This classic panoramic history charts the evolution of the great house through 32 of the most notable residences in England and Wales. It is also a history of great families, seen as part of the houses they created, where their descendants, in many cases, still live today. Original photographs show the unexpected as well as the familiar the private rooms and the servants quarters, the grand exteriors and state rooms, the gardens and noble landscapes. They include some of the most splendid examples of English art and architecture, from awe-inspiring medieval stone to the beauties of the English Renaissance, the classical grandeur of the 18th century and the excesses of the High Victorian taste; illustrating the work of Inigo Jones, John Vanbrugh, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Thomas Chippendale, William Kent, Robert Adam and Lancelot Capability Brown. Full of memorable characters and anecdotal insight, this book is a glorious tribute to what Evelyn Waugh called 'our chief national artistic achievement'.
- ISBN10 1780672322
- ISBN13 9781780672328
- Publish Date 6 October 2014 (first published 1 October 1994)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 6 May 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Laurence King Publishing
- Format Hardcover
- Language English