Lyme Park

A mansion of major architectural importance, begun around 1570 for Sir Piers Legh VII, with the designer unknown. The original house was L-shaped in plan with east and north ranges. By the end of the 17th century, external additions had been made to the east range and a kitchen range was probably added to the south. The courtyard plan was completed from around 1725 by Giacomo Leoni and the Platt family of masons, with further alterations made by Lewis Wyatt from 1814. Pre-1700 fabric consists of coursed, squared buff sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings; later work is in ashlar sandstone, all topped with Welsh slate roofing.

The north range contains a central gatehouse dating to around 1570 for Sir Piers Legh VII, to which a scrolled pediment was added in the early 18th century and a statue in 1731. The body of the range was altered in the mid to late 17th century for Sir Richard Legh, with end pavilions remodelled around 1710, probably by John Platt Senior of Lyme, for Peter Legh X. This is a 3-storey, symmetrical 15-bay front arranged as 3:4:1:4:3. The gateway projects slightly and features a semi-circular headed opening framed by fluted columns and architrave. Above are 3 pairs of 6-pane windows in formerly mullioned and transomed surrounds framed by classical details, topped by a shell pediment with a scrolled pediment and a lead statue of Minerva above. The 4 bays to either side have 12-pane flush sashes on the ground and second storeys, with 15-pane sashes between, all set in cyma-moulded reveals. The end pavilions project slightly and feature a rusticated ground storey with semi-circular headed windows, with giant Corinthian pilasters dividing the bays in the upper storeys. Fine dated lead rainheads of 1676 survive, and a contemporary letter documents the very early use of sashes in that year.

The west range was perhaps started around 1710 by John Platt and finished by Leoni, though documentary evidence suggests it was constructed at the same time as the south front. It is 3-storey, symmetrical and 9 bays wide, with 2-bay end pavilions projecting 1 bay forward. The ground storey is rusticated with windows below flat hoods on consoles and a rusticated semi-circular headed doorcase. Leoni's involvement cannot be proved from the facade itself.

The south range dates to around 1725 by Giacomo Leoni for Peter Legh X, with the top hamper added in 1816 by Lewis Wyatt for Sir Thomas Legh. It is 3-storey, symmetrical and 15 bays wide, arranged as 3:3:3:3:3. The rusticated ground storey features semi-circular headed openings supporting a detached tetrastyle Ionic portico in antis. A triangular pediment above contains 3 lead statues (probably by A Carpentier of London) and partially conceals the square hamper. The remaining bays are divided by plain Ionic pilasters with the end pavilions breaking forward slightly. A projecting cornice supports a blocking course. For a garden front it is magnificent, though more Baroque than Palladian in character.

The east range has an Elizabethan core, but projecting rooms and all surface detail were remodelled by Wyatt from 1814. It is 3-storey and 9 bays wide, set on a plinth with elliptical lights. The end bays have compass windows with 15-pane sashes on ground and second floors and 18-pane sashes between. A moulded cornice supports a blocking course with partial balustrading. These elements are repeated in the centre of the range and in the projecting rooms.

The courtyard remodelling of around 1725 by Leoni successfully conceals the irregularities of earlier rebuilds. The first floor galleries have triangular pediments on consoles over sashes in bays divided by Doric pilasters, supported on a rusticated arcade. The entrance to the hall between storeys is approached by symmetrical pairs of stairs with iron balusters of 1734 by J Gordon of Edensbridge. A heavy Doric doorcase frames the semi-circular headed entrance. Two Elizabethan doorcases and a window survive in the north range.

The interior contains rooms from all the major building phases, though alterations, particularly to floor levels in the east range by Leoni and Wyatt, make reconstruction of earlier layouts difficult.

Elizabethan rooms include the Long Gallery (extended into bays in the later 17th century, ceiling replaced 1926), the Drawing Room (which includes medieval stained glass moved from the original Lyme Hall to Disley Church and returned in 1835), and the Knight's Bedrooms.

From the Jacobean period comes the Stag Parlour, re-erected at terrace level by Wyatt.

Later 17th-century work survives in parts of the Chapel (family pew and chancel), the Morning Room, and the Yellow Bedroom.

The remainder of the Chapel dates to around 1710, though Moore recorded carving there in 1731.

The period around 1725–1740 is represented by the Hall (by Leoni), the Saloon (with resited carvings attributed to Grinling Gibbons and a mid-18th-century ceiling), the Grand Staircase (featuring a Baroque ceiling by F Conseiglio and J Palfreyman), and the Bright Gallery, all by John Moore of Lyme.

From 1816–1820, Lewis Wyatt added the Dining Room (described by Pevsner and Hubbard as "interesting as a rare example of so early a use of the Wrenaissance"), the Library (designed to contain some Greek stelai), and made many minor alterations to other rooms and remodelling of servants' rooms.

In 1903, Philippe and Amadee Joubert undertook remodelling and decoration of the Hall, Dining Room, and Saloon, though these changes have fortunately been undone.