Nostell Priory

Nostell Priory is a country house built between 1736 and 1750 for Sir Rowland Winn, 4th baronet, designed by James Paine, probably working from initial designs by Colonel James Moyser (based on Palladio's Villa Mocenigo). The house was completed by Robert Adam, who made alterations between 1765 and 1776, and added a north wing in 1779-80 for Sir Rowland Winn, 5th baronet. The building is constructed in sandstone ashlar with a stone slate roof.

The house was originally conceived as a rectangular central block joined by quadrant wings to four square pavilions, though only the southern pair of pavilions were built, and one of these was subsequently demolished. The main block is planned on a double-pile circulatory system.

The east front is symmetrical, with 13 bays across two storeys raised over a rustic basement. The central 5 bays feature attached giant Ionic columns with a plain entablature and dentilled pediment containing a large carved coat of arms of the Winn family. At piano nobile level, there is a central doorway with architrave and pediment on consoles, flanked by 12-pane sashed windows with similar architraves and pediments that alternate between segmental and triangular forms; the windows are linked by sill-bands. The first floor contains square 9-pane windows with architraves, the central window having ears. The rustic basement has matching windows and a raised 5-bay terrace added by Robert Adam, which is pedimented at its centre and flanked by curving flights of steps with balustraded parapets carried down on either side. The terrace has a central pedimented doorway (now the principal entrance) and four square 12-pane windows. A dentilled cornice runs across the front, with a hipped 2-span roof and 6 chimneys rising within the valley, three on each side of the centre.

The left return wall of the main hall has a round-headed doorway with round-headed side windows and coved niches in the centre of the rustic, surmounted by a Venetian window at piano nobile level. Other windows match those on the front except that their pediments are all triangular and the architraves of those above have scrolls at the centre of the heads and sills.

The west front has giant Ionic pilasters to a 5-bay pedimented centre that breaks forwards slightly, a small doorway in the centre of the rustic, and windows matching those on the front.

The added north wing, known as the Family Wing, comprises a set-back 3-bay linking range and a 5-bay main block. The main block rises from a projected rustic and is topped by a tetrastyle Ionic portico with a blind oeil-de-boeuf in the pediment. Ionic corner pilasters, a string course of guilloches below the first-floor windows, and a plain frieze are featured, otherwise matching the main range.

The Kitchen pavilion to the south-west is square in plan, measuring 3 by 3 bays, with two storeys over a basement and an attic storey. Each of its four symmetrical facades (except the east side, which is attached to the quadrant passage) has a central coved niche with pedimented architrave, 15-pane sashes at ground floor and 9-pane sashes above, all with raised surrounds. Each side is topped with a pyramidal roof featuring a pedimented dormer in the centre and a large square apex chimney.

The interior contains Rococo design, decoration and furnishing of major importance. James Paine was responsible for the earlier work, which appears mainly in the North and South Staircases and rooms to the south of the hall, principally the Dining Room, State Bedchamber and State Dressing Room. Robert Adam executed the later work in the Top Hall and rooms to the north, principally the Saloon, Tapestry Room and Library. The plasterwork was by Joseph Rose, painting by Antonio Zucchi, and furnishings and some decoration by Thomas Chippendale.