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The Last Country Houses
The magnificent country houses built in Britain between 1890 and 1939 were the last monuments to a vanishing age. Many of these great mammoths of domestic architecture were unsuited to the changes in economic and social priorities that followed the two world wars, and rapidly became extinct. Those that survive, however, provide tangible evidence of the life and death if an extraordinarily prosperous age.
This book recounts the architectural and social history of this era, describing the clients, the architects, the styles and accoutrements of the country houses. The people who could afford them--the Carnegies, the Astors, the Leverhulmes--had grown rich by exploiting the new economic opportunities of the age, and the houses they built in the years before the First World War reflect the desire for two contrasting ways of life. The social country house was the setting for the opulent world associated with Edward VII. The romantic country house was simpler, more genuinely rural, for those who wanted to be in closer contact with the countryside and the vanishing rural crafts, or who wanted an idyll of the past that did not suggest the world of the motor car. These traditions lost coherence after the war, and the period ended with a number of spectacular, and often eccentric, houses. Some of the most remarkable were those that not replicated the look of old buildings, but used genuinely old materials and even incorporated whole Tudor buildings moved from other places.
Clive Aslet writes of the immense changes in the way country houses of the period were lived in and used. The shortage of servants, aggravated by the First World War, spurred numerous developments in the technology of the country house--vacuum cleaners, washing machines, telephones and central heating were called upon to replace the army of servants who never returned from the trenches or the factories. Interior decorators, becoming increasingly in vogue, developed the "style Louis Seize" into the last word in Edwardian chic. Gardens came to be seen as integral to the concept of the country house and reconciled formal planning with informal planting.
This fascinating world, so vividly depicted in Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", can now be viewed from a new perspective. "The Last Country Houses" will enlighten and entertain all those interested in glimpsing the lost life style of another age.
This book recounts the architectural and social history of this era, describing the clients, the architects, the styles and accoutrements of the country houses. The people who could afford them--the Carnegies, the Astors, the Leverhulmes--had grown rich by exploiting the new economic opportunities of the age, and the houses they built in the years before the First World War reflect the desire for two contrasting ways of life. The social country house was the setting for the opulent world associated with Edward VII. The romantic country house was simpler, more genuinely rural, for those who wanted to be in closer contact with the countryside and the vanishing rural crafts, or who wanted an idyll of the past that did not suggest the world of the motor car. These traditions lost coherence after the war, and the period ended with a number of spectacular, and often eccentric, houses. Some of the most remarkable were those that not replicated the look of old buildings, but used genuinely old materials and even incorporated whole Tudor buildings moved from other places.
Clive Aslet writes of the immense changes in the way country houses of the period were lived in and used. The shortage of servants, aggravated by the First World War, spurred numerous developments in the technology of the country house--vacuum cleaners, washing machines, telephones and central heating were called upon to replace the army of servants who never returned from the trenches or the factories. Interior decorators, becoming increasingly in vogue, developed the "style Louis Seize" into the last word in Edwardian chic. Gardens came to be seen as integral to the concept of the country house and reconciled formal planning with informal planting.
This fascinating world, so vividly depicted in Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", can now be viewed from a new perspective. "The Last Country Houses" will enlighten and entertain all those interested in glimpsing the lost life style of another age.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 29, 2012
BOTTOM LINE: Another sumptuous look at that rarefied world of the large English country house of the early 20th century, one of my favorite sorts of books to get lost in. Written commentary is a bit long and over-worked, but the over-all attitude isn't too precious, or "cute!", and there are many nice photographs.
The book is itself rather large and unwieldy, and there aren't enough photos for my taste, but for those wanting a nice over-view of the period, histories of some of the more famous architects and their patrons, and a bit of gossip, mixed with some good (if extremely traditional "full view") photos of the houses and a few really interesting interiors, this is a good book.
The book is itself rather large and unwieldy, and there aren't enough photos for my taste, but for those wanting a nice over-view of the period, histories of some of the more famous architects and their patrons, and a bit of gossip, mixed with some good (if extremely traditional "full view") photos of the houses and a few really interesting interiors, this is a good book.
January 13, 2014
This book is filled with wonderful pictures and descriptions not only of the houses but what life was like back in the nineteenth century. Most of these old homes are gone now. I also loved seeing the floor plans of these homes. Anyone interested in homes of this period will want to read this book.
January 27, 2015
What makes a house, what makes a home? Here is a delightful and fascinating text, which assisted by the magnificent archives of Country Life (244 black & white and 37 colour plates), eloquently portrays the pleasure, imagination and challenge of commissioning the building of country houses, and the considerations of architecture and decoration during a series of remarkable periods of change through war, increased social mobility, wage inflation, and technological advance.
The traditional sources of wealth: inheritance, beer and banking, funded many of these new houses; with the newer and racier wealth from stockbroking and company promotion providing some surprises; such as an underwater billiard room for ‘Sir’ (here, Whitaker Wright, who commissioned Witley Park). Fortunes were made, and spent, by wholesalers such as the Leverhulmes. Textiles would not again create the necessary wealth until the invention of synthetic yarns after the First World War. Lawyers (think of Galsworthy’s fictional creation ‘Soames Forsyte’) and other upper-middle class professionals invariably aspired to a considerably more economical, smaller country house.
