This
weekend I finally got around to visiting Strawberry Hill House. It’s only a couple
of miles or so away from us, and it's ridiculous but we never been there since
it was opened to the public a few years ago. It's supposed to mark the start of
the Gothic revival in British architecture and it was built over several
decades in the second half of the 18th century. It was finished in 1776, so it
pre-dates the period of my latest book, Burke in the Land of Silver, though not by much.
The house
was built by Horace Walpole, the son of Britain's first Prime Minister. He had
acquired land near the Thames at Twickenham. It was an attractive location,
with many grand houses on the stretch of the river from Kew Palace to Hampton
Court. Neighbours included Henrietta Howard, who had been the mistress of King
George II. Alexander Pope, who had died in 1744 had lived less than half
a mile away and built his famous grotto in Twickenham.
Walpole’s
book, The Castle of Otranto, published
in 1764, is regarded as Britain's first Gothic novel. Walpole was a huge fan of
Gothicism and decided to build himself a small but perfect Gothic palace. The
result is shown in the photo below:
Strawberry Hill House. Photo reproduced under Wiki
Commons licence
Walpole’s grand design stretched as far as the round tower. The small
section that stretches beyond the tower (with an outdoor staircase leading to
the first floor) was built later as a ballroom and other rooms were added to
the original house. The whole thing, as built by Walpole, combined a Gothic
grandeur with a very domestic scale. If you count the windows, you’ll see that
it’s not that large. Indeed, it was intended only as a summer villa and was
closed up in the winter. Staff there will tell you that it is still very cold
on chilly days.
The building was always intended to be open to visitors. Originally it housed
Walpole's impressive collection of art, although one of his descendants sold
all of it off in 1842, having gone bankrupt. The idea was that a journey
through the house should take you from its dark, mysterious entrance hall
through rooms lit by skylights and stained-glass windows, until you arrived in
the great State Rooms, full of light and gilding. The photo below shows the
Gallery. Fifty-six feet long, thirteen wide and seventeen high, this is the
most splendid room in the house. The gold leaf used on the ceiling was the most
expensive single element of the restoration. As with all the other detail in
the house, the Gothic elements have been shamelessly stolen from elsewhere. In
this case, the ceiling is a copy of that in one of the side aisles of the Henry
VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. Although visually convincing, it is not really
a fan vault, since it does not support the roof, being made of papier mache.
The Gallery at Strawberry Hill House.
Originally, the walls here (mostly covered with red damask) would have had a
lot more paintings on them. The paintings were lost when Walpole’s collection
was sold off, although they are gradually being replaced with copies.
The use of other materials to give the effect of stone is common throughout
the building. Many of the apparently stone walls and ceilings are brick and
wood panelling, carefully painted to give the appearance of stone. Similarly,
some of the fireplaces, which may look like stone or marble, are painted wood.
A good example is the chimney piece in the Library. (The painting that would
have hung in the middle has been located and the gap will soon be filled with a
copy of it.) Again, the details are copied from genuinely Gothic elements: in
this case the chimney piece is based on the tomb of John of Eltham Earl of
Cornwall in Westminster Abbey while the stone work is copied from the tomb of
Thomas Duke of Clarence at Canterbury.
The Library.
Our visit to
Strawberry Hill vastly improved a wet and miserable Bank Holiday. I recommend
it.
Nearest station:
Strawberry Hill (from Waterloo). The house is a five to ten minute walk from the
station: follow the sign at the end of each platform.
