When was eaton hall built

Eaton Hall sits at the throne of luxury immersed in beautiful greenery and landscapes, with a unique and picturesque feel. Eaton Hall is the perfect location to host any special event and momentous occasion. Yet even the vast Grosvenor fortune was not thought sufficient to sustain such a palace in the austere post-WWII era.

The Eaton estate has been the home of the Grosvenor family since the s and the main house of the estate has been rebuilt several times to match the architectural fashions of each era. Little is known about the house before the late 17th century, however, at this time it is known that it was replaced with a grand new house designed by William Samwell - this is the house shown in Jan Kips' engraving of Gallery.

When the 1st Earl Grosvenor died in he was succeeded by his son who, between and , engaged William Porden who created a large late-Georgian Gothic mansion. By the time the 3rd Earl later the 1st Duke of Westminster from inherited in such a style was very unfashionable and so the Duke felt it necessary to rebuild. Completed in , the new Eaton Hall typified the enormous wealth wielded by the Victorian super-rich.

The original house had been demolished in so the expectation was that another would have to be built if it was to have such a role. Considering the views of the Prince of Wales on modern architecture there was little surprise when a planning application was submitted in for a strongly Classical small country house by Craig Hamilton Architects.

Craig Hamilton originally prepared three designs but the final design shown above complements the existing stables and is perhaps the most interesting and the one successfully submitted for approval. The house is based around the motif of the triumphal arch but, apparently drawing on the influence of Sir John Soane, it presents a simplified version rather than the more decorated versions often seen. Soane was schooled in the Classical style but re-invented the language to create a new direction for Neo-Classicalism; a much simpler version with an emphasis on the effective use of space and most importantly, light.

Soane spent several years in Italy and was well-versed in Roman architecture and incorporated the three-arch motif into his designs, notably the entrance front to his own house at Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing, west London , and in one of his most impressive commissions for the old Bank of England scandalously demolished in the the s as seen in the internal Lothbury Court. This seems a good moment to mention the competition to find the best smaller country house i.

The competition is being run by Country Life magazine and Savills the estate agents and the house should be in private ownership and not currently for sale. The deadline is Wednesday 24 November so submit your suggestions as soon as possible.

Although initially the use of the French architectural vocabulary was a sign of wealth and education only available to the best families, the style was regarded as sullied by the later, more energetic, constructions of the Victorians — an association which still sadly lingers today.

The French style, with its dramatic rooflines, dovetailed with the traditional English manor house and its own profusion of gables and chimneys. Houses such as Burghley in Northamptonshire made dramatic use of the style with the central, three-storey pavilion, dated , based on the French triumphal arch but oddly includes a traditional mullioned window on the third floor. Burghley was the product of the owner, Lord Burghley, an architectural enthusiast who as far back as was known to have been writing to France to obtain specific architectural books.

This early use of the French style was relatively restrained — probably more by the conservatism of the ruling gentry who were most likely to be building these houses. Yet, our impressions now are more strongly influenced by the bolder, more assertive French style which was so popular during the Victorian era — though this same popularity was to also lead to it being derided.

The first of the Victorian nouveau-riche were keen to be accepted by society and so built houses which largely followed the same designs used by the local families. The end of the Napoleonic wars in led to a rush across the Channel leading to a revival of interest in French design, particularly in relation to interiors, such as the Elizabeth Saloon at Belvoir Castle, Rutland , built c.

By the mid-nineteenth century this was being more confidently expressed in dramatic houses which sought to boldly make their mark. The second French Renaissance was influenced by lavish works such as the new block at the Louvre in Paris, built between Yet, after the Louvre, the fashion gathered pace with designs such as R. Less successfully, the architect Benjamin Ferrey built Wynnstay in Denbighshire for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn which, for all its dramatic high roofs and pavilions, was thought rather gloomy.

Another dramatic, albeit slightly awkward, design was that of Plas Rhianfa, Wales , built in , which seems to mix both Scots baronial and French, whilst Sir Charles Barry completed a more successful use of the two styles at Dunrobin Castle for the Dukes of Sutherland in These houses were largely for the existing gentry who found the impressive skylines met their needs for a dramatic statement as was fashionable at the time. With the fashion spreading into London and being used for luxury hotels, clubs and offices it was inevitable that the newly wealthy would wish to emulate in the country the world they already enjoyed.

From around this time, its fashionability declined. One of the earliest of this new wave was Normanhurst in Sussex , built in for Thomas Brassey, son of the famous railway contractor. In Worcestershire, the equally dramatic red-brick Impney Hall — later Chateau Impney — was built in for local salt tycoon John Corbett, who employed Auguste Tonquois, who had extensive experience around Paris.

In County Durham, the foundation stone of the Bowes Museum , originally designed to be part-home also, was laid in for John and Josephine Bowes. Designed by Jules Pellechet with J. Watson of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the house reflected their love of France but also made a statement as to their wealth — and possibly sought to hide their less-than-solid social position as illegitimate son of an Earl and an actress.

In Yorkshire, the additions to Warter Priory were considered unsuccessful, either due to the strange proportions or because the style had simply fallen out of favour. Interestingly though, perhaps the most famous of the English chateau was also one of the latest. Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire was built in for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to a design by French architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, mixing elements from various famous French chateaux such as Blois, Chambord and Anet.

Such a high-profile scandal and its flash monument would have been felt in society and tarnished the style for no-one would wish to be associated with such disgrace. However, fashion would have played a more significant role, with taste moving on to new styles, leaving these extravagant mementos to an earlier, brasher architectural exuberance which now give us an unexpected glimpse of France in the British countryside. In previous centuries the country house was primarily a home, but also included other functions such as storehouse, dormitory, dairy, bakery, laundry.

This inevitably led to their size increasing to the point where they could be regarded as small villages — but despite the scale of houses such as Knole or palaces such as Hampton Court we still admire their elegance and charm. Is it because so many have been demolished that we have no sense of how to design the largest of country houses? One of the few to do so were the Dukes of Hamilton, whose home — Hamilton Palace in Scotland — could truly be said to justify the name.

A vast Classical edifice with a north front stretching over ft long, the interiors and collections were easily a match for any other house in Europe. Yet, financial circumstances, wartime damage and apparent mining subsidence condemned the house and it was demolished in Other houses were conceived on an even grander scale.

Inspired by a love of the Gothic, Beckford set out to create what was effectively a residential cathedral. The vast ft tower and huge ft tall doors all contributed to an awe-inspiring impression for the few visitors able to see it before it collapsed under its own ambition in Wanstead House in Essex , built in , was also conceived on a similar scale to the later Hamilton Palace but again was lost — this time when creditors tore it down so the materials could be sold to pay debts in Yet what distinguishes all these houses in that they have been demolished — their very size eventually condemning them as later economic circumstances rendered them unsupportable.

However, each was architecturally an interesting house, one that, if it still survived, would be admired today well, perhaps less so the bulky Haggerston Castle. From the end of one dome-capped wing to the other, the house, built largely in the s, runs for over ft but is an object lesson in Classical elegance. Other large house still in existence which were built on a similar scale include Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard.

So what have lost that means that the houses built to a similar scale today are so poor architecturally? Kelly also investigated why the family eventually sold their home and its accompanying acres of land to the College. Needless to say, the College kept its word and both portraits have remained on the wall in a prominent place inside Eaton Hall ever since.