124-564: Drayton Manor , one of Britain's lost houses , was a British stately home at Drayton Bassett , since its formation in the District of Lichfield , Staffordshire , England . In modern administrative areas, it was first put into Tamworth Poor Law Union and similar Rural Sanitary District, 1894 to 1934 saw its inclusion in Tamworth Rural District , and in the next forty years it lay in the 1974-abolished Lichfield Rural District. The manor
248-667: A Stone of Remembrance , designed by him. The best known of these monuments are The Cenotaph in Whitehall , Westminster , and the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme , Thiepval . The Cenotaph was originally commissioned by David Lloyd George as a temporary structure to be the centrepiece of the Allied Victory Parade in 1919. Lloyd George proposed a catafalque , a low empty platform, but it
372-448: A British aristocrat could dispose of his ancestral seat, was the aristocratic habit of only marrying within the aristocracy and whenever possible to a sole heiress. This meant that by the 20th century, many owners of country houses often owned several country mansions. Thus it became a favoured option to select the most conveniently sited (whether for privacy or sporting reasons), easily managed, or of greatest sentimental value; fill it with
496-485: A bridge over the River Liffey (unbuilt) and two tiered sunken gardens; Heywood House Gardens , County Laois (open to the public), consisting of a hedge garden, lawns, tiered sunken garden and a belvedere; extensive changes and extensions to Lambay Castle, Lambay Island , near Dublin, consisting of a circular battlement enclosing the restored and extended castle and farm building complex, upgraded cottages and stores near
620-567: A building has to be of architectural or historical importance to be protected. The unprecedented demolitions of the 20th century did not result in the complete demise of the country house, but rather in a consolidation of those that were most favoured by their owners. Many were the subject of comprehensive alteration and rearrangement of the interior, to facilitate a new way of life less dependent on vast numbers of servants. Large service wings , often 19th-century additions, were frequently demolished, as at Sandringham House , or allowed to crumble, as
744-406: A building, rather than merely notify the local authority. It also gave the local authority powers to immediately protect the building by issuing a "Building Preservation Notice", which in effect gave the structure listed building status. Thus it was that 1968 became the last year that demolition ran into double figures. The final and perhaps most important factor which secured Britain's heritage
868-670: A change of direction which had a profound influence on wider British architectural practice. His commissions were of a varied nature from private houses to two churches for the new Hampstead Garden Suburb in London to Julius Drewe 's Castle Drogo near Drewsteignton in Devon and on to his contributions to India's new imperial capital , New Delhi (where he worked as chief architect with Herbert Baker and others). Here he added elements of local architectural styles to his classicism, and based his urbanisation scheme on Mughal water gardens. He also designed
992-435: A changing and fading world, a world in which the country house as a symbol of power, privilege and a natural order, was not to exist. As early as June 1940, while Britain was embroiled in the early days of World War II, The Times , confident of future victory, advised its readers that "a new order cannot be based on the preservation of privilege, whether the privilege be that of a county, a class, or an individual." Thus it
1116-436: A decrease in people available or willing to work as servants, left the owners of country houses facing major problems of how to manage their estates. The most obvious solution was to off-load the cash-eating family mansion. Many were offered for sale as suitable for institutional use; those not readily purchased were speedily demolished. In the years immediately after the war, the law was powerless — even had it wished to — to stop
1240-508: A grand mansion (incorporating a three storey tower) designed in the Elizabethan style by architect Robert Smirke . In 1843 Drayton Manor received a royal visit from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In farms of the estate the first Tamworth pigs were bred, their place of market being Tamworth. The house ceased to be the principal residence of the Peel family and in 1926 it was demolished. Only
1364-474: A life of servitude for better wages elsewhere. Thus the owners of large country houses dependent on staff and a large income began by necessity to dispose of their costly non-self sustaining material assets. Large houses had become redundant white elephants to be abandoned or demolished. It seemed that in particular regard to the country houses no one was prepared to save them. There are several reasons which had brought about this situation – most significantly in
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#17328484694651488-483: A lifelong hobby, in particular during the 18th century when it became fashionable to take the Grand Tour and return home with art treasures, supposedly brought from classical civilizations . During the 19th century, many houses were enlarged to accommodate the increasing numbers of servants needed to create the famed country house lifestyle. Less than a century later, this often meant they were of an unmanageable size. In
1612-441: A list of all buildings of architectural importance in their area, and, most significantly, for the first time the catalogue was to include inhabited private residences. This legislation created the foundations for what are today known as listed buildings . Under the scheme, an interesting or historic building was graded according to its value to the national heritage: The Act criminalised unauthorised alterations, or demolitions, to
1736-553: A listed building, so in theory at least, all historic buildings were now safe from unauthorised demolition. The truth was that the Act was rarely enforced, only a few buildings were listed, over half of them by just one council, Winchelsea . Elsewhere, the fines levied on those failing to comply with the Act were far less than the profit from redeveloping a site. Little changed. In 1946, in what has been described as "an act of sheer class-war vindictiveness", Britain's Labour government insisted on
1860-655: A member of the newly created Royal Fine Art Commission , a position he held until his death. While work continued in New Delhi, Lutyens received other commissions including several commercial buildings in London and the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Washington, D.C. . In 1924 he completed the supervision of the construction of what is perhaps his most popular design: Queen Mary's Dolls' House . This four-storey Palladian villa
