NHER 3546 (Monument record) - Houghton Hall

The house was started in 1722 and completed in 1735 to the designs of Colen Campbell with involvement from Thomas Ripley, James Gibbs and William Kent. The house was built for the first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. The hall is a key building in the development of the Palladian style of architecture in England. The hall is built from fine ashlar from Whitby.
See (S1) for further details.
S. Howard (NLA), 15 June 2010.

1722 to 35 in a derivative of Palladian style, on the site of a Jacobean hall.
Front and rear flights of steps removed in late 18th century, but set at rear replaced 1973.
House in Aislaby sandstone, stables in carrstone with brick groin-vaulting and interior courtyard with fountain.
For full details see (S2) and official guide.
Some damage by damp and plaster cracking in walls.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU) 2 June 1977.

Grounds by Charles Bridgeman, see NHER 30463 for details.
E. Rose (NAU).

However for the preceding hall see NHER 12678.
The Northern pavilion wing is in fact only a shell, having been burnt out in the early 19th century. Its cupola is supported on buttresses.
E. Rose (NAU) 31 January 1980.

For extremely complex description, including ceiling said to have been reproduced from original house, and chapel converted to gymnasium, see Listing (Grade I) and also for stables (Grade I), see (S2).
Kitchen garden is grade II, see (S2).
E. Rose (NAU) 28 October 1985.

1989 to 1992. NAU/NLA air photography.
Parchmarks of former ornamental garden in lawns of present house.
D. Edwards (NAU).

(S3) states that Colen Campbell dated the building to 1722 to 1723, but his plate in Vitruvius Britannicus shows the building quite different, not as built. Was Campbell trying to claim the glory for a Palladian building when he was only altering designs by Gibbs? The ceilings were designed by Kent in 1725 to 1731 using 'grotesque' models in the Topham collection. The external stairs were removed in 1780 to fit the new fashion of no piano nobile.
E. Rose (NLA) 4 December 1995.

Full programme of restoration took place in 1995.
E. Rose (NLA) 26 July 1996.

For further details of the North pavilion see architects report in file.
The buttresses are the original room walls part cut away. It is noteworthy that the post fire blocking walls are of bricks mostly with horizontal skintlings but also some diagonals. Is this due to reuse of bricks or does it indicate the fire was around 1780?
E. Rose (NLA) 29 October 1999.

(S4) shows a peculiar building of one storey and dormers, in two divisions, in front of the unfinished hall. Is this part of the earlier hall, or simply a cover used by the builders during construction?
E. Rose (NLA) 30 January 2001

List of aerial photographs and press cuttings in file.
Architects plans of stables and wings (1992) in file.
E. Rose (NLA)

19 July 1996. NLA air photography (S5).
Photographs taken of hall and gardens, parchmarks of gravel paths and fleur de lys garden feature are visible on lawn.
S. Massey (NLA), 30 April 2001.

29 July 1996. NLA air photography (S6).
Hall and gardens visible, including cropmarks of formal gardens.
H. Clare (NLA), 2 May 2001.

December 2010. Planning Application.
Planning permission has been sought to carry out internal alterations to the kitchen, pantry and store areas.
See (S7).
Z. Dack (HES), 24 February 2011.

December 2012, Planning Application.
Refurbishment of existing spaces within the south pavilion to provide a new dining room, an exhibition space and a new kitchen. New raised ground level to the courtyard.
See (S8) for further details
Z. Dack (HES), 27 February 2013.