Read Online Private Life in Britain's Stately Homes by Michael Paterson - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Paterson
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Triomphe in Paris was at one time destined to be occupied by a giant statue of an elephant, which visitors could climb, and the gardens of Versailles and Tivoli and Peterhof contain trick fountains that squirt the unwary. Yet among the British upper class there is a long tradition of eccentricity, and this has sometimes found expression in their houses.
‘The Pineapple’ is in Scotland, near the town of Falkirk. It is on an estate formerly owned by an aristocratic family: the Murrays, Earls of Dunmore. In 1761 they had a hothouse built in the Palladian style on the edge of a walled garden. It was a long structure on two storeys, the lower of which was for the growing of the exotic fruit in a tropical climate provided by furnaces and air-ducts. The floor above was for the accommodation of the gardeners. When the 4th Earl, who served as Governor of New York until the outbreak of the American Revolution, returned to Scotland he commissioned an addition – a stone pineapple some 46 feet tall, with a room inside that would form a cupola and act as a summerhouse. No one is entirely sure who designed and built it, though opinion favours Sir William Chambers, an architect who contributed much to the beauty both of Scottish country houses and to the New Town of Edinburgh. The Pineapple is perfect in its botanical detail – as is to be expected, when specimens of the fruit were growing only feet away in the hothouse beneath. It is built of the same limestone as the rest of the building, and sits like a crown over the entrance arch, perfectly symmetrical with the rest of the building, and looking as if it had always been intended to be there. It is so cleverly contrived that water cannot collect anywhere on the segmented surface or among the leaves, to form ice and thus crack the stone in cold weather. One of the most splendidly exotic buildings in Europe, the Pineapple is a tribute both to the man who commissioned it and to the one who created it. It now belongs to the National Trust for Scotland but can be rented by members of the public as a holiday home (they stay in the gardeners’ cottages to either side of the actual fruit).
Because it has always been a trading nation, Britain has for centuries been open to influences from all parts of the world. It is commonplace in British country houses to find a mix of styles recalling the travels of a past owner, who brought back drawings, plans or even stonework and architectural features to beautify his family home. This was especially the case during the heyday of the Grand Tour ( c .1660–1840s), when young aristocrats, after finishing their studies at school or university, were sent on a circular tour of the European continent to make what they could of the treasures of antiquity. From Paris they travelled to Rome, then to Naples and Herculaneum to view the ruins of Pompeii. They returned via Germany and the Low Countries. In an age of difficult and expensive travel this was a once-in-a-lifetime look at the world before they settled down, to run their estate or sit in Parliament. It was not only an education but a shopping trip, for they brought home antiquities by the shipload. (Literally, in some cases. If a young man had bought some large and cumbersome statuary he might be able, through parental influence or the good offices of a British Consul, to have it conveyed by any naval vessel conveniently in port.)
The influence of these journeys is everywhere to be seen in the ‘stately homes of England’. It is visible, for instance, in the entrance hall at Holkham Hall in Norfolk which, with its marble floors, alabaster columns and coffered ceiling, was modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. The paintings that decorate many houses also bear witness to the Grand Tour. Canvases by Pompeo Batoni (1708–87), showing fashionably dressed young men lounging against ancient statuary, are owned by a number of aristocratic British families. Even more well known are the Venetian views of
‘The Pineapple’ is in Scotland, near the town of Falkirk. It is on an estate formerly owned by an aristocratic family: the Murrays, Earls of Dunmore. In 1761 they had a hothouse built in the Palladian style on the edge of a walled garden. It was a long structure on two storeys, the lower of which was for the growing of the exotic fruit in a tropical climate provided by furnaces and air-ducts. The floor above was for the accommodation of the gardeners. When the 4th Earl, who served as Governor of New York until the outbreak of the American Revolution, returned to Scotland he commissioned an addition – a stone pineapple some 46 feet tall, with a room inside that would form a cupola and act as a summerhouse. No one is entirely sure who designed and built it, though opinion favours Sir William Chambers, an architect who contributed much to the beauty both of Scottish country houses and to the New Town of Edinburgh. The Pineapple is perfect in its botanical detail – as is to be expected, when specimens of the fruit were growing only feet away in the hothouse beneath. It is built of the same limestone as the rest of the building, and sits like a crown over the entrance arch, perfectly symmetrical with the rest of the building, and looking as if it had always been intended to be there. It is so cleverly contrived that water cannot collect anywhere on the segmented surface or among the leaves, to form ice and thus crack the stone in cold weather. One of the most splendidly exotic buildings in Europe, the Pineapple is a tribute both to the man who commissioned it and to the one who created it. It now belongs to the National Trust for Scotland but can be rented by members of the public as a holiday home (they stay in the gardeners’ cottages to either side of the actual fruit).
Because it has always been a trading nation, Britain has for centuries been open to influences from all parts of the world. It is commonplace in British country houses to find a mix of styles recalling the travels of a past owner, who brought back drawings, plans or even stonework and architectural features to beautify his family home. This was especially the case during the heyday of the Grand Tour ( c .1660–1840s), when young aristocrats, after finishing their studies at school or university, were sent on a circular tour of the European continent to make what they could of the treasures of antiquity. From Paris they travelled to Rome, then to Naples and Herculaneum to view the ruins of Pompeii. They returned via Germany and the Low Countries. In an age of difficult and expensive travel this was a once-in-a-lifetime look at the world before they settled down, to run their estate or sit in Parliament. It was not only an education but a shopping trip, for they brought home antiquities by the shipload. (Literally, in some cases. If a young man had bought some large and cumbersome statuary he might be able, through parental influence or the good offices of a British Consul, to have it conveyed by any naval vessel conveniently in port.)
The influence of these journeys is everywhere to be seen in the ‘stately homes of England’. It is visible, for instance, in the entrance hall at Holkham Hall in Norfolk which, with its marble floors, alabaster columns and coffered ceiling, was modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. The paintings that decorate many houses also bear witness to the Grand Tour. Canvases by Pompeo Batoni (1708–87), showing fashionably dressed young men lounging against ancient statuary, are owned by a number of aristocratic British families. Even more well known are the Venetian views of
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