Cliefden House, in Buckinghamshire, was another of these noblemen's "palaces," with "arching galleries and a magnificent main staircase with carved stair parts " joining the offices to the house. It stood upon an enormous terrace described by Campbell as 433 ft. long and 24 ft. high, the front of which consisted of a series of alcoves or niches, flanked at either end by a flight of steps (Fig. 11,L). The original house has entirely disappeared, and has been replaced by one of excellent design by Charles Barry. Merely the terrace. somewhat altered, and the dwarf walls of the lay out remain, and Wynne's work can only be judged from Campbell's elevations and from old prints.
The consideration of these two houses brims vividly before the mind the completeness of the change that had come over domestic architecture during the course of the seventeenth century. The description of Buckingham House from contemporary pens (one of them that of the owner himself) gives an air of 7aisenrblanre to Campbell's cold illustrations. The "arching galleries " indicate a disposition of plan which vo as being adopted in many large houses, and was for another half century employed in order to impart stateliness to what otherwise might have been a rather bald design. The idea of this arrangement was to have a central block containing the principal rooms, and to flank it at some distance on each side by a subsidiary block connected to the main structure by curved Staircase with carved stair parts colonnades-the "arching galleries.
Planning of the Larger Mansions
Buckingham House. These outlying blocks contained the offices wit a magnificent curved entrance staircase with carved stair parts for access, which Never sometimes the kitchens, sometimes the stables, and occasionally the library or chapel. The -inconvenience of the arrangement is obvious ; under it compactness was sacrificed to appearance. If these outliers looked out on to the approach, their windows embarrassed the access to the front door. If they looked the other way, they turned their dull backs upon the main approach. Indoor suitable for a kitchen had to be balanced by similar windows in the stables which were not suitable ; or, as an alternative, sham windows were employed. Designers found themselves obligated to resort to classic designs on stair parts.
Stair Parts Fig 115 Plan of Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire
devices of one kind or another, which sacrificed the convenience of one block in order to assimilate it in appearance to the other. Nor did the Sacrifice stop here ; it affected more or less the whole house. The mistaken claims of " architecture" led to the external appearance being considered as of the first importance ; the internal convenience was modified to suit it. -Not infrequently rooms were wrongly placed, wrongly lighted, awkwardly shaped, given a bad aspect, or otherwise ill-handled, in order to preserve the symmetry and proportion of the exterior. The placing of the kitchen in a distant block, connected perhaps by an open colonnade, must have been a great inconvenience both to the family and the servants. But inconvenience counted for little so long as an imposing edifice and design of its fittings like the Grand staircase was impressive and of the classic design was secured.
The introduction of this particular form of plan, with a central block, two outlying wings, and connecting colonnades staircase with impressive carved stair parts, the design is associated with the name of Inigo Jones and the house of Stoke Brucrne, in Northampton shire. According to Bridges, the county historian, "the house was built by Sir Francis Crane, who brought the design from Italy, and in the execution of it received the assistance of Iniao [ones. It consists of a body and two wings, joined by corridores or galleries see plan, Fig. 115" The pillars which support the galleries leading to the wings, are red and of a different colour from the house. . . . The house was begun about the year 163o and finished before 1636, during which interval he gave an entertainment here to the King and Queen." I Colin Campbell, however, says that the building was begun by Inigo. who made the wings, colonnades, and all the foundations, and that owing to the interruption caused by the Civil War the front was designed by "another architect." He puts the date at 1640. Bridges' account is circumstantial, and lie was a careful historian ; but Campbell's elevation shows the body of the house treated in a different manner from the wings, and so far supports his statement. Unfortunately this part of the building was burnt down in 1886 and a magnificent curved staircase with carved stair parts lost, and the opportunity of comparing the differences in the work itself is lost.
Stair Parts Fig. 116 Bethleham Hospital
Design of Staircase Stair Parts Used at Stoke Bruen, Northants
Both authorities concur in placing the date as early as somewhere between 163o and 1640, which was quite half a century before this type of plan became at all popular. Nevertheless among Webb's drawings, which cover at least thirty years of the half century, there are several instances in which it is employed ; and even the practical and level-headed Wren has a plan of this type among his drawings at All Souls College, Oxford (see Fig. 100). The genesis of this particular form is of interest inasmuch as it was widely adopted in the eighteenth century; so much so that Isaac Ware in his "Complete Body of Architecture," published in 1756, lays down various rules for its disposition and proportions, and recommends its adoption as raising a house out of the commonplace and making it handsome without being necessarily pompous.
Stair Parts Fig. 117 Catherine Court, Tower Hill, London
Among the more notable examples of this type of plan may be mentioned Burley on the Hill, in Rutland, where a low curved colonnade is thrust out on each side to a great distance without serving any particular object beyond that of obtaining an appearance of grandeur this was one of the earlier applications of the idea, dating from late in the seventeenth century: Easton 'Bridges' "History of Northampton shire,' Stair Parts re Colas i, p. 328 ROBERT HOOKE Neston, in Northampton shire, dated 1-02, which will be described presently ;, Cottesbrooke, in the same county, built in the early part of the eighteenth century ; Kelmarsh, a not very distant neighbor of Cottesbrooke, designed by Gibbs and replacing a picturesque Jacobean house ;1 Seaton Delaval, in North umberland, designed stair parts by Vanbrugh about 1,-20, of which the two wings alone remain in use ; Houghton. in Norfolk, begun in 1722 ; Holkham, in the same county, begun in 1734: and Kedlestone, in Derbyshire, dating from 1761 : the last three of which design of stair parts that will be referred to at greater length in a subsequent chapter.
Wren was not the only man of science of his time who became an architect ; there we as his acquaintance, Robert Hooke, three years his junior, and, like himself, the son of a parson. Hooke was almost as versatile a genius as Wren, but it was as a mathematician that he achieved most reputation. He was connected with the Royal Society at its inception, and was appointed curator of experiments. The great fire of London appears to have turned his attention to architecture ; indeed that event, owing to the necessity it imposed of a vast amount of urgent rebuilding, seems to have led into the paths of architecture men whose previous training, although not architectural, qualified them even slightly for the work.
Doubtless Hooke's mathematics pointed him out as being not unsuitable to become a city surveyor, besides we hick he had submitted a plan to the Royal Society for the rebuilding of London, which received much commendation from the lord mayor and corporation, who asked that it might be submitted to the king. In this direction, however, he had been forestalled by Wren with his fine scheme. In the end nothing came of either of the suggestions.
Hooke appears to have made a considerable fortune as a surveyor, and he is credited with the design of the staircase stair parts of three important buildings, all of which have disappeared. One of these was Montague House, in Bloomsbury, for Ralph, Lord Montagu, whose country house at Boughton is presently to be described. Hooke's house did not last long; it was begun in 1675 and burnt down in 1686, its successor being designed by the French architect, Puget, whom Lord Montagu may have known during his long residence in France. The second building ascribed to House is the old Bethlem Hospital, likewise begun in 1675 and pulled down in 1814 Stair Parts Fig. 116 ; and the third is Aske's Hospital at Iloxton, begun about 1688. Engravings of the last two buildings ,there is no record of the first staircase (stair parts) design Montagu House) do not lead to the opinion that Hoke was a great master of architecture, although it is true that the long front of Bethlem Hospital is handled in a simple, straightforward manner. He as far behind Wren, but he is interesting as being another whose training led him, under the special conditions of the time, into active practice.
* The curious can compare the appearance of the old house with what Gibbs put in its place by referring to the plates in Bridges' " History of Northampton shire whether the newer design was an improvement, either in appearance or convenience, is open to question.