Creating Paradise The Building of the English Country House, 1660-1880

by Wilson, Richard; Mackley, Alan

• ISBN13: 9781852852528
• ISBN10: 1852852526
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-05
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Building or rebuilding their houses was one of the main concerns of the English nobility and gentry, some might say their greatest achievement. This is the first book to look at the building of country houses as a whole. Creating Paradise shows why owners embarked on building programmes, often following the Grand Tour or excursions around other houses in England; where they looked for architectural inspiration and assistance; and how the building work was actually done. It deals not only with great houses, including Holkham and Castle Howard, but also the diversity of smaller ones, such as Felbrigg and Dyrham, and shows the cost not only of building but of decorating and furnishing houses and of making their gardens. Creating Paradise is an important and original contribution to its subject and a highly readable account of the attitude of the English ruling class to its most important possession.

Author Biography

Richard Wilson is Reader in Economic History at the University of East Anglia.

Alan Mackley is an authority on the economic history of country house building.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vii
Illustration Acknowledgements	xiii
Abbreviations	xv
Preface	xvii
The English Country House	1	(10)
The Builders of the Country House	11	(36)
The Inspiration of Travel	47	(62)
Architect and Patron	109	(36)
A Pleasure Not to be Envied	145	(54)
The Pattern of Building	199	(34)
The Cost of the Country House	233	(64)
Building and Finance	297	(56)
Afterword	353	(8)
Appendix	361	(4)
Notes	365	(42)
Index	407