1984-457: A necessary alteration to Haddon without first obtaining the leave of some inspector ". There was an irony in the Duke of Rutland's words, as this same duke was responsible for resurrecting one of his own country houses, Haddon Hall , from ruin. Thus, despite money being no problem for its owner, Trentham Hall was obliterated from its park, which the duke retained and then opened to the public. Thus it
2108-440: A poor or ruinous state of repair. During the next two decades, restrictions were applied to building works as Britain was rebuilt, priority being given to replacing what had been lost during the war rather than the oversized home of an elite family. In addition, death duties were raised to all-time highs by the new Labour Government that swept into power in 1945 ; this hit Britain's aristocracy hard. These factors, coupled with
2232-415: A private house at Crooksbury, Farnham, Surrey . During this work, he met the garden designer and horticulturalist Gertrude Jekyll . In 1896 he began work on a house for Jekyll at Munstead Wood near Godalming , Surrey. It was the beginning of a professional partnership that would define the look of many Lutyens country houses. The "Lutyens–Jekyll" garden had hardy shrubbery and herbaceous plantings within
2356-403: A quick profit. This was especially true in the years immediately following World War II, when Britain was desperate to replace the thousands of homes destroyed. Thus, in many cases, the demolition of the ancestral seat, strongly entwined with the family's history and identity, followed the earlier loss of the family's London house. A significant factor, which explained the seeming ease with which
2480-443: A similar way for generations of the upper classes. As land prices and incomes continued to fall, the great London palaces were the first casualties; the peer no longer needed to use his London house to maintain a high prestige presence in the capital. Its site was often more valuable empty than with the anachronistic palace in situ ; selling them for redevelopment was the obvious first choice to raise some fast cash. The second choice
2604-412: A social class able to live comfortably off inherited wealth far below that sum. Death duties, however, slowly increased and became a serious problem for the country estate throughout the first half of the 20th century, reaching a zenith when assisting in the funding of World War II. This proved to be the deciding factor for many families when in 1940 death duties were raised from 50% to 65%, and following
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#17328484694652728-446: A structural architecture of stairs and balustraded terraces. This combined style, of the formal with the informal, exemplified by brick paths, herbaceous borders, and with plants such as lilies, lupins, delphiniums and lavender, was in contrast to the formal bedding schemes favoured by the previous generation in the 19th century. This "natural" style was to define the "English garden" until modern times. Lutyens's fame grew largely through
2852-551: Is The Salutation , a house in Sandwich, Kent, England. Built in 1911–1912 with a 3.7-acre (1.5 ha) garden, it was commissioned by Henry Farrer , one of three sons of Sir William Farrer . Lutyens heavily influenced Sigurd Frosterus when he designed Vanajanlinna Manor in Finland . He was knighted in 1918 and elected a Royal Academician in March 1920. In 1924, he was appointed
2976-517: Is an abominably bad clause, these buildings have been preserved to us not by Acts of Parliament, but by the loving care of generations of free Englishmen who...did not know what a District Council was". The marquess, so against enforced preservation, was in fact a member of the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments , in the House of Lords , the very body which oversaw the implementation of
3100-502: Is built on an area of some 330 acres (130 ha) and incorporates a private garden also designed by Lutyens. The building was designed as the official residence of the Viceroy of India and is now the official residence of the President of India . The Delhi Order columns at the front entrance of the palace have bells carved into them, which, it has been suggested, Lutyens had designed with
3224-487: Is not guaranteed by any legislation. When Evelyn Waugh 's novel Brideshead Revisited , portraying life in the English country house , was published in 1945, its first few chapters offered a glimpse of an exclusive and enviable world, a world of beautiful country houses with magnificent contents, privileged occupants, a profusion of servants and great wealth. Yet, in its final chapters, Brideshead's author accurately documented
3348-608: The Buildings of England series , while noting that; "the genius and the charlatan were very close together in Lutyens". In the introduction to the catalogue for the 1981 Lutyens exhibition at the Hayward Gallery , the architectural writer Colin Amery described Lutyens as "the builder of some of our finest country houses and gardens". In 2015 a memorial to Lutyens by the sculptor Stephen Cox
3472-470: The Court of St. James's . Between 1915 and 1928, Lutyens also produced designs for a new palace for the Duke of Alba's younger brother, Hernando Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duke of Peñaranda . The palace of El Guadalperal, as it was to be called, would have been, if built, Edwin Lutyens's largest country house. Lutyens married Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964) on 4 August 1897 at Knebworth , Hertfordshire. She
3596-541: The Delhi Order and was used by him for several designs in England, such as Campion Hall, Oxford . Unlike the more traditional British architects who came before him, he was both inspired by and incorporated various features from the local and traditional Indian architecture—something most clearly seen in the great drum-mounted Buddhist dome of Viceroy's House, now Rashtrapati Bhavan . This palatial building, containing 340 rooms,
3720-574: The Earl of Leicester and, from about 1600, the Earl of Essex . The latter's descendants sold the estate in about 1790 to Robert Peel (1750–1830) a Lancashire textile manufacturer, who was Member of Parliament for Tamworth 1790–1820. Following his death in 1830, his son Robert Peel (1788–1850), who followed his father into the Tamworth seat and later became Prime Minister, demolished the old manor house and its three storey banqueting house, and replaced it with
3844-589: The Hyderabad House for the last Nizam of Hyderabad , as his Delhi palace and planned the layout for the Janpath and Rajpath roads. Before the end of World War I , he was appointed one of three principal architects for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission ) and was involved with the creation of many monuments to commemorate the dead . Larger cemeteries have
