavilions are merely suggested by
29256-417: Was Joshua Reynolds 's Marquess of Granby , now in the collection of the National Army Museum , Earl Temple's nephew Richard Grenville was the Marquess's Aide-de-camp during the Seven Years' War . The magnificent state bed which was set up in the room in 1759–1760 and was nearly 15 feet (4.6 m) in height, survives in the Lady Lever Art Gallery . It used to be in the recess on the west wall. The bed
29440-431: Was William Ewart Gladstone . He married Catherine Glynne the granddaughter of Catherine sister of the 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Other notable politicians in the family included Thomas Grenville the brother of the 1st Marquess, Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent the father-in-law of the 1st Marquess, Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford brother of William Pitt the elder, George Nugent-Grenville, 2nd Baron Nugent brother of
29624-423: Was 65 feet (20 m) long. The walls are hung with various portraits of people associated with the house and family that have been acquired over the years, these are, on the east wall Caroline Harvey wife of the 3rd Duke by Sir Francis Grant , donated by the granddaughter of the sitter, The Hon. Mrs. Thomas Close-Smith (1886–1972) on her death in 1972; above the eastern fireplace Queen Caroline of Ansbach from
29808-439: Was a British statesman of the 19th century, and a close friend and subordinate of Benjamin Disraeli . He was styled Marquess of Chandos until the death of his father in 1861. With the death of the third Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1889, there remained no heirs-male to the dukedom, so it became extinct. After which ownership of the estate was separated from the title Earls Temple of Stowe which passed by special remainder in
29992-452: Was a huge success and went into multiple editions in the following years ( illustration, left ) Despite Leoni's often eccentric alterations to Palladio's illustrations, his edition became a main vehicle for disseminating the essence of Palladio's style among British designers . The direct impact of Palladio's text was upon building patrons, for these expensive volumes were out of the reach of most builders, who could consult them only briefly in
30176-414: Was a very rich carving of the Royal Arms . Situated on the ground floor beneath the centre part of the Large Library, this room was created in 1805. It was the last major interior to be added to the house and was designed by Sir John Soane. The plaster ceiling pattern is based on a very shallow fan vault . The plasterer was one William Rothwell, who charged £495 10 shillings & 7 pence. The centre of
30360-463: Was also a contemporary, although his work tended toward the baroque style that had been popular in England prior to the Palladian revival. Palladian architecture was able to flourish in England though, as it was suited to the great country houses being built or re-modelled; because unlike the French , the British aristocracy placed primary importance on their country estates. For all his work and fame, Leoni did not achieve great financial benefit. It
30544-499: Was an Italian architect , born in Venice . He was a devotee of the work of Florentine Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti , who had also been an inspiration for Andrea Palladio . Leoni thus served as a prominent exponent of Palladianism in English architecture , beginning in earnest around 1720. Also loosely referred to as Georgian , this style is rooted in Italian Renaissance architecture . Having previously worked in Düsseldorf , Leoni arrived in England, where he
30728-478: Was an active supporter of John Wilkes . When the Earl's cousin George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe died in 1762 he left his Vanbrugh designed house Eastbury Park and estates in Dorset to Earl Temple. He attempted to sell the house, but as no buyer could be found, he demolished most of the building using the marble from the house in the Marble Saloon at Stowe. The Eastbury estate was finally sold in 1806. The 2nd Earl Temple's sister Hester married William Pitt
30912-564: Was begun in 1974. By the time of the completion of this First Survey in 1994, the listing process had developed considerably, and it was therefore decided to embark upon a Second Survey, which is still ongoing, to update and cross-check the original information. Information gathered during this survey, relating to both listed and unlisted buildings, is entered into the publicly accessible Northern Ireland Buildings Database. A range of listing criteria, which aim to define architectural and historic interest, are used to determine whether or not to list
31096-407: Was created Countess of Temple in her own right in 1749 by King George II , from which her son, heir to the estate inherited his title as 2nd Earl Temple. Richard Grenville the future 2nd Earl Temple, married Anna Chamber in 1737, an heiress with a £50,000 fortune. He was leader of the Whig group known as the Grenvillites . King George II made Earl Temple a Knight of the Garter in 1760. Earl Temple
31280-430: Was finished in 1779. The interiors of the new state apartments were not completed until 1788, much of the interior work being by an Italian, Vincenzo Valdrè (1740–1814). At the same time, the final remodelling of the North Front was taking place: this involved the erection in 1770–1772 of the two twin quadrant colonnades of Ionic columns that flank the facade. These may be to Robert Adam's design. The northern ends of
31464-417: Was furnished with ebonized mahogany tables and chairs inlaid with ivory , one of the tables is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum . The door from the library has on the outside a carved stone relief dated to the late 16th century, above it, of The Battle of Bosworth Field , the Gothic Staircase by the door connects the two libraries. Created c.1803, the Egyptian Hall is situated beneath
31648-417: Was in this room that Queen Victoria and her husband slept during their visit, redecorated for the occasion, including the purchase of the largest Persian carpet in the country, 25.5 by 16 feet (4.9 m), this cost £200, but only fetched £55 in the 1848 sale. The 2nd Duke spent £5,300 on redecorating the house and on entertaining the royal couple for a visit that lasted a few days. Located immediately behind
31832-443: Was largely forgotten. So indigenous to England does it seem, that in 1913 – a time of huge pride in all things British – Sir Aston Webb 's new principal facade at Buckingham Palace strongly resembled Leoni's 'Italian palazzo.' Giacomo Leoni died in 1746 and was buried in Old St Pancras Churchyard in London. His name is listed on the Burdett-Coutts Memorial , erected in that churchyard in 1879 by Baroness Burdett Coutts , listing
32016-441: Was leased from Thomas Gifford in 1571 by Peter Temple whose son, John Temple, bought the manor and estate of Stowe in 1589 and it eventually became the home of the Temple family. Their family fortune was based on sheep farming , at Witney in Oxfordshire, and in 1546 they rented a sheep farm in Burton Dassett in Warwickshire. In the late 17th century, the house was completely rebuilt by Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet , (c.1683) on
32200-401: Was moved to the Rembrandt Room for Queen Victoria's visit. The two elaborately carved and gilt robe chests, one of " gopher wood " [ sic ], the other of sandalwood , that used to stand on the north wall flanking the white marble fireplace are now in the Wallace Collection . The room takes up the space behind the two western tripartite windows of the South Front , the corners of
32384-437: Was public outcry at the sudden destruction of the art deco Firestone Tyre Factory ( Wallis, Gilbert and Partners , 1928–29). It was demolished over the August bank holiday weekend by its owners Trafalgar House , who had been told that it was likely to be 'spot-listed' a few days later. In response, the government undertook to review arrangements for listing buildings in order to protect worthy ones from such demolition. After
32568-407: Was pulled down in 1816; Bodecton Park, completed in 1738 was razed in 1826 and Lathom, completed circa 1740, was lost like so many other English country houses in the 20th century. By the early 20th century, the style of Palladianism which Leoni's books and works did so much to promote, was so quintessentially English that the fact that it was regarded as purely Italian at the time of its inception
32752-442: Was replaced in 2024 with Wales-specific heritage legislation. In Wales, the authority for listing is granted to the Welsh Ministers by section 76 of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023, although the listing system is in practice administered by Cadw . There have been several attempts to simplify the heritage planning process for listed buildings in England. As of 2021, few changes had been implemented. The review process
32936-399: Was sold in 1922 and is now in Spain at the headquarters of Grupo Santander ; it contains an antique alabaster bas-relief from Egypt of a Sacrifice to Bacchus . The north wall has an engaged fluted Corinthian columns of wood flanking the apse and a further two within it. There are quarter columns in the corners of the room. The walls used to be hung with red Damask and the finest paintings in
33120-401: Was sold in 1922. There used to be 39 paintings in this room, including Virgin and Child with SS John the Baptist and Catherine , dated 1504 by Andrea Previtali this is now in the National Gallery, London and Woman at her Toilette once attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and bought as such in 1780, now School of Fontainebleau , this is in the Worcester Art Museum , Massachusetts. Now called
33304-405: Was started in February 2000 by Alan Howarth , then minister at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The outcome was the paper "Power of Place" in December 2000, followed by the subsequent policy document "The Historic Environment: A Force for Our Future", published by the DCMS and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DTLR) in December 2001. The launch of
33488-644: Was that the existing registers of buildings, parks and gardens, archaeology and battlefields, maritime wrecks, and World Heritage Sites be merged into a single online register that will "explain what is special and why". English Heritage would become directly responsible for identifying historic assets in England and there would be wider consultation with the public and asset owners, and new rights of appeal. There would have been streamlined systems for granting consent for work on historic assets. After several years of consultation with heritage groups, charities, local planning authorities, and English Heritage, in March 2010,
33672-474: Was the first member of the family to serve as a member of parliament in 1588–1589. Sir Peter Temple was a supporter of Oliver Cromwell and served as a colonel in the parliamentary army during the English Civil War . When the War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1702 the 4th Baronet was appointed a colonel by William III , he was later promoted to lieutenant general . First created Baron Cobham in 1714 by King George I , then in 1718 Viscount Cobham by
33856-545: Was to make his name, in 1714, aged 28. His fresh, uncluttered designs, with just a hint of baroque flamboyance, brought him to the attention of prominent patrons of the arts. Leoni's early life is poorly documented. He is first recorded in Düsseldorf in 1708, and arrived in England sometime before 1715. Between 1715 and 1720 he published in instalments the first complete English language edition of Palladio 's I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura , which Leoni entitled The Architecture of A. Palladio, in Four Books . The translation
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