REGENCY COUNTRY HOUSE: FROM THE ARCHIVES OF COUNTRY LIFE

"For over a hundred years, Country Life has recorded the country houses of Britain, and its weekly, illustrated articles form a unique and unrivalled archive. Now John Martin Robinson has drawn on this invaluable resource to provide a comprehensive survey of the key English country houses from the 1790s to 1830 - the dates conventionally considered to be 'Regency'." "Divided into three main parts, The Regency Country House first looks at buildings that reflect the Regency taste in architecture at its grandest: the princely palaces and houses associated with the Prince Regent himself, from Carlton House and Brighton Pavilion to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, as well as other houses on a magnificent scale, such as Ashridge, Chatsworth and Belvoir Castle." "The second part focuses on the aristocrats who built vast castles and Tudor Gothic and Graeco-Roman houses with astonishingly opulent interiors.^ Here are Eaton Hall, 'the most extravagant Gothic house of the Regency period', Penrhyn Castle in North Wales, a virtuoso demonstration of entrepreneurial wealth, and Tregothnan in Cornwall, set in a splendidly Picturesque landscape. The final section looks at gentlemen's houses, such as Southill in Bedfordshire, Sheringham Hall in Norfolk, designed by Repton for unostentatious living, and Luscombe in Devon, which survives with its original contents and landscaped park." "The book also illustrates work by leading country house architects, including the Wyatt dynasty, Henry Holland, John Nash, C.R. Cockerell, Robert Smirke, William Wilkins, Thomas Hopper, Humphry Repton and Sir John Soane - as well as regional designers such as Dobson of Newcastle and Webster of Kendal.^ Important architectural themes of the Regency, the development of the Graeco-Roman style associated originally with the Wyatts, the Gothic Revival, the Picturesque and the cottage orne, and the role of Thomas Hope are also examined." "With two hundred colour and black-and-white photographs, specially selected to highlight major houses and their architects, and an authoritative commentary by John Martin Robinson, this book provides an overview of the Regency period and its legacy."--Jacket.