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3968-577: The Liria Palace , a neoclassical building which was severely damaged during the Spanish Civil War . The palace was originally built in the 18th century for James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick , and still belongs to his descendants. Lutyens's reconstruction was commissioned by Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba . The Duke had been in contact with Lutyens while serving as the Spanish ambassador to
4092-461: The gentry rather than the aristocracy; in these cases the owners, little more than gentlemen farmers, often razed the ancestral home to save costs and thankfully moved into a smaller but more comfortable farmhouse or purpose-built new house on the estate. Occasionally an aristocrat of the first rank did find himself in dire financial troubles. The severely impoverished Duke of Marlborough saved Blenheim Palace by marrying an heiress , tempted from
4216-600: The vernacular styles of south-east England. This was the most innovative phase of his career. Important works of this period include Munstead Wood, Tigbourne Court , Orchards and Goddards in Surrey , Deanery Garden and Folly Farm in Berkshire, Overstrand Hall in Norfolk and Le Bois des Moutiers in France. After about 1900 this style gave way to a more conventional Classicism ,
4340-552: The "youth of Ireland", and it has been a hostel ever since. Largely designed by Lutyens over 20 or so years (1912 to 1930), New Delhi, situated within the metropolis of Delhi , popularly known as ' Lutyens' Delhi ', was chosen to replace Calcutta as the seat of the British Indian government in 1911; the project was completed in 1929 and officially inaugurated in 1931. In undertaking this project, Lutyens invented his own new order of classical architecture, which has become known as
4464-508: The 1882 catalogue) to enter into agreement with civil authorities whereby the property was placed under public guardianship. While these agreements did not divest the owner of the title to the property, they imposed on the civil authority an obligation to maintain and preserve for the nation. So while the Acts may have been in favour of the owner, they set a precedent for the later preservation of structures of national importance. The main problem with
4588-543: The 1913 Act had been the threat to Tattershall Castle , Lincolnshire. An American millionaire wished to purchase the uninhabited castle, and ship it to the USA in its entirety. To frustrate the proposal, the castle had been purchased and restored by Lord Curzon and thus the export of Lord Cromwell 's castle was prevented. The 1913 Act was an important step in highlighting the risk to the nation's many historic buildings. The Act also went further than its predecessors by decreeing that
4712-466: The 19th century, the British upper classes enjoyed a life relatively free from taxation. Staff were plentiful and cheap, and estates not only provided a generous income from tenanted land but also political power. During the 19th century this began to change, by the mid-20th century their political power had weakened and they faced heavy tax burdens. The staff had either been killed in two world wars or forsaken
4836-468: The 20th century are politics and social conditions. During the Second World War many large houses were requisitioned, and subsequently for the duration of the war were used for the billeting of military personnel, government operations, hospitals, schools and a myriad of other uses far removed from the purpose for which they were designed. At the end of the war when handed back to the owners, many were in
4960-400: The 20th century, as they had first been introduced in 1796. "Legacy duty" was a tax payable on money bequeathed from a personal estate. Next of kin inheriting were exempt from payment, but anyone other than wives and children of the deceased had to pay on an increasing scale depending on the distance of the relationship from the deceased. These taxes gradually increased not only the percentage of
5084-439: The 20th century. Two years before the beginning of World War I , on 4 May 1912, the British magazine Country Life carried a seemingly unremarkable advertisement: the roofing balustrade and urns from the roof of Trentham Hall could be purchased for £200. One of Britain's great ducal country houses, Trentham Hall was demolished with little public comment or interest. It was its owner's property, to do with as he wished. There
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5208-612: The Acts was that, out of all Britain's great buildings, they only found 26 monuments in England, 22 in Scotland, eighteen in Ireland and three in Wales worthy of preservation; all of which were prehistoric. While neolithic monuments were included, the Acts specifically excluded inhabited residences. The aristocratic ruling class of Britain inhabiting their homes and castles were certainly not going to be regulated by some lowly civil servants. This view
5332-707: The Atlantic, and then reassembled in Richmond, Virginia . The Carolean staircase from Cassiobury Park has come to rest in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as have elements to reassemble period rooms , including the rococo stuccoed plasterwork from the dining room of the Dashwood seat, Kirtlington Park ; the tapestry room from Croome Court ; and the dining room by Robert Adam from Lansdowne House , London, where
5456-541: The Atlantic. In 1929 Virginia House was also bought, disassembled and shipped across the Atlantic. In 1931, the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 was amended to restrict development in an area surrounding an ancient monument. The scope of buildings included was also widened to include "any building, structure or other work, above or below the surface". However, the Act still excluded inhabited buildings. Had it included them, much that
5580-749: The British Raj, Lutyens was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) on 1 January 1930. As a chivalric order, the KCIE knighthood held precedence over his earlier bachelor knighthood . A bust of Lutyens in the former Viceroy's House is the only statue of a Westerner left in its original position in New Delhi. Lutyens's work in New Delhi is the focus of Robert Grant Irving 's book Indian Summer . In spite of his monumental work in India, Lutyens held views on
5704-438: The Duke of Bedford kept Woburn Abbey , considerably reduced in size, after World War II, while selling other family estates and houses. Whatever the personal choices and reasons for the sales and demolitions, the underlying and unifying factor was almost always financial. This began long before the 20th century with the gradual introduction and increase of taxes on income and further tax on inherited wealth, death duties . Before
5828-606: The Indian traders would participate in "the grand shopping centre for the residents of Shahjahanabad and New Delhi", thus giving rise to the D-shaped market seen today. Many of the garden-ringed villas in the Lutyens' Bungalow Zone (LBZ)—also known as Lutyens' Delhi—that were part of Lutyens's original scheme for New Delhi are under threat due to the constant pressure for development in Delhi. The LBZ
