Kedleston Hall was Brettingham's opportunity to prove himself capable of designing a house to rival Holkham Hall. The opportunity was taken from him by Robert Adam who completed the North front (above) much as Brettingham designed it, but with a more dramatic portico.

Kedleston Hall is an English country house in Derbyshire, approximately four miles north-west of Derby, and is the seat of the Curzon family. Today it is a National Trust property. Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. ... Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. ... Holkham Hall. ... Kedleston Hall. ... Categories: Architectural elements | Stub ... Holkham Hall, one of the grandest English country houses not only displayed the owners fashionable and cultivated tastes, but was the epicentre of a vast landed estate, providing employment to hundreds The English country house is generally accepted as a large house or mansion, once in the ownership of an... Derbyshire (pronounced Dar-bee-shur) is a county in the East Midlands of England, which boasts some of Englands most attractive scenery. ... Derby (pronounced dar-bee ) is a city in the East Midlands of England. ... The Curzon line was a boundary line proposed in 1919 by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, as a border between Poland, to the west, and Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine, to the east. ... The standard of the National Trust The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as The National Trust, NT or The Trust, is an organisation which works to preserve and protect coastline, countryside and buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ...

The Curzon family have owned the estate at Kedleston since at least 1297 and have lived in a succession of manor houses near to or on the site of the present Kedleston Hall. The present house was commissioned by Sir Nathaniel Curzon (later 1st Lord Scarsdale) in 1759. The house was designed by the Palladian architects James Paine and Matthew Brettingham and was loosely based on an original plan by Andrea Palladio for the never-built Villa Mocenigo. The at-this-time relatively unknown architect Robert Adam was designing some garden temples to enhance the landscape of the park, and so impressed was Curzon with Adam's designs, that Adam was quickly put in charge of the construction of the new mansion. An Estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. ... Events 8 January - Monaco gains independence. ... A manor house is a country house, which has historically formed the centre of a manor (see Manorialism). ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect, also known as a building designer, is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction, whose role is to guide decisions affecting those building aspects that are of aesthetic, cultural or social concern. ... James Paine (1717-1789) was an English architect. ... Holkham Hall. ... Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio (November 30, 1508 - August 19, 1580), or Andrea di Pietro della Gondola, was an architect born in Padua, Italy. ... Kedleston Hall. ... The word temple has different meanings in the fields of architecture, religion, geography, anatomy, and education. ... Mansion near Almelo, The Netherlands A mansion is a large and stately dwelling house. ...

External design

Kedleston Hall. The South front by Robert Adam, based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome

The design of the three-floored house is of three blocks linked by two segmentally curved corridors. The ground floor is rusticated, while the upper floors are of smooth dressed stone. The central, largest block contains the state rooms and was intended for use only when there were important guests in the house. The East block was a self-contained country house in its own right containing all the rooms for the family's private use, and the identical West block contained the kitchens and all other domestic rooms and staff accommodation. Plans for two more pavilions (as the two smaller blocks are known) of identical size, and similar appearance were not executed. These further wings were intended to contain, in the south east a music room, and south west a conservatory and chapel. Externally these latter pavilions would have differed from their northern counterparts by large glazed Serlian windows on the piano nobile of their southern facades. Here the blocks were to appear as of two floors only; a mezzanine was to have been disguised in the north of the music room block. The linking galleries here were also to contain larger windows, than on the north, and niches containing classical statuary. Kedleston Hall. ... Kedleston Hall. ... The Arch of Constantine seen from the Colosseum The arch seen from Via Triumphalis Detail of the arch (southern side, left) The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1... Facade of the Palazzo del Te clearly showing rusticated stonework between the pilasters Rustication is an architectural term referring to the cutting of ashlar. ... A State Room in a large European mansion, is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed to impress, they were the most luxurious in the house and contained the finest works of art. ... Pavilion, in the English language (derived from French, pavillon) can refer to any structure large or small, however there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure. ... A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ... A mezzanine is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building; it is often low-ceilinged, and often projects in the form of a balcony. ...

If the great north front, approximately 107 metres in length, is Palladian in character, dominated by the massive, six-columned Corinthian portico, then the south front (illustrated right) is pure Robert Adam. It is divided into three distinct sets of bays, the central section is a four-columned, blind triumphal arch (based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome) containing one large, pedimented glass door reached from the rusticated ground floor by an external, curved double staircase. Above the door, at second floor height, are stone garlands and medallions in relief. The four Corinthian columns are topped by classical statues. This whole centre section of the facade is crowned by a low dome visible only from a distance. Flanking the central section are two identical wings on three floors, each three windows wide, the windows of the first-floor piano nobile being the tallest. Adam's design for this facade contains huge 'movement' and has a delicate almost fragile quality. A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ... The Corinthian order as used for the portico of the Pantheon, Rome provided a prominent model for Renaissance and later architects, through the medium of engravings. ... Categories: Architectural elements | Stub ... Arc de Triomphe, Paris A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental archway, usually built to celebrate a victory in war. ... The Arch of Constantine seen from the Colosseum The arch seen from Via Triumphalis Detail of the arch (southern side, left) The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. ... Kedleston Hall. ...

Interior

A cross section through the hall and saloon

The neoclassical interior of the house was designed by Adam to be no less impressive than the exterior. Entering the house through the great north portico on the piano nobile, one is confronted by the marble hall designed to suggest the open courtyard or atrium of a Roman villa. Twenty fluted alabaster columns with Corinthian capitals support the heavily decorated, high-coved cornice. Niches in the walls contain classical statuary; above the niches are grisaille panels. The floor is of inlaid Italian marble. Matthew Paine's original designs for this room intended for it to be lit by conventional windows at the northern end, but Adam, warming to the Roman theme, did away with the distracting windows and lit the whole from the roof through innovative glass skylights. A cross section through the hall and saloon. ... A cross section through the hall and saloon. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the Jin Mao Building. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Roman villa. ... Grisaille (Fr. ...

If the hall was the atrium of the villa, then the adjoining saloon was to be the vestibulum. The saloon, contained behind the triumphal arch of the south front, like the marble hall rises the full height of the house, 62 feet to the top of the dome, where it too is sky-lit through a glass oculus. Designed as a sculpture gallery, this circular room was completed in 1763. The decorative theme is based on the temples of the Roman Forum with more modern inventions: in the four massive, apse-like recesses are stoves disguised as pedestals for classical urns. The four sets of double doors giving entry to the room have heavy pediments supported by alabaster columns, and at second floor height, grisaille panels depict classical themes. Vestibule can have the following meanings: A large entrance, reception area, antechamber, or room A small room or passage that connects the outer door of a building to the interior of the building An area in a train where people get on and off. ... Oculus is the Latin word for eye. ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum, although the Romans referred to it more often as the Forum Magnum or just the Forum) was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place. ... This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. ...

From the saloon, the atmosphere of the 18th-century Grand Tour continues throughout the remainder of the principal reception rooms on the piano nobile, though on a slightly more modest scale. The 'principal apartment', or State bedroom suite, contains fine furniture and paintings as does the drawing room with its huge Venetian window; the dining room, with its gigantic apse, has a ceiling that Adam based on the Palace of Augustus in the Farnese Gardens. The theme carries on through the library, music room, down the grand staircase (not completed until 1922) onto the ground floor and into the so called 'Caesar's hall'. On the departure of guests, it must sometimes have been a relief to vacate this temple of culture and retreat to the relatively simple comforts of the family pavilion. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800 in the Gregorian calendar. ... In the 18th century, the Grand Tour was a kind of education for wealthy British noblemen. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Also displayed in the house are many curiosities pertaining to Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India at the beginning of the 20th century, including his collection of Far Eastern artifacts. Also shown is Lady Curzon's Delhi Durbah Coronation dress of 1903. Designed by Worth of Paris, it was known as the peacock dress for the many precious and semi-precious stones sewn into its fabric. These have now been replaced by imitation stones; however, the effect is no less dazzling. George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (January 11, 1859 - March 20, 1925), was a conservative British statesman and sometime Viceroy of India. ... A viceroy is somebody who governs a country or province as a substitute for the monarch. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A coronation is a ceremony marking the investment of a monarch with regal power through, amongst other symbolic acts, the placement of a crown upon his or her head. ... Look up Worth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Worth is the name of several places in the United States: Worth in Illinois Worth Township in Cook County, Illinois Worth Township in Woordford County, Illinois Worth Township in Indiana Worth Township in Michigan Worth in Missouri Worth County in Missouri Worth...

