Holkham Hall: Encyclopedia II - Holkham Hall - Architects and patron

Holkham Hall - Architects and patron

The builder of Holkham was Thomas Coke,^[3] later 1st Earl of Leicester, born in 1697. A cultivated, wealthy man, he had made the Grand Tour in his youth, being away from England for six years between 1712 and 1718. It is thought he first met Burlington, the aristocratic architect at the forefront of the Palladian revival movement in England, and William Kent in Italy in 1715; it is possible that there in the original home of Palladianism, the idea of a new mansion at Holkham was conceived. Returning to England with not only a newly acquired library but also art and sculpture collections with which to furnish the planned new mansion, Coke made disastrous investments in The South Sea Company. The resultant notorious losses when the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720 were to delay the building of Coke's planned new country estate for over ten years. Coke, who had been created Earl of Leicester in 1744, died in 1759 five years before the completion of Holkham, having never fully recovered his financial losses.

Although Colen Campbell was employed by Thomas Coke in the early 1720s, the oldest existing working and construction plans for Holkham were drawn by Matthew Brettingham under the supervision of Thomas Coke, in 1726. These followed the guidelines and ideals for the house as defined by Kent and Burlington. The Palladian revival style chosen was at this time making its return in England. The style had made a brief appearance in England, before the Civil War, introduced by Inigo Jones, but following the Restoration had been replaced in popular favour by the Baroque style. The "Palladian revival", popular in the 18th century, was loosely based on the appearance of the works of the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio. It did not, however, adhere to his strict rules of proportion. The style eventually evolved into what is generally referred to as Georgian, still popular in England today. It was the chosen style for numerous houses in both town and country. Holkham is exceptional for its severity of design, and closer (than most) adherence to Palladio's ideals.

Thomas Coke, who masterminded the project, delegated the on-site architectural duties to the local Norfolk architect Matthew Brettingham, who was employed to be the on-site clerk of works. Brettingham also seems to have been the retained estate architect prior to this date. William Kent was mainly responsible for the interiors of the Southwest pavilion, or family wing block, particularly the Long Library. Kent also produced a variety of alternative exteriors, suggesting a far richer decoration than Thomas Coke wanted. In 1734, the foundations were begun, and building was to continue for thirty years until in 1764 the great house was completed.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Architects and patron", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki