A highly detailed look at the English country house interior offering unprecedented access to
England s finest rooms. In this splendid book renowned historian Jeremy Musson explores the
interiors and decoration of the great country houses of England offering a brilliantly
detailed presentation of the epitome of style in each period of the country house including
the great Jacobean manor house the Georgian mansion and the Gothic Revival castle. For the
first time houses known worldwide for their exquisite architecture and decoration--including
Wilton Chatsworth and Castle Howard--are seen in unprecedented detail. With intimate views of
fabric gilding carving and furnishings the book will be a source of inspiration to interior
designers architects and home owners and a must-have for anglophiles and historic house
enthusiasts.The fifteen houses included represent the key periods in the history of English
country house decoration and cover the major interior fashions and styles. Stunning new color
photographs by Paul Barker-who was given unparalleled access to the houses-offer readers new
insights into the enduring English country house style. Supplementing these are unique
black-and-white images from the archive of the esteemed Country Life magazine. Among the
aspects of these that the book covers are: paneling textile hangings (silks to cut velvet)
mural painting plasterwork stone carving gilding curtains pelmets heraldic decoration
classical imagery early upholstered furniture furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale
carved chimney-pieces lass use of sculpture tapestry carpets picture hanging collecting
of art and antiques impact of Grand Tour taste silver use of marble different woods the
importance of mirror glass boulle work English Baroque style Palladian style neo-Classical
style rooms designed by Robert Adam Regency Gothic Revival taste Baronial style French
18th century style and room types such as staircases libraries dining rooms parlors
bedrooms picture galleries entrance halls and sculpture galleries.Houses covered include:
Hatfield - early 1600s (Jacobean) Wilton - 1630 40s (Inigo Jones) Boughton - 1680 90s
(inspired by Versailles) Chatsworth -1690 early 1700s (Baroque) Castle Howard - early 1700s
(Vanbrugh) Houghton - 1720s (Kent) Holkham - 1730s-50s (Palladian) Syon Park - 1760s (Adam)
Harewood - 1760s 70s (neo-Classical) Goodwood - 1790s 1800s (neo-Classical Regency) Regency
at Chatsworth Wilton C Howard etc - 1820 30s Waddesdon Manor - 1870 80ss (French Chateau
style) Arundel Castle -1880s 90s (Gothic Revival) Berkeley Castle - 1920 30s (period
recreations and antique collections) Parham House - 1920s 30s (period restorations and antique
collections). The range is from the early 17th century to present day drawn from the
authenticated interiors of fifteen great country houses almost all still in private hands and
occupied as private residences still today. The book shows work by twentieth-century designers
who have helped evolve the country house look including Nancy Lancaster David Hicks Colefax
& Fowler and David Mlinaric
