Sunday, 22 February 2009

Silverton Park


Landmark Trust
The house known as Silverton Park was erected for the 4th Earl of Egremont from 1839-45. Put out at inheriting the title but not the great family seat at Petworth, he determined to build a mansion to rival Petworth. His architect, James Thomas Knowles Senior, designed a huge house with 187 rooms, 150 cellars and 130 marble mantelpieces occupying an acre of ground. But the Earl died in 1845, the interior was never fully completed and after only 50 years it was totally demolished. Only the unfinished stable block remains.
The scale of all the buildings at this great house was such as to impress, and the stables are no exception. They were built in equally monumental style with a huge gateway and four pediments. The exterior was originally intended to be rendered in a ‘Patent Metallic Cement’.
Design for a house for the Earl of Egremont, Silverton, Devon:
longitudinal section through the hall
(RIBA)

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