5952-454: The Lords' power of veto. In 1932, the threat through taxation to the nation's heritage was recognized, and appeals were made for repairs to National Trust and historic properties by their tenants to be tax-deductible; however the pleas fell on deaf ears. Death duties are the taxes most commonly associated with the decline of the British country house. They are not, in fact, a phenomenon peculiar to
6076-741: The RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1921, and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1925. In November 2015 the British government announced that all 44 of Lutyens's surviving First World War memorials in Britain had now been listed on the advice of Historic England , and were therefore all protected by law. This involved the one remaining memorial—the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building in Buckinghamshire —being added to
6200-747: The Royal Academy's planning for post-war London, an endeavour dismissed by Osbert Lancaster as "... not unlike what the new Nuremberg might have been had the Führer enjoyed the inestimable advantage of the advice and guidance of the late Sir Aston Webb ". Works in Ireland include the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge in Dublin , which consists of a bridge over the railway and
6324-499: The USA by the lure of an old title in return for vast riches. Not all were so fortunate or seemingly eligible. When 2nd Duke of Buckingham found himself bankrupt in 1848, he sold the contents of Stowe House , one of Britain's grandest houses. It proved to be a temporary solution; his heirs, the 3rd and final Duke of Buckingham and his heirs, the Earls Temple , inherited huge financial problems until finally in 1922 anything left that
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#17328484694656448-543: The acts intended to enforce preservation. Thus, when the Act was finally passed after approval from the House of Lords, the final paragraph excluded from the act "any building included in a list of monuments published by the Commissioners of Works" and more tellingly did not "affect any powers of the Commissioners of Works." Ironically, eighteen years later, on the untimely death of the marquess, by then Duke of Devonshire, his son
6572-556: The architecture of the Empire – Hardinge wanted elements of the Indian vernacular for political reasons. An unapologetic spokesman of British imperialism he built the Viceroy's Palace as a symbol of glory of the Raj, and considered Indians to be primitive as yet on the verge of civilization who deserved to be ruled in perpetuity by the British. In Madrid , Lutyens's work can be seen in the interiors of
6696-461: The aristocracy and gentry. Two years later, Lloyd George in his People's Budget of 1909 announced plans for a supertax for the rich, but the bill introducing the tax was defeated in the House of Lords. This respite for owners of large country houses, many of them members of the House of Lords, was brief and ultimately self-defeating: the bill's defeat led to the Parliament Act 1911 which removed
6820-460: The better off. The tax was repealed for a brief period in 1802 during a cessation in hostilities with the French, but its reintroduction in 1803 set the pattern for all future taxation in Britain. While the tax was again repealed following the victory at Waterloo , the advantages of such taxation were now obvious. In 1841, after the election victory of Sir Robert Peel , the exchequer was so depleted that
6944-414: The cessation of hostilities they were twice raised further between 1946 and 1949. Attempts by some families to avoid paying death duties were both helped and hindered by war. Some estate owners gave their properties to their heirs thereby escaping duties; when subsequently that heir was killed fighting, death duties were not payable because a soldier's or sailor's (and later airman's) estate was not subject to
7068-548: The cessation of hostilities, the trickle of demolitions which had begun in the earlier part of the century became a torrent of destruction. Destroying buildings of national or potential national importance was not an act peculiar to the 20th century in Britain. The demolition in 1874 of Northumberland House , London, a prime example of English Renaissance architecture, passed without significant comment. Town houses such as Northumberland House were highly visible displays of wealth and political power, so consequently more likely to be
7192-426: The choicest art works from the other properties; and then demolish the less favoured. Thus, one solution not only solved any financial problems, but also removed an unwanted burden. The vast majority of the houses demolished were of less architectural importance than the great Baroque , Palladian and Neoclassical mansions by the notable architects. These smaller, but often aesthetically pleasing houses belonged to
7316-657: The clock tower now remains. The site was sold in 1949 to the Bryan family for the creation of leisure gardens which were later developed to become the Drayton Manor Resort . The nearest large town is Tamworth . In 1946 greyhound racing was held at the Tamworth Greyhound Stadium built on the existing cricket ground. Also known as the Drayton Manor Deer Park Racing Track because it used to be
7440-399: The country houses and their estates was tantamount to a social revolution. Well into the 20th century, it was common for the local squire to provide large-scale employment, housing, and patronage to the village school , parish church , and a cottage hospital . The "big house" was the bedrock of rural society. Since 1900, 1,200 country houses have been demolished in England. In Scotland,
7564-402: The demolition of a private house no matter how architecturally important. Before the 1870s, these estates often encompassed several thousand acres, generally consisting of several farms let to tenants ; the great house was supplied with food from its own home farm (for meat and dairy) and a kitchen garden (for fruit and vegetables). While such estates were sufficiently profitable to maintain
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#17328484694657688-550: The destruction, by open cast mining, of the park and formal gardens of Wentworth Woodhouse , Britain's largest country house. The Minister of Fuel and Power, Manny Shinwell , insisted, as 300-year-old oaks were uprooted, that "the park be mined right up to the mansion's door." Meanwhile, plans by the socialist government to wrest the house from its owner, the Earl Fitzwilliam, and convert the architecturally important house for "homeless industrial families" were only abandoned at
7812-417: The early 20th century there was no firmly upheld legislation to protect what is now considered to be the nation's heritage. Additionally, public opinion did not have the sentiment and interest in national heritage that is evident in Britain today. When the loss of Britain's architectural heritage reached its height at the rate of one house every five days in 1955, few were particularly interested or bothered. In
