Wimpole Hall

Wimpole Hall is a Grade I listed mansion house of complex date and development, mainly of the 18th century but with 17th-century origins and mid-19th-century additions and alterations. The house was begun circa 1640 for Sir Thomas Chicheley and developed under successive owners including the Earl of Radnor (1689-1710), Duke of Newcastle (1710-11), Earl of Oxford (1711-40), and Philip Yorke, later first Earl of Hardwicke, and his descendants (1741-1897). Subsequent owners included Lord Robartes (1893-1934) and Captain and Mrs Bainbridge (1934-1976), Mrs Bainbridge being the eldest daughter of Rudyard Kipling.

The architects known to have been involved in designs for the house are James Gibbs, Henry Flitcroft, Sir John Soane, and Henry Kendall. Craftsmen recorded as having worked here include Giuseppe Artari, plasterer; Jefferson Alkin, carver, responsible for a number of marble fireplaces; John Ratford, carpenter; and in the 19th century, John Papworth, plasterer.

The building is constructed of red brick with limestone dressings. The main block comprises two parallel and adjoining ranges with slate roofs, hipped. The symmetrically disposed ridge stacks are 19th-century, of three bays divided by rusticated pilasters and supported by scrolls at the ends. The plan consists of a double pile centre block with flanking east-west wings and further additions to the north-west and north-east.

The symmetrical south front was remodelled in 1742 by Henry Flitcroft. It has seven bays with flanking wings of five bays each. The centre block rises through a basement and three storeys, framed by a balustrade, modillion eaves cornice and rusticated quoins, with plain plat bands dividing the storeys. A pediment crowns the slightly projecting three centre bays, bearing the achievement of arms of Baron Hardwicke and his wife in the tympanum. A double staircase of brick with limestone arches, U-shaped in plan and of two flights with landing and platform carried on a rusticated arch, provides access. The staircase has closed string square newels and turned balusters. Two of the newels bear 19th-century gas lamp holders with foliate enrichments. A pedimented and rusticated stone doorcase with pulvinated frieze stands at the entrance, with a venetian window at first floor and a lunette window to the second storey above. The fenestration consists of twelve-pane hung sashes in raised stone surrounds, those at first floor being pedimented with brackets to the sills, whilst second storey windows are of six panes only.

The east wing contains the chapel designed by James Gibbs. It rises from basement through two storeys and is topped with a parapet and rusticated quoins. It has similar window openings with eighteen-pane hung sashes. The west wing features 19th-century twelve-pane hung sashes at first floor. The west front of the book room, originally by Sir John Soane, was remodelled by Henry Kendall in the 19th century.

The symmetrical north front comprises a seven-bay centre block with five-bay flanking wings. A forecourt enclosure is formed by the library to the north-west and a wing to the north-east. The centre block is parapetted with modillion eaves cornice, plat bands and rusticated quoins, rising through basement and three storeys. The canted centre bay dates from the mid-18th century whilst the wall and fenestration are of late 17th or early 18th-century date. The flanking wings have basements and two storeys. Ranges of eighteen-pane hung sashes predominate except in the east wing, which features twelve-pane examples. The library wing to the north-west, dating from circa 1720 and designed by James Gibbs, was altered in the late 18th century and 19th century. It has a hipped and parapetted slate roof with five window bays to the east wall. Eighteen-pane hung sashes in raised surrounds are accompanied by blind recesses above. At the north end stands a full-height bow window of 1754. The north-east wing echoes the elevations of the library wing and, although 18th-century in origin, is now almost entirely mid-19th-century in character. The entrance from the north front to the domestic courtyard is also mid-19th-century.

Interior decoration is extensive and sophisticated. Many rooms on the two principal floors feature elaborate mid-18th-century panelling, probably dating from the time of Henry Flitcroft's remodelling. A number of fireplaces in white marble by Alkin display wooden overmantels. The interiors of the saloon, gallery and dining room are fairly complete examples of this period. Some ceilings are mid-19th-century work by Kendall, including that in the red drawing-room.

The chapel in the east wing contains early 18th-century panelling and a galleried west end on Ionic columns. Continuous wall paintings in trompe l'oeil by Sir James Thornhill decorate the chapel: the north and south walls feature Doctors of the church flanked by Corinthian columns, whilst the east wall bears an Adoration of the Magi. The chapel ceiling is coffered. A wrought-iron communion rail, bulbiform pulpit, and elaborate gilded altar with white marble top complete the furnishings.

The main staircase is possibly also by Gibbs, with a skylight by Soane inserted when the stairlight in the east wall was blocked in the late 18th century. The library, by Gibbs but altered in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, retains a ceiling attributed to Isaac Mansfield. An ante-room to the library, also by Gibbs, was extended to the west and remodelled by Soane. The yellow drawing-room, rising through two storeys, domed and top-lit, is by Soane (1793) and features pendentive paintings by R W Buss (died 1875). Adjacent is Soane's secondary staircase of five flights. The bath house, also by Soane and added in the late 18th or early 19th century, contains an arcaded vestibule with a fireplace and two flights of steps leading to a platform supporting a bath with shaped ends and tiled surface. The eating room in the east wing of the north front has a plaster ceiling of mid-19th-century date, probably by Kendall.

At first floor, decoration again reflects the mid-18th-century period, with alterations to a north-south gallery by Soane. He also designed a semi-circular dressing room on the south front, which retains an original fireplace incorporating earlier material and a painted tile surround.