Technology, and in particular the inventions of the motor car, telegraph, and telephone, changed the social custom and usage of large country houses because from the social perspective the distance over which social calls were made changed significantly; promoting a rapid extinction of the week-long house party of the nineteenth century. “The party is in a state of ceaseless metabolic flux” (p.51, Lord Ernest Hamilton). For how much longer might the ghost of a nun-housekeeper continue to safely, without danger to ‘life’ & limb, roll Double Gloucester cheeses down the avenue at Pinbury Park, Lord Bathurst’s estate (p.226)?
The romanticism (and lack of attention to the bottom line) of the Arts and Crafts movement unsurprisingly plays a significant part throughout this book; doomed, alas, by upholding the maintenance of, not compromise in, ideals. Aslet outlines Waugh’s appropriation of the chapel at Madresfield Court “…perhaps the most complete realisation of Arts and Crafts theory in Britain” (p.250) for the chapel at the fictional ‘Brideshead’. He unemotionally observes how the increased cost of labour acted to simplify and streamline the furnishings of a room, to make quicker to dust, easier and less expensive to maintain. Loss of the visual pleasure of art and purpose conjoined is regretted; gentle amusement at the refusal of owners to give up their hand-filled hot baths is offered. It becomes easy to see how at this time knowledgeable and astute members of lower classes were able to purchase some extremely fine furniture for remarkably light expenditure.
Therein lies the dilemma. A large house that either becomes fossilised in its time, or a stage for visitors’ play acting, loses both integrity and purpose (social cohesion and employment). A nation built entirely of energy efficient compact four bedroomed ‘executive’ brick houses would indeed be terrifyingly impoverished, and, I suspect, immensely lonely. The vast majority of large country houses today have lost their original purposes of status, entertainment, and employment. Yet other than The Duke of Westminster’s magnificent seat at Eaton Hall, in Cheshire, it is difficult to think of any other large country houses owned which maintain the social traditions of being wholly and solely open to privately invited, non-paying, guests.
The traditional sources of wealth: inheritance, beer and banking, funded many of these new houses; with the newer and racier wealth from stockbroking and company promotion providing some surprises; such as an underwater billiard room for ‘Sir’ (here, Whitaker Wright, who commissioned Witley Park). Fortunes were made, and spent, by wholesalers such as the Leverhulmes. Textiles would not again create the necessary wealth until the invention of synthetic yarns after the First World War. Lawyers (think of Galsworthy’s fictional creation ‘Soames Forsyte’) and other upper-middle class professionals invariably aspired to a considerably more economical, smaller country house.
Technology, and in particular the inventions of the motor car, telegraph, and telephone, changed the social custom and usage of large country houses because from the social perspective the distance over which social calls were made changed significantly; promoting a rapid extinction of the week-long house party of the nineteenth century. “The party is in a state of ceaseless metabolic flux” (p.51, Lord Ernest Hamilton). For how much longer might the ghost of a nun-housekeeper continue to safely, without danger to ‘life’ & limb, roll Double Gloucester cheeses down the avenue at Pinbury Park, Lord Bathurst’s estate (p.226)?
The romanticism (and lack of attention to the bottom line) of the Arts and Crafts movement unsurprisingly plays a significant part throughout this book; doomed, alas, by upholding the maintenance of, not compromise in, ideals. Aslet outlines Waugh’s appropriation of the chapel at Madresfield Court “…perhaps the most complete realisation of Arts and Crafts theory in Britain” (p.250) for the chapel at the fictional ‘Brideshead’. He unemotionally observes how the increased cost of labour acted to simplify and streamline the furnishings of a room, to make quicker to dust, easier and less expensive to maintain. Loss of the visual pleasure of art and purpose conjoined is regretted; gentle amusement at the refusal of owners to give up their hand-filled hot baths is offered. It becomes easy to see how at this time knowledgeable and astute members of lower classes were able to purchase some extremely fine furniture for remarkably light expenditure.
Therein lies the dilemma. A large house that either becomes fossilised in its time, or a stage for visitors’ play acting, loses both integrity and purpose (social cohesion and employment). A nation built entirely of energy efficient compact four bedroomed ‘executive’ brick houses would indeed be terrifyingly impoverished, and, I suspect, immensely lonely. The vast majority of large country houses today have lost their original purposes of status, entertainment, and employment. Yet other than The Duke of Westminster’s magnificent seat at Eaton Hall, in Cheshire, it is difficult to think of any other large country houses owned which maintain the social traditions of being wholly and solely open to privately invited, non-paying, guests.
January 2, 2019
This is a great resource and an entertaining read whether you are an architecture buff or just looking for some Downton Abbyesque background. It is full of information, photographs and anecdotes about English social life and the history and design of various styles of country estates.
May 17, 2010
Great story on the decline of servants and the rise of the vacuum cleaner! Lovely photos of old English mansions, kitchens, etc. And floor plans.
September 23, 2010
Very interesting book on the tail end of the big houses building spree in the UK.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews