page_title: Charles Barry
section_title: Country house work
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Barry / Country house work
caption_attribution_description: Highclere Castle
context_page_description: Sir Charles Barry FRS RA was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens. He is known for his major contribution to the use of Italianate architecture in Britain, especially the use of the Palazzo as basis for the design of country houses, city mansions and public buildings. He also developed the Italian Renaissance garden style for the many gardens he designed around country houses.
context_section_description: A major focus of his career was the remodelling of older country houses. His first major commission was the transformation of Henry Holland's Trentham Hall in Staffordshire, between 1834 and 1840. It was remodelled in the Italianate style with a large tower (a feature Barry often included in his country houses). Barry also designed the Italianate gardens, with parterres and fountains. Largely demolished in 1912, only a small portion of the house, consisting of the porte-cochère with a curving corridor, and the stables, are still standing, although the gardens are undergoing a restoration. Additionally, the belvedere from the top of the tower survives as a folly at Sandon Hall.
  Between 1834 and 1838, at Bowood House, Wiltshire, owned by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Barry added the tower, made alterations to the gardens, and designed the Italianate entrance lodge. For the same client, he designed the Lansdowne Monument in 1845. Walton House in Walton-on-Thames followed in 1835–39. Again Barry used the Italianate style, with a three-storey tower over the entrance porte-cochère (which was demolished 1973). Then, from 1835 to 1838, he remodelled Sir Roger Pratt's Kingston Lacy, with the exterior being re-clad in stone. The interiors were also Barry's work.
  Highclere Castle, Hampshire, with its large tower, was remodelled between about 1842 and 1850, in Elizabethan style, for Henry Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon. The building was completely altered externally, with the plain Georgian structure being virtually rebuilt. However, little of the interior is by Barry, because his patron died in 1849 and Thomas Allom completed the work in 1861. At Duncombe Park, Yorkshire, Barry designed new wings, which were added between in 1843 and 1846 in the English Baroque style of the main block. At Harewood House he remodelled the John Carr exterior between 1843 and 1850, adding an extra floor to the end pavilions, and replacing the portico on the south front with Corinthian pilasters. Some of the Robert Adam interiors were remodelled, with the dining room being entirely by Barry, and he created the formal terraces and parterres surrounding the house.
  Between 1844 and 1848, Barry remodelled Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland, Scotland, in Scots Baronial Style, for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland for whom he had remodelled Trentham Hall. Due to a fire in the early 20th century, little of Barry's interiors survive at Dunrobin, but the gardens, with their fountains and parterres, are also by Barry. Canford Manor, Dorset, was extended in a Tudor Gothic style between 1848 and 1852, including a large entrance tower. The most unusual interior is the Nineveh porch, built to house Assyrian sculptures from the eponymous palace, decorated with Assyrian motifs.
  James Paine's Shrubland Park was remodelled between 1849 and 1854, including an Italianate tower and entrance porch, a lower hall with Corinthian columns and glass domes, and impressive formal gardens based on Italian Renaissance gardens. The gardens included a 70-foot (21 m)-high series of terraces linked by a grand flight of steps, with an open temple structure at the top. Originally there were cascades of water either side of the staircase. The main terrace is at the centre of a string of gardens nearly 1 mile (1,600 m) in length.
  Between 1850 and 1852, Barry remodelled Gawthorpe Hall, an Elizabethan house situated south-east of the small town of Padiham, in the borough of Burnley, Lancashire. It was originally a pele tower, built in the 14th century as a defence against the invading Scots. Around 1600, a Jacobean mansion had been dovetailed around the pele, but today's hall is re-design of the house, using the original Elizabethan style.
  Barry's last major remodelling work was Cliveden House, which had been the seat of the Earl of Orkney from 1696 till 1824. Barry's remodelling was again on behalf of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. After the previous building was burnt down (1850–51), Barry built a new central block in the Italianate Style, rising to three f
caption: Highclere Castle, north front
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK DX6440 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "169", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/350", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:08:26 10:54:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:08:26 10:54:52", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "17/2", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "11/2", "EXIF Tag 0x9215": "100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1015", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "764", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "33", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}