7936-399: The early 20th century, the demolition accelerated, while rebuilding largely ceased. The demolitions were not confined to England, but spread throughout Britain. By the end of the century, even some of the "new" country houses by the architect Edwin Lutyens had been demolished. There were a number of reasons: social, political and, most importantly, financial. In rural areas, the destruction of
8060-827: The eleventh hour when Earl Fitzwilliam, through the auspices of his socialist sister , agreed to its conversion to a college—a lesser fate. This was the political climate in which many families abandoned the houses their families had owned for generations. The apathy towards the nation's heritage continued after the passing of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 , even though this was the most comprehensive law pertaining to planning legislation in England. The 1947 Act went further than its predecessors in dealing with historic buildings, as it required owners of property to notify their local authority of intended alterations, and more significantly, demolitions. This caught any property which may have escaped official notice previously. Theoretically, it gave
8184-486: The estate that had to be paid, but also to include closer heirs liable to payment. By 1815, the tax was payable by all except the spouse of the deceased. In 1853, a new tax was introduced, " succession duty ". This not only resulted in tax being payable on all forms of inheritance, but also removed several loopholes to avoid paying inheritance taxes. In 1881 "probate duty" became payable on all personal property bequeathed at death. The wording personal property meant that for
8308-557: The exception of James Lees-Milne , the noted biographer and historian of the English country house) and the demolition went ahead unchallenged. The mid-1950s, which should have been regulated by the above Acts, was the era in which most houses were legitimately destroyed, at an estimated rate of one every five days. The demolition finally began to noticeably slow following the passing of the Town and Country Planning Act 1968 . This Act compelled owners to seek and wait for permission to demolish
8432-511: The figure is proportionally higher. There, 378 architecturally important country houses have been demolished, 200 of these since the end of World War II in 1945. Included in the destruction were works by Robert Adam , including Balbardie House and the monumental Hamilton Palace . One firm, Charles Brand of Dundee, demolished at least 56 country houses in Scotland in the 20 years between 1945 and 1965. In England, it has been estimated that one in six of all country houses were demolished during
8556-463: The first time not only the house and its estate were taxed but also the contents of the house including jewellery – these were often of greater value than the estate itself. By 1884 estate duty taxed property of any manner bequeathed at death, but even when the Liberal government in 1894 reformed and tidied the complicated system at 8% on properties valued at over one million pounds, they were not punitive to
8680-464: The harbour, a real tennis court, a large guest house (The White House), a boathouse and a chapel; alterations and extensions to Howth Castle , County Dublin ; the unbuilt Hugh Lane gallery straddling the River Liffey on the site of the Ha'penny Bridge and the unbuilt Hugh Lane Gallery on the west side of St Stephen's Green ; and Costelloe Lodge at Casla (also known as Costelloe), County Galway (that
8804-469: The idea that as the bells were silent the British rule would never come to an end. At one time, more than 2,000 people were required to care for the building and serve the Viceroy's household. The new city contains both the Parliament buildings and government offices (many designed by Herbert Baker) and was built distinctively of the local red sandstone using the traditional Mughal style. When composing
8928-443: The immediate aftermath of World War II , to the British public still suffering from the deprivations of food rationing and restriction on building work the destruction of these great redundant houses was of little interest. From 1914 onwards there had been a huge exodus away from a life in domestic service; having experienced the less restricted and better-paid life away from the great estates, few were anxious to return – this in itself
9052-590: The incidence of lost great residences is higher, naturally enough, than anywhere in the countryside. Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens OM KCIE PRA FRIBA ( / ˈ l ʌ t j ə n z / LUT -yənz ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944 ) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses , war memorials and public buildings. In his biography,
9176-499: The large deer park belonging to the manor. Speedway also took place from 1947 to 1950 and greyhound racing ceased in the early sixties after the site became housing in the area immediately above Bourne Brook (Dama Road today). 52°36′32″N 1°42′47″W / 52.609°N 1.713°W / 52.609; -1.713 Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain The destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain
9300-435: The later years of his life, Lutyens suffered with several bouts of pneumonia . In the early 1940s he was diagnosed with cancer . He died on 1 January 1944 and was cremated at East Finchley Crematorium in north London, also known as St Marylebone Crematorium. His ashes were interred in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral , beneath a memorial designed by his friend and fellow architect William Curtis Green . Lutyens received
9424-430: The list to notify the newly formed Ancient Monuments Board of any proposed alterations, including demolition. The board then had the authority, if minded, to recommend that Parliament place a preservation order on a building, regardless of the owner's wishes, and thus protect it. Like its predecessors, the 1913 Act deliberately omitted inclusion of inhabited buildings, whether they were castles or palaces. The catalyst for
9548-480: The list, plus a further fourteen having their statuses upgraded. For the Imperial Tobacco Company 's First World War memorial, installed in 1921 at its Bedminster Head Office, this protection arrived too late to prevent its destruction following the company's take-over in 1986 by Hanson Trust plc . The architectural critic Ian Nairn wrote of Lutyen's Surrey "masterpieces" in the 1971 Surrey volume of
9672-411: The local authority the opportunity to impose a preservation order on the property and prevent demolition. Under this law the Duke of Bedford was fined for demolishing half of Woburn Abbey without notification, although it is inconceivable that the duke would have been able to demolish half of the huge house (much of it visible from a public highway) without attracting public attention until the demolition
