Castle Howard
Castle Howard in North Yorkshire is one of the grandest and most imposing country houses in Britain, an enormous baroque palace designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor for the third Earl of Carlisle in the early eighteenth century that dominates its parkland setting with a confidence and authority matched by very few English country houses. The house was begun in 1699 and the main building completed by 1712, with additional wings added later in the century, and the combination of the great domed central hall, the baroque facade and the carefully composed landscape of lakes, temples and architectural features in the park creates one of the most complete examples of baroque country house design in England.
Vanbrugh, who had no architectural training before receiving this commission and had previously worked as a playwright and soldier, brought to the project a theatrical imagination and instinct for dramatic effect that resulted in a building quite unlike any other in England. The central cupola rising above the main hall, the long colonnaded wings flanking the entrance courtyard and the confident orchestration of mass and void across the south front create an impression of palatial grandeur that overwhelmed contemporary observers and has continued to inspire admiration across three centuries.
The house became internationally famous as the setting for Granada Television's 1981 adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh's novel of aristocratic Catholic life in England, and the association with this television production has brought many visitors who wish to see the location of a story that made a powerful impression on an entire generation of viewers. The house's appearance in numerous other productions since has consolidated its status as a filming location as well as a historical attraction.
The grounds of Castle Howard contain a remarkable series of garden buildings including Vanbrugh's Temple of the Four Winds, the Mausoleum designed by Hawksmoor and the Ray Wood woodland garden that contains one of the finest collections of species rhododendrons and ornamental trees in the north of England.