Holkham Hall, Norfolk
18th century

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Holkham Hall from the south. A
Palladian house built 1734-61 by Thomas Coke, first Earl of Leicester. The
disciplined Classical style of this and other big houses built around this
time was a break with the Baroque of Wren, Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor. Holkham
was designed by William Kent, the discovery and protégé
of Lord Burlington, leader of the Palladian style in England (see his Chiswick
House). Another, slightly earlier,
Palladian house nearby is Houghton Hall.
In plan Holkham is a centre block connected by lower, straight one-bay
links with four lower oblong blocks to the NW, NE, SW, and SE. The idea is
Palladian and especially reminiscent of such villas as that of the
Trissinos at Meledo. The style is Palladian too, even to the choice of
brick as a building material (not rendered as it
appears at a distance; close-up further down the page). ... The
main block consists of a rusticated basement with small windows and a
superb 'piano nobile'; that is all, except for the four square angle
turrets or eminences, each with one small window to each side and a
pyramid roof. ... The windows of the piano nobile are either pedimented
or, when greater prominence demanded it, of the Venetian type. ...
(Information from North-West and South Norfolk by Nikolaus Pevsner
(1962) Penguin Books, now published by Yale University Press. Direct
quotes in italics.)
Click on photos below to enlarge |
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The rest of the house has a
balustrade in front of the low roof and to the S, that is the garden, a
portico of six Corinthian columns carrying a pediment. ...
Facing the garden facade a fountain with the group of Perseus and
Andromeda by Charles R. Smith. This dates from c.1850. |
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To the E of the house is the
former conservatory, 1850 ... |
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On the north side, rather more
Venetian windows than on the south side. Also no portico but a flat
pedimented projection. The largely brick construction is clear in the
third picture.
(The clutter of vans, and crane round the corner below, was due to the
filming at this time of Barbarian Princess.) |
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The four wings are of five
bays to the S and three to the N. The ground floor is rusticated. Above
them is a Venetian window in the centre to the N, but otherwise there are
only a few pediments to the windows. The centre of each wing is raised by
a half storey. The sides as well as the centre are crowned by pediments.
There are E and W courts between the wings. ... |
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The grounds of Holkham were
laid out by Capability Brown in 1762. Their most conspicuous element is
the uncommonly large lake to the W of the house., |
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The interior of the
house is more consistently palatial that that of almost any other house in
England. See Interior
at Holkham
Hall Website |
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Detailed
article on the house in Wikipedia
Map |
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St Withburga. The church lies
dramatically on a mound in the extensive park of Holkham Hall, not far
from the lake. It is a large and interesting building, though severely
restored by James K. Colling in 1870. ... (Foundations
of a tower have been found inside the west bay of the nave which may have
been Saxon or Norman). The tower now stands to the S of the
church, a little E of the W end. It is large and sturdy and dates
from the early C13, see the lancet windows. Early C14 bell-openings with
Y-tracery. However, all this is largely rebuilt. ... |
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Detail of
the Victorian doorways
More
about the church |
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More
of Norfolk on Astoft |
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