In addition to that described above, this great country house contains collections of art, furniture and statuary. Kedleston Hall's alternative name, The Temple of the Arts, is truly justified.

Gardens and grounds

A sketch by Robert Adam for the Fishing Room and Boat House at Kedleston. Circa 1769

The gardens and grounds, as they appear today are largely the concept of Robert Adam. Adam was asked to Nathaniel Curzon in 1758 to "take in hand the deer park and pleasure grounds". The landscape gardener William Emes had begun work at Kedleston in 1756, and he continued in Curzon's employ until 1760; however, it was Adam who was the guiding influence. It was during this period that the former gardens designed by Charles Bridgeman were swept away in favour of a more natural looking landscape. Bridgeman's canals and geometric ponds were metamorphosed into serpentine lakes. Sketch by Robert Adam circa 1769. ... Sketch by Robert Adam circa 1769. ... Kedleston Hall. ... Charles Bridgeman (1690-1738) was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. ...

Adam designed numerous temples and follies, many of which were never built, those that were include the North lodge which takes the form of a triumphal arch, the entrance lodges in the village, a bridge, cascade and the Fishing Room. The Fishing Room is one of the most noticeable of the parks buildings, in the neoclassical style it is sited on the edge of the upper lake and contains a cold bath and boat house below. Some of Adam's unexecuted design for follies in the park rivalled in grandeur the house itself. A "View Tower" designed in 1760, 84 feet high and 50 feet wide on five floors, surmounted by a saucer dome flanked by the smaller domes of flanking towers it would have been a small neoclassical palace itself. Adam planned to transform even mundane utilitarian buildings into architectural wonders, a design for a pheasant house (a platform to provide a vantage point for the game shooting) became a domed temple, the roofs of its classical porticos providing the necessary platforms; this plan too was never completed. Broadway Tower, England The folly at Wimpole Hall, England In architecture, a folly is an extravagant, useless, or fanciful building, or a building that appears to be something other than what it is. ... A typical gate keepers lodge at Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, England Lodge has several meanings that, in most cases, relates to a place of meeting: A place of residence A ski lodge within the snow fields; A hotel, especially with a rustic or wilderness theme and situated outside a city; A... A cascade is a term for a waterfall, or series of waterfalls, and is applied abstractly to many different concepts involving a series of steps or effects that follow one after the other. ... Saucer dome is the architectural term used for a low pitched shallow dome. ... St Peters Basilica, Rome A dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. ... The quintessential medieval European palace: Palais de la Cité, in Paris, the royal palace of France. ...

In the 1770s [[George Richardson designed the hexagonal summerhouse, and in 1800 the orangery. The Long Walk was laid out in 1760 and planted with flowering shrubs and ornamental trees. In 1763 it was reported that Lord Curzon had given his gardener a seed from rare and scarce Italian shrub, the "Rodo Dendrone" (sic). Wildflowers Flower (Latin flos, floris; French fleur), a term popularly used for the bloom or blossom of a plant, is the reproductive structure of those plants classified as angiosperms (flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). ... A willow shrub A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

The gardens and grounds today over two hundred years later remain mostly unaltered.

See also

A description of 'Government House', based on the original designs for Kedleston, can be found at Calcutta. This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ...

External links

• Kedleston Hall information at the National Trust
• Kedleston Hall Garden - information on garden history,