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description=Explore the architectural history of the UK s country houses and stately homes;

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re determined to ensure that the houses were reborn albeit in a new way of living for others they were equally determined that that they would not pass what they saw as a burden to another generation in the specific losses to a family and a locality and to our architectural heritage they were to be lamented but in all of them they possessed something of our shared heritage and their loss and the losses of the future are pieces of the national jigsaw of our identity as simon jenkins said through them we hear the echo of our collective selves and remember who we are 2 we remember these parts of our history through the memory of these houses and the roles they played in the life of our nation both locally and nationally request for help if anyone has any further information on the lost country houses of england either history dates for losses or family photos or recollections please do contact me references 1 campbell sophie brideshead detonated telegraph magazine 20 01 2007 2 jenkins simon england s thousand best houses penguin 2004 vii share this share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest print opens in new window print like loading architectural history news aldous huxley architecture country house country life magazine demolition destruction of the country house england giles worsley history ian gow john harris landscape lost houses marcus binney northern ireland peter reid scotland simon jenkins social change united kingdom victoria albert museum wales 50 years on from the destruction of the country house exhibition at the v a october 23 2024 matthew beckett the country seat 5 comments below is the first of two exclusive articles marking the 50th anniversary this piece delves into the inception of the exhibition and offers some additional reflections the next article to be published shortly will provide an eagerly anticipated update on current research efforts to identify all the lost houses featuring some significant news on the total count on 9 october 1974 on the day before the second general election of that year the first visitors started making their way to the victoria albert museum to view the newly opened exhibition the destruction of the country house 1875 1975 passing through the grand entrance to the monumental museum and then along the stately corridors would have heightened the shock as they entered a room to be faced with the toppling columns and seemingly endless photos of similar architecture which had been so ruthlessly demolished however as bad as the situation seemed might the losses though deeply regrettable have been a catalyst for a better future for the country house hall of lost houses from the 1974 destruction of the country house exhibition at the v a image robin wade victoria albert museum reproduced by kind permission immersed in designer robin wade s collapsing neo classical portico and as the late john harris voice grimly intoned a roll call of the fallen they may have wondered how such destruction could have been allowed robin wade v a museum gone going going 10 th march 1974 image robin wade victoria albert museum reproduced by kind permission to survey the country houses losses in the uk over the last century is to be staggered as to the diversity of beauty and history which has been destroyed that s not to say that everything that s been built should or can be preserved but the sustained pattern of losses of country houses was cumulatively one of the largest of a particular building type since the dissolution of the monasteries although each loss was individual collectively it was certain to be noticed and mourned as the then head of the v a roy strong considered the situation it was clear that the time had come to raise awareness of the losses but could it also help prevent further destruction for strong working with marcus binney and john harris the aim of the emotionally charged exhibition was to draw the public s attention to the country house as a major part of our national heritage showing the tragic losses over the last century stressing the need to preserve important houses with their contents and setting intact emphasising the positive achievements over the past twenty five years and forcibly pointing to the problems that lie in the future strong also wrote that the threatened wealth and inheritance taxes if applied to historic house owners will see the end of a thousand years of english history and culture as pell mell the contents are unloaded into the saleroom the houses handed over to the government or demolished i can t tell you the horrors looming unless one fights and intrigues at every level behind the scenes the v a exhibition was a landmark in a number of ways rarely has an exhibition in a major national museum been so overtly polemical and political the observer newspaper stated that it was the most emotive propagandist exhibition ever to grace a public museum s walls the daily mirror took a rather more dismissive tone rather snarkily observing that gad our stately homes are grim life in britain s stately homes is becoming simply too awful for the coronet set dukes baronets and earls have to use buckets to catch rain dripping through the roofs they shiver in front of electric fires because the central heating is faulty roger todd daily mirror 9 october 1974 the stark reality of life in the country house had been at the forefront of roy strong s mind when considering their presentation in a letter from strong dated 24 june 1974 to sir osbert lancaster the social cartoonist and proposed contributor to the exhibition he highlighted some of the threats to the country house in the twentieth century including taxes loss of heirs in wwi partial demolition or dereliction sales of art land everything motorways urban expansion conversion to some other purpose even the national trust before culminating in opening to the public roy strong to osbert lancaster 21 june 1974 v a archive ma 28 243 1 although the tone is ambiguous flippant or haughty depending on your perspective it is interesting that many of the eventual solutions to the problem of the demolition of country house are included conversion to alternative uses be it offices schools or hotels has saved hundreds of houses the national trust have been saviours of some of the crown jewels and helped to change the narrative around the purpose of the country house this has included developing new ways to engage the public and future generations and continuing to do so solidifying the cultural foundation of the country house as part of our national recreational and cultural identity the november 1974 general election ushered in a new labour government during the midst of turbulent economic times a government which would be considering how to implement their manifesto commitment of a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families it was a bold move by the v a to try to defend the mansions of the wealthy but this was also a collective national heritage even if privately owned counter intuitively by highlighting that another strand of the national fabric was not only fraying but had serious holes it may have skilfully blended into general concerns about the overall fate of the nation