Warwick Draper the local historian commends Richard Boyle, fourth Earl of Cork and third Earl of Burlington (1695-1753) as 'The Architect Earl' who 'devoted his skill, his patronage and his purse to the erection of a villa which visitors in 1732 reported as 'both within and without a fine bijou' and which still survives as one of the most beautiful things in the London area.' Supposedly Horace Walpole, with unusual generosity, said of Burlington that he possessed 'every quality of a genius and an architect, except envy.' Burlington initially employed Colen Campbell but William Kent (also one of Augusta's and later George III's architects) shared the design of the main house which was completed in 1736 with Campbell (who died in 1729). In the three-part structure, Campbell designed the north-eastern villa and Kent the south-western summer parlour and the connecting entrance hall.

The house was a place for entertainment and display. The Earl's living quarters were in the adjoining Jacobean mansion. There was quantity and quality on display including works of: Holbein; Rembrandt; Leonardo; Titian; Velasquez; Zucchero (a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots); Vandyke (including Charles I and his family); Van Eyk's triptych of the Holy Family... The parties went on for something like 200 years. Your webmaster's father recounted attending a public ball here in the late 1920's or early 30's. The design of the house is based on that by Palladio for the Marquis Capra's villa near Vicenza. However Kent, particularly, was ingenious in getting particularly good lighting through windows in the dome over the central hall and carrying the decorations through the ceilings, beams, door frames, cornices and fireplaces. Kent did not stop his work at the walls of the house. He created a fabulous garden in the surrounding estate. He had excavated a canal of some 2000 x 200 feet and used the excavated material to create an embankment that gave a view over the Thames to Mortlake and Barnes.

The house was considerably altered in the ownership of the Cavendish family. It passed to them following the marriage of the 3 rd Earl's daughter, who inherited the property, to the Marquess who became the 4th Duke of Devonshire. The alterations were to make it a more practical place in which to live with nurseries, kitchens and other offices. The major structures added (in 1788) were two wings on either side of the villa that had been William Campbell's contribution. In public ownership the house has been restored since the 1950's to the original Campbell and Kent Palladian design..

This was and is a very fine place.

O/S Co-ords:2087.7750
Source(s):

Rural Walks around Richmond

Chiswick