Wrest Park House and service block comprising pavilions, clock tower and the dairy

Wrest Park House and Service Block

Wrest Park House is a grand mansion of Bath stone ashlar with a grey slate roof, accompanied by a service block, pavilions, clock tower and dairy. It dates from the early nineteenth century and represents one of the finest examples of Regency classicism.

The main house follows a double-pile rectangular plan with an attached asymmetrical service range. It rises two storeys with a basement and attic, stretching across thirteen bays on its principal north elevation. The end bays project slightly and are flanked by single-storey pavilions, one of which is blind; both are topped with leaded cupolae. The mansard roof rises at its centre into a pavilion-form roof. The fenestration is regular and consists of segment-headed casement and sash windows with white glazing bars (originally gilt) set in simple moulded surrounds with carved keystones; those on the projecting bays are more ornate. The three projecting central bays have curved outer sides and contain a round-headed doorway with a first-floor wrought-iron balcony supported by consoles. Above this stands a balustraded parapet with a pediment incorporating the Grey family coronet and coat of arms. The coronet and the family device of the staff appear repeatedly throughout the house, most prominently in the elaborate carved keystones. The corners of the projecting bays are finished with rusticated quoins. Both pavilions and the east elevation are surmounted by single carved urns of unusual form, probably made of Portland stone in England during the first half of the nineteenth century.

The doorway is reached by a short flight of balustraded stone steps embellished with carved acanthus leaves and is flanked by a pair of life-size statues of Carrara marble on Portland stone pedestals. These statues derive from antique originals depicting Diane de Gabiés and an Amazon, and were probably made in an Italian sculptural studio in the 1830s or 1840s. In front of the house stands a group of four cast-iron lamp posts made by Barwell around 1840, mounted on Portland stone pedestals; two are incorporated into the step design.

The garden, or south, elevation displays similar composition but stretches across fifteen bays with a flat central projection topped by a pediment in the form of a coat of arms from which fall ornately carved putti and festoons sculpted by J. E. Carew. The same decorative scheme adorns the attic windows in the end bays. Wrought-iron and gilt balconies serve the central and end bays, with balconettes to the first-floor windows on the link blocks. Ground-floor windows reach to ground level; those on the central bay are French doors, and all windows on the ground and first floors retain their blind boxes. The single-storey end pavilions, housing a conservatory and dining room, are articulated by three tall windows. Attached to the south front is an ashlar terrace with a geometric pattern in dark stone, a central flight of steps descending to the garden, and wrought-iron and gilt balustrading, probably by Barwell, between stone piers. The piers flanking the steps support a pair of Portland stone Molossian dogs—the western one a copy of the antique Roman statue Alcibiades' Dog, the other a reversed copy, possibly made in the late eighteenth century by an unknown, probably English sculptor. The piers opposite the end bays are surmounted by four Italian carved Carrara marble urns, made around 1835 and carved with the family coat of arms by commission of the Earl. The piers on the eastern and western edges of the terrace support four Italian Carrara marble finials made around the mid-1830s in an unknown Italian workshop. Statues of children that once stood on pedestals flanking the terrace exit are now missing.

The attached service range, also designed by the Earl, features a two-storey, eleven-bay, ashlared south front terminating in a projecting three-bay pavilion. From this extends at right angles a garden wall and ornamental dairy, much altered but still retaining a verandah, delicate stained glass windows and a cupola. Access to the service yard is provided on the north front through a pair of two-storey, ashlared pavilions with hipped roofs and rusticated quoins. The clock tower, saved and moved from the original house, stands on the west side of the yard adjoining the house. All elevations facing the yard are constructed in yellow brick in a free English classical style.

The interior plan is based on crossed axes of enfilades running north-south and east-west, meeting at the ante-library. The north-south axis aligns the entrance hall, staircase hall and ante-library with the Long Water and Archer Pavilion; the east-west axis forms the enfilade of principal state rooms on the south front. The Louis XV style interior has remained remarkably intact throughout.

The oval, panelled entrance hall leads to a grand central staircase hall rising through the full height of the building to a rectangular glass lantern, lined with family and royal portraits. The double-flight staircase has panelled soffits and elegant gilded ironwork balustrades, ascending to a screen of columns on the first floor that leads to the principal bedrooms. The south entrance of the hall is flanked by two life-size Carrara marble statues of a Nymph going to the bath and a Hebe, made by Richard James Wyatt in the 1830s. Above stands a plaster cartouche depicting a palette and brushes, a T-square and divider in honour of Art and Architecture, together with two figures seated on volumes of works by Blondel, Mansart and Le Pautre.

The state rooms are decorated with Rococo white and gilt plasterwork and marble fireplaces of particular ornament. The ante-library connects the library with the drawing room, both adorned with allegorical ceiling paintings by John Wood. The long library incorporates French panelling, including openwork panels in the bookcases, with four ceiling paintings representing Music, Poetry, Painting and Sculpture. The drawing room is adorned with expensive French wall hangings. The eastern enfilade terminates with the heavier, Louis XIV style dining room, which contains elements from other Grey family houses, including a chimneypiece from their London home. Wall pilasters were inspired by those in the dining room of the old Wrest house, and the ceiling design is based on the library ceiling of the old house. The cornice is decorated with four shields representing Fish, Flesh, Fruit and Fowl.

The western enfilade terminates in the more feminine Countess's room, with delicate plasterwork and putti suspended from the ceiling. This leads directly to an elegant conservatory with a glazed roof supported by ornate cast-iron trusses. The rooms on the north front are much plainer, with the exception of an oak-panelled room which represents an extremely rare and early use of oak boiserie. The first-floor bedrooms are comparatively unadorned except for three rooms retaining their original wallpaper. Two rooms on the south front are decorated with rare Chinese wallpaper, whilst one in the north-western corner retains an El Dorado pattern wallpaper produced by Zuber et Cie of Mulhouse, Alsace in 1849, of immense rarity in England. The second-floor rooms are plain but display good-quality joinery. Rooms in the service wing are similarly plain, some retaining fitted cupboards. Neither the original kitchen nor the internal fittings of the dairy have survived.