the v a was not acting alone as adrian tinniswood highlights in noble ambitions 1974 was the year in which the country house owners got organised john cornforth s report country houses in britain can they survive published that year by the then almost activist country life magazine painted a dramatic picture of the almost perfect storm which he felt might have led to a crisis within 8 15 years but was now looming large in the immediate future despite his pessimism cornforth later wrote the country houses of england 1948 1998 in which he strikes a much happier tone saying the history of the english houses in the past twenty five years has proved to be infinitely more positive and the view of the future more optimistic than seemed conceivable at the time of the destruction of the country house exhibition when their very existence was threatened by new taxes back in 1974 cornforth s rather gloomy views were echoed elsewhere in june lord grafton qualifications duke of grafton chairman of spab member of historic buildings council the national trust s historic buildings representative in the east of england and owner of euston hall spoke in the house of lords to raise with his noble friends fellow house owners and the government that the proposed wealth tax and a transfer tax to replace death duties spelled disaster for the country house the influential times newspaper editorial also weighed in and the newly formed lobby group the historic houses association emphasised the economic benefits whilst also organising a petition which garnered a remarkable 1 25m signatures this level of public support was in some ways unsurprising given that by 1972 43 million visits were made to the 800 houses and ancient monuments open to the public looking back now the assumption seemed to be that owners of country houses had almost a right to perpetually live in them and that the state should subsidise this there is an argument that the state should look after the interests of all subjects to a greater or lesser extent but the preservation of the institution of the country house was certainly presented as one where protecting the elite benefited the nation tapping into a deep cultural reserve of respect or deference rightly or wrongly the destruction of the country house exhibition poster v a archive ma 24 132 produced by peter branfield for her majesty s stationary office reproduced with kind permission of dr oliver cox v a so although the exhibition was one of the most high profile actions in defence of the country house it was not without wider support and deep foundations a preservationist ley line can be drawn through the exhibition connecting it to historic buildings and ancient monuments act of 1953 which extended heritage protection to inhabited buildings leading to a dramatic decline in the number of houses being lost although there were other earlier voices raised in defence of our built heritage including sir john vanbrugh s argument in 1709 to preserve woodstock manor of particular note was philip kerr the 11th marquess of lothian 1882 1940 who was the catalyst for the national trust act of 1937 which created the country houses scheme which saved so many more houses from destruction also intersecting our ley line is the establishment of the various amenity societies the victorian society in 1958 the georgian group in 1937 the ancient monuments society in 1924 and the society for the protection of ancient buildings in 1877 it s also worth noting that the dates referenced in the title of the exhibition extended into the future if by only a year the implication was that the destruction was still an on going process to be feared though this underestimated the almost immediate positive impact that it would have the genesis of the exhibition was usefully covered in a blog article i wrote for the 40th anniversary which i would recommend if you d like some further thoughts the exhibition exemplified the challenge of the definition of the reason for the country house was it a home a rural business or museum or did by the nature of the sometimes competing sometimes intersecting interests of the owners society and the state demand it be all these at once legislation crafted to protect or promote one aspect may impinge on the ability for it to fulfil its other roles creating a tension which actively threatened the long term sustainability of the house yet one reason the exhibition was so successful and had such a positive impact was that it also gave hope despite the tone of strong s letter to osbert lancaster displays showed how country houses could be adapted to survive with many a house escaping demolition through conversion to a school offices or hospitality sensitive sub division into apartments by thoughtful developers such as kit martin also offered long term solutions indeed a number of kit martin s conversions such as gunton park burley on the hill and stoneleigh abbey are still prized today view of the south front of stoneleigh abbey warwickshire which was converted into apartments in the late 1990s by kit martin image stoneleigh abbey events john harris not only credits the demonstration of alternative uses but also that there was grant support though this has now been largely removed as giles worsley noted in his magisterial book england s lost houses 2002 that by the time the exhibition opened the tide had already turned and the numbers of houses being lost had abated the demolition of large houses such as warter priory yorkshire in 1972 or the threatened total loss of the grange hampshire even if it was gutted was now more of an outlier than a regular occurrence south front of warter priory yorkshire which was significantly enlarged by the architects smith and broderick of hull for lord nunburnholme demolished 1972 image lost heritage perhaps most importantly for country house conservation the preservation of our wider architectural heritage was the founding of save britain s heritage in 1975 by marcus binney one of the co curators of the exhibition binney has been an immense presence in campaigning across the country not only to fight for specific buildings but to change attitudes and the whole perception of the value of our nation s architecture although he has been rightly recognised with an obe and cbe how he has not been given a knighthood for his work is one of those inscrutable mysteries sadly the other curator john harris died in 2022 and will rightly be remembered as a brilliant architectural historian with a sparkling wit and enormous fount of stories particularly relating to his post war exploration of these derelict mansions that the country house remains an easily accessible and deeply symbolic cultural touchpoint is a testament to strength of the concept even though it is now rightly subject to a more honest examination of the history a greater transparency only adds to the weight of interest in the houses and their extraordinary past creating a flywheel effect to support further research this doesn t diminish the shorthand that the country house represents beauty tradition continuity to ensure that the concept of the country house remains viable it has to be refreshed and reinterpreted this synthesis of the realities of the present and the inheritance of the past is what creates new opportunities for the country house not only as an area of academic study or as place of public culture and entertainme...