9796-438: The mansion and provide a partial—if not complete—income, the agricultural depression from the 1870s onwards changed the viability of estates in general. Previously, such holdings yielded at least enough to fund loans on the large debts and mortgages usually undertaken to fund a lavish lifestyle, often spent in entertaining both on the country estate and "in town", in the family's large house of equal status in London . By 1880,
9920-402: The nation's heritage was a large contributory factor to the indifference that met the destruction. There were, however, reasons other than public indifference. Successive legislation involving national heritage, often formulated by the aristocracy themselves, had omitted any reference to private houses. The main reasons that so many British country houses were destroyed during the second half of
10044-470: The owner provided no protection to the building: even the wealthier owners became keen to free themselves of not only the expense of a large house, but also the trappings of wealth and privilege which the house represented. Thus, it was not just the smaller country houses of the gentry which were wiped from their – often purposely built – landscapes, but also the huge ducal palaces. Alfred Waterhouse 's Gothic Eaton Hall , owned by Britain's wealthiest peer,
10168-469: The peoples of the Indian sub-continent which would now be considered racist, although they were common at the time among many of his contemporaries. He thought the Indian Indo-Saracenic style was "formless, not of carved decoration, an anathema...hardly qualified as architecture at all." Endless battles were fought between him and Viceroy Hardinge over architectural style: Lutyens wanted classical,
10292-404: The plans for New Delhi, Lutyens planned for the new city to lie southwest of the walled city of Shahjahanbad . His plans for the city also laid out the street plan for New Delhi consisting of wide tree-lined avenues. Built in the spirit of British colonial rule, the place where the new imperial city and the older native settlement met was intended to be a market. It was there that Lutyens imagined
10416-457: The popularity of the new lifestyle magazine Country Life created by Edward Hudson , which featured many of his house designs. Hudson was a great admirer of Lutyens's style and commissioned Lutyens for a number of projects, including Lindisfarne Castle and the Country Life headquarters building in London, at 8 Tavistock Street . One of his assistants in the 1890s was Maxwell Ayrton . By
10540-466: The preservation of Tyntesfield in 2002, and in 2007, Dumfries House and its collection were saved, after protracted appeals and debates. Today, demolition has ceased to be a realistic, or legal, option for listed buildings, and an historic house (particularly one with its contents intact) has become recognized as worthy of retention and preservation. However, many country houses are still at risk, and their security, even as an entirety with their contents,
10664-430: The public should have access to the monuments preserved at its expense. While the catalogue of buildings worthy of preservation was to expand, it remained restrictive, and failed to prevent many of the early demolitions, including, in 1925, the export to the USA of the near ruinous Agecroft Hall . This fine half-timbered example of Tudor domestic architecture, was shipped, complete with its timbers, wattle and daub, across
10788-567: The seat of the Government of India . In recognition of his contribution, New Delhi is also known as " Lutyens' Delhi ". In collaboration with Sir Herbert Baker , he was also the main architect of several monuments in New Delhi such as the India Gate ; he also designed the Viceroy's House, which is now known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan . Many of his works were inspired by Indian architecture. He
10912-431: The so-called Long Depression had led some holders into financial shortfalls as they tried to balance maintenance of their estate with the income it provided. Some relied on funds from secondary sources such as banking and trade while others, like the severely impoverished Duke of Marlborough , sought American heiresses. The country houses have been described as "power houses", from which their owners controlled not only
11036-425: The tax made a surprise return on incomes above £150, while still known as a "temporary tax". It was never again repealed. Throughout the 19th century, tax thresholds remained high, permitting the wealthy to live comfortably while paying minimal tax; until in 1907, H. H. Asquith introduced 'differentiation', a tax designed to be more punitive to those with investments rather than an earned income, which directly hit
11160-627: The tax. However, if the heir had died single and intestate, the former owner would become the owner again, and when that owner died, the death taxes would have to be paid. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 was the first serious attempt in Britain to catalogue and preserve ancient British monuments. While the Acts failed to protect any country houses, the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 provided one important factor which saved many monuments of national importance by making provision for owners of ancient monuments (on list of
11284-522: The turn of the century, Lutyens was recognised as one of architecture's coming men. In his major study of English domestic buildings, Das englische Haus , published in 1904, Hermann Muthesius wrote of Lutyens, "He is a young man who has come increasingly to the forefront of domestic architects and who may soon become the accepted leader among English builders of houses". The bulk of Lutyens's early work consisted of private houses in an Arts and Crafts style, strongly influenced by Tudor architecture and
11408-407: The vast surrounding estates, but also, through political influence, the people living in the locality. Political elections held in public before 1872 gave suffrage to only a limited section of the community, many of whom were the landowner's friends, tradesmen with whom he dealt, senior employees or tenants. The local landowner often not only owned an elector's house, but was also his employer, and it
11532-403: The victims of changing fashions. The difference in the 20th century was that the acts of demolition were often acts of desperation and last resort; a demolished house could not be valued for probate duty. A vacant site was attractive to property developers, who would pay a premium for an empty site that could be rebuilt upon and filled with numerous small houses and bungalows, which would return
11656-463: The writer Christopher Hussey wrote, "In his lifetime (Lutyens) was widely held to be our greatest architect since Wren if not, as many maintained, his superior". The architectural historian Gavin Stamp described him as "surely the greatest British architect of the twentieth (or of any other) century". Lutyens played an instrumental role in the construction of New Delhi , which would later on serve as
11780-860: Was Lutyens's idea for the taller monument. The design took less than six hours to complete. Lutyens also designed many other war memorials, and others are based on or inspired by Lutyens's designs. Examples of Lutyens's other war memorials include the War Memorial Gardens in Dublin, the Tower Hill memorial , the Manchester Cenotaph and the Arch of Remembrance memorial in Leicester. Lutyens also refurbished Lindisfarne Castle for its wealthy owner. One of Lutyens's smaller works, but considered one of his masterpieces,
11904-453: Was Sir Frederick Gibberd . In 1945, a year after his death, A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon Hull was published. Lutyens worked on the plan with Sir Patrick Abercrombie and they are credited as its co-authors. Abercrombie's introduction in the plan makes special reference to Lutyens's contribution. The plan was, however, rejected by Hull City Council . He was also involved in
12028-669: Was a change in public opinion. This was in part brought about by the Destruction of the Country House exhibition held at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in 1974. The response to this highly publicised exhibition was very positive; for the first time the public, rather than a few intellectual bodies, became aware that country houses were an important part of the national heritage and worthy of preservation. Today, over 370,000 buildings are listed, which includes all buildings erected before 1700 and most constructed before 1840. After that date
12152-450: Was a further reason that life in the English country house was becoming near impossible to all but the very rich. Another consideration was education. Before the late 1950s and the advent of the stately home business, very few working-class people had seen the upstairs of these great houses; those who had were there only to clean and serve, with an obligation to keep their eyes down, rather than uplift them and be educated. Thus ignorance of
12276-437: Was after the end of the war, as the government handed back the requisitioned, war-torn and frequently dilapidated mansions to their often demoralised and impoverished owners; it was during a period of not just mounting taxation, to pay for a costly war, but also a time when it seemed all too clear that the old order had passed. In this political climate, many felt it the only option to abandon their ancestral piles. Thus, following
12400-598: Was built in 1/12 scale and is now a permanent exhibit in the public area of Windsor Castle . It was not conceived or built as a plaything for children; its goal was to exhibit the finest British craftsmanship of the period. Lutyens was commissioned in 1929 to design a new Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool . He planned a vast building of brick and granite, topped with towers and a 510-foot (160 m) dome, with commissioned sculpture work by Charles Sargeant Jagger and W. C. H. King . Work on this building started in 1933, but
12524-416: Was complete. Indifference on the part of local authorities and the public resulted in poor enforcement of the Act, and revealed the true root of the problem. When in 1956 Lord Lansdowne notified the "Ministry of Housing and Government" of his intention to demolish the greater part and corps de logis of Bowood designed by Robert Adam , no preservation society or historical group raised an objection (with
12648-517: Was destroyed before World War II could have been saved. The Town and Country Planning Act 1932 was chiefly concerned with development and new planning regulations. However, amongst the small print was Clause 17, which permitted a town council to prevent the demolition of any property within its jurisdiction. This unpopular clause clearly intruded on the "Englishman's home is his castle" philosophy, and provoked similar aristocratic fury to that seen in 1911. The Marquess of Hartington thundered: "Clause 17
12772-668: Was elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild in 1933. Lutyens was born in Kensington , London, the tenth of thirteen children of Mary Theresa Gallwey (1832/33–1906) from Killarney , Ireland, and Captain Charles Augustus Henry Lutyens (1829–1915), a soldier and painter. His sister, Mary Constance Elphinstone Lutyens (1868–1951), wrote novels under her married name of Mrs George Wemyss. He grew up in Thursley , Surrey. He
12896-584: Was exemplified in 1911 when the immensely wealthy Duke of Sutherland acting on a whim wished to dispose of Trentham Hall , a vast Italianate palace in Staffordshire . After failing to offload the house onto a local authority, he decided to demolish it. The small, but vocal, public resistance to this plan caused the Duke of Rutland to write an irate letter to The Times accusing the objectors of "impudence" and going on to say "....fancy my not being allowed to make
13020-575: Was forced to surrender to the state, in lieu of death duties, one of England's most historic country houses, Hardwick Hall , now owned by the National Trust . The Devonshires' London house, Devonshire House had been demolished in 1920, and its site redeveloped. The Town and Country Planning Act 1944 , with the end of World War II in sight, was chiefly concerned with the redevelopment of bomb sites, but contained one crucial clause which concerned historic buildings: it charged local authorities to draw up
13144-433: Was from an area outside of his influence. Thus the national power of the landed aristocrats and gentry was slowly diminished. The ruling class was slowly ceasing to rule. In 1888 the creation of local elected authorities in the form of county councils eroded their immediate local power too. The final blow, the Parliament Act 1911 , proved to be the beginning of the end for the country house lifestyle which had been enjoyed in
13268-520: Was halted during World War II . After the war, the project ended due to a shortage of funding, with only the crypt completed. A model of Lutyens's unrealised building was given to and restored by the Walker Art Gallery in 1975 and is now on display in the Museum of Liverpool . The architect of the present Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral , which was built over part of the crypt and consecrated in 1967,
13392-516: Was moveable, both internal and external, was auctioned off and the house sold, narrowly escaping demolition. It was saved by being transformed into a school. Less fortunate was Clumber Park , the principal home of the Dukes of Newcastle. Selling the Hope Diamond and other properties failed to solve the family problems, leaving no alternative but demolition of the huge, expensive-to-maintain house, which
13516-567: Was named after a friend of his father, the painter and sculptor Edwin Henry Landseer . Lutyens studied architecture at South Kensington School of Art , London, from 1885 to 1887. After college he joined the Ernest George and Harold Peto architectural practice. It was here that he first met Sir Herbert Baker . For many years he worked from offices at 29 Bloomsbury Square , London. He began his own practice in 1888, his first commission being
