Take a tour of Houghton Hall

Step inside Palladian gem Houghton Hall, and explore its lavish William Kent interiors. Feature Celia Lyttelton Photographs Christopher Drake

By Christianne Raymer

Published: Tuesday, 09 May 2023 at 12:00 am

The approach to Houghton Hall along the flat Fens, under broad, sweeping, luminous skies, is like coming to the ends of the earth. A Palladian edifice, crowned with cupolas surmounted by gilded weather vanes, dramatically comes into view through avenues of lime trees, where white fallow deer freely roam.

The restrained exterior of honeyed ochre Whitby stone, with its centrepiece of classical statues, betrays little of the sumptuous splendours within.

British prime minister Sir Robert Walpole commissioned the house between 1722 and 1735, when England was reaching its zenith in the worlds of art and architecture. Initially, the architect was James Gibbs with the subsequent input of Colen Campbell and Thomas Ripley, while the grand state rooms were lavishly decorated by William Kent.

The three great houses of the Whig ascendancy in Norfolk (Holkham, Raynham and Houghton) all featured William Kent’s designs and Houghton was the first to proclaim the new spirit of British classicism.

Stepping inside, visitors ascend the great staircase, walking past a bronze gladiator (a copy of the c100BC Borghese Gladiator), who raises his shield in a gesture that appears to usher you into the ensuing suite of grand rooms.

Starting with the great Stone Hall, each of the eight state rooms is imbued with themes of classical mythology, presided over by a Roman god – Apollo, Venus, Bacchus or Minerva.

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The Stone Hall does indeed transport you to Ancient Rome. Putti sculptures cling to the pediments, while Kent’s swagged masks hover above antique busts of the Roman emperors. In the great staircase, Kent’s painterly skills excel in the form of oil-gilded grisaille depicting Meleager and Atalanta hunting a wild boar.

Upstairs, the green velvet bedchamber features unusually pristine Flemish tapestries of mythological scenes and the 15ft-high silk velvet and gold embroidery bed, by William Kent, is thought to be one of the finest examples of an 18th-century bed anywhere in the world.

The Picture Gallery includes paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi of Samson and Delilah, a scene from Hamlet by William Orpen and views of Florence by Thomas Patch; while there is a separate gallery space that is used for occasional exhibitions.

With the exception of the Old Masters collection (brought together by Walpole in the 1720s and sold to Catherine the Great of Russia in 1779), the contents of the house have remained intact. This, in part, is thanks to the fact that the house was left to rest for extensive periods.

In 1804 the Cholmondeley family – to whom the house had passed through marriage in 1797 – moved to the newly built Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire, only returning to Houghton for the hunting season. Then, from 1888, it was rented for 28 years to eight different tenants.

The house only revived in 1915 when the 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley and his wife, Sybil, (née Sassoon), took up residence. Sybil used her inheritance to save the fabric of the house from dry rot and deathwatch beetle.

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After the Second World War, Houghton gained an influx of fine 18th-century furniture and paintings from Sir Philip Sassoon, Sybil’s brother. These Sassoon treasures include Isfahan carpets, a pair of gilt gesso mirrors surmounted by squawking hoopoe birds, French small-scale commodes and secretaires.

Although much of Sassoon’s collection had been designed for smaller French interiors, they give a feeling of Parisian elegance. When Sybil opened the house in 1976 to the public, 40,000 people flocked to Houghton within that first year, finding it still steeped in character and atmosphere, untarnished by the 20th century.

Today, Houghton is lived in by the present Marquess, David Cholmondeley and his young family. Like his ancestors, he is a patron of the arts and – perhaps unexpectedly – champions contemporary, abstract works. In 2017, Houghton hosted a six-month exhibition dedicated to the British landscape artist Richard Long.

‘The purity and simplicity of Richard Long’s vision seems the perfect counterpoint to the 18th-century classical landscape of Houghton,’ explains Lord Cholmondeley. ‘His timeless forms seem to hark back to the earlier civilizations that once inhabited this part of Norfolk. We tend to show contemporary art (such as works by James Turrell, Anya Gallaccio and Rachel Whiteread) separately from the house and its historic collections so as not to confuse people. Each sculpture or artwork has its own world so you can walk around the grounds and discover them.’

Indeed, visitors who have found themselves deeply affected by the astounding beauty and opulence inside the house will surely find Houghton’s grounds a soothing counterbalance in the form of the unexpected cool conceptual art within a bucolic setting.

Houghton’s landscape, filled with striking, contemporary artworks, may now be something way beyond that which Sir Robert Walpole initially conceived, but at its heart, the hall and its surroundings remain very much a temple of the arts.

"Houghton
The double height of the Stone Hall derives from Inigo Jones’ Queen’s House in Greenwich. Kent’s overall design is embellished by the sculptor JM Rysbrack and the great stuccadores, the Artari brothers. The Laocoön Group, depicting the Trojan priest and his sons being strangled by snakes, is a bronze cast of the original, which was rediscovered in 1506, and bought by Sir Robert’s son in Paris. The furniture in the Stone Hall consists of benches and side tables designed by William Kent .
Christopher Drake
"The
The imposing and elegantly symmetrical facade of the Grade I-listed Houghton Hall in Norfolk.
Getty Images
"Houghton
William Kent’s design for the great staircase was inspired by a Roman cortile. The walls are lined with canvases painted in grisaille by William Kent. The two main images are of Meleager and Atalanta in trompe l’oeil frames and surrounded by trophies emblematic of hunting. The centrepiece, which stands on a model of a Doric temple, is a bronze copy of the Borghese Gladiator made by Le Sueur after the original was unearthed in 1611. It was given to Sir Robert Walpole by the 8th Earl of Pembroke.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The Library is dominated by a copy of Kneller’s portrait of King George I in a baroque frame designed by William Kent. The walls are lined with impressive mahogany bookcases, which Kent created to house Sir Robert’s extensive collection.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The Marble Parlour is dedicated to Bacchus – bunches of grapes are carved into the surround of Rysbrack’s fireplace, ceiling panels and cornices. The set of gilded chairs with eagle arms are probably based on the design of Queen Caroline’s coronation chair.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The elaborately gilded Saloon, with its crimson caffoy wallcoverings, was once densely hung with paintings until they were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia. Today, her portrait hangs over the chimney piece, a gift to the 3rd Earl at the time of the purchase.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The elaborately gilded Saloon, with its crimson caffoy wallcoverings, was once densely hung with paintings until they were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia. Today, her portrait hangs over the chimney piece, a gift to the 3rd Earl at the time of the purchase.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The Common Parlour is one of the only original family rooms shown to visitors. The portrait over the mantelpiece is of Galfridus Walpole, Sir Robert’s brother whom he appointed joint paymaster general in 1721. The crimson damask chairs are original to the house, while the tapestry chairs once belonged to Sir Philip Sassoon, Sybil’s brother.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The pink-and-white china is a 19th-century copy of Sèvres by Minton.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The walls of The Cabinet are lined with hand-painted wallpaper from China. The child’s bed is draped in Chinese embroidery, and was a present from George II and Queen Caroline.
Christopher Drake
"Houghton
The colossal green velvet bed with a double shell of Venus was designed by William Kent. The Brussels tapestries depict Venus, Vulcan and Adonis and are based on designs by Albano.
Christopher Drake

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