13640-437: Was no reason for public interest or concern; the same magazine had frequently published in-depth articles on new country houses being built, designed by fashionable architects such as Lutyens . As far as general opinion was concerned, England's great houses came and they went; as long as their numbers remained, continuing to provide local employment, the public were not largely concerned. The Country Life advertisement, however,
13764-457: Was not prudent for the voter to be seen publicly voting against his local candidate. The Third Reform Act of 1885 widened the number of males eligible to vote to 60% of the population. Males paying an annual rental of £10, or holding land valued at £10 or over, were now eligible to vote. The other factor was the reorganization of constituency boundaries, and a candidate who for years had been returned unopposed suddenly found part of his electorate
13888-552: Was owned from the time of the Norman conquest by the Bassett family until in the 13th century. The male line failed and Margaret Bassett, heiress to the estate, married Edmund Lord Stafford. The estate remained in the ownership of the Earl of Stafford until the attainder and execution of the Duke of Buckingham (the 7th Earl) in 1483, when it passed to the Crown. Thereafter several owners included
14012-595: Was placed on the 2002 World Monuments Fund Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. None of the bungalows in the LBZ were designed by Lutyens—he only designed the four bungalows in the Presidential Estate surrounding Rashtrapati Bhavan at Willingdon Crescent, now known as Mother Teresa Crescent. Other buildings in Delhi that Lutyens designed include Baroda House , Bikaner House , Hyderabad House , and Patiala House . In recognition of his architectural accomplishments for
14136-562: Was rarely acceptable to the government. As late as 1975, the British Labour government refused to save Mentmore , thus causing the dispersal, and emigration, of one of the country's finest art collections. In the 1960s, historians and public bodies had begun to realise the loss to the nation of this destruction. However, the process of change was long, and it was not until 1984 with the preservation of Calke Abbey that it became obvious that opinion had changed. A large public appeal assured
14260-473: Was razed to the ground in 1938, leaving the Duke without a ducal seat. Plans to rebuild a smaller house on the site were never executed. Other high-ranking members of the peerage were also forced to off-load minor estates and seats; the Duke of Northumberland retained Alnwick Castle , but sold Stanwick Park in North Yorkshire to be demolished, leaving him with four other country seats remaining. Likewise
14384-447: Was razed to the ground in 1963, and replaced by a smaller modern building. Sixteen years earlier the Duke of Bedford had reduced Woburn Abbey to half its original size, destroying façades and interiors by both Henry Flitcroft and Henry Holland . The Duke of Devonshire saved Hardwick Hall by surrendering it to H.M. Treasury in lieu of death duties, which were charged at up to 80% of the total value of an estate, but this solution
14508-416: Was that country houses were left unprotected by any compulsory legislation. The Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 was the first Act which had the aim of deliberately preserving ancient monuments built since prehistoric times. The act clearly defined a monument as "Any structure or erection other than one in ecclesiastical use." Furthermore, the Act compelled the owner of any monument on
14632-459: Was the case at West Wycombe Park . From around 1900, interior woodwork, including complete panelled rooms and staircases and fittings such as chimneypieces , secured an avid market among rich Americans. In rare cases, complete houses were disassembled, stone by stone, and reassembled in the US; an example is Agecroft Hall , a Lancashire house sold at auction in 1925, dismantled, crated and shipped across
14756-596: Was the only requirement, its house would then be let or neglected, often both. This was certainly the case at Tong Castle (see below) and many other houses. A large unwanted country house unsupported by land quickly became a liability. Income tax was first introduced in Great Britain in 1799 as a means of subsidising the Napoleonic Wars . While not imposed in Ireland, the rate of 10% on the total income, with reductions only possible in incomes below £200, immediately hit
14880-509: Was the result of a change in social conditions: many country houses of varying architectural merit were demolished by their owners. Collectively termed by several authors "the lost houses", the destruction of these now often-forgotten houses has been described as a cultural tragedy. The British nobility had been demolishing some of their country houses since the 15th century, when comfort replaced fortification as an essential need. For many, demolishing and rebuilding their country homes became
15004-469: Was third daughter of Edith (née Villiers) and the 1st Earl of Lytton , a former Viceroy of India . Lady Emily had proposed to Lutyens two years before the wedding, and her parents disapproved of the marriage. Their marriage was largely unsatisfactory, practically from the start, with Lady Emily developing interests in theosophy , Eastern religions, and being drawn both emotionally and philosophically to Jiddu Krishnamurti . They had five children: During
15128-439: Was to prove a hint of things to come. Before World War I only a few houses were demolished, but the pace increased: by 1955, one house was being demolished every five days. As early as 1944, the trustees of Castle Howard , convinced there was no future for Britain's great houses, had begun selling the house's contents. Increasing taxation and a shortage of staff meant that the old way of life had ended. The wealth and status of
15252-426: Was to sell part of the landed estate, especially if had been purchased in order to expand political territory. In fact, the buying of land in earlier times, before the reforms of 1885, to expand political territory had had a detrimental effect on country houses too. Often when a second estate was purchased to expand another, the purchased estate also had a country house. If the land (and its subsequent local influence)
15376-681: Was used for refuge by J. Bruce Ismay , the Chairman of the White Star Line , following the sinking of the RMS Titanic ). In 1907, Lutyens designed Tranarossan House , located just north of Downings on the Rosguill Peninsula on the north coast of County Donegal . The house was built of local granite for Mr and Mrs Phillimore, from London, as a holiday home. In 1937, Mrs Phillimore donated it to An Óige (Irish Youth Hostels Association) for
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