Petworth House

Petworth House

A mansion owned by the National Trust, this is the most important residence in Sussex. The first building on this site was erected by the first Baron Percy, who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1309. The main structure of the chapel at the north end of the present house survives from this medieval building. The wine cellar beneath what was once the great hall probably dates from the 14th century.

The eighth Earl of Northumberland rebuilt or enlarged the house between 1576 and 1582. The ninth or "Wizard" Earl undertook further work after 1621, and a block from this period survives towards the north end of the house, as does the long beer cellar in the basement which runs the entire length of the building.

The main body of the house was erected by the sixth or "Proud" Duke of Somerset between 1688 and 1696. The architect was French; it has been suggested that it was Pierre Puget, though Christopher Hussey considers Daniel Marot more likely. The back part of the house was never finished, and the whole of the east front north of the porch displays an unsymmetrical arrangement of windows and shows some of the older work. The centre of the main front originally had a rising roof or dome with statues. A fire occurred in 1714, and these features may have been destroyed then, or were possibly removed by the third Earl of Egremont, according to Dallaway's History of West Sussex. Sir John Soane made plans to reface the main front with stucco, but these were never executed. Around 1780 the third Earl of Egremont converted an arcaded loggia on the north side into a room with a glass roof, now called the North Gallery, to display part of his celebrated collection of pictures and statuary. Between 1869 and 1872 Anthony Salvin remodelled the rooms at the south end as private family apartments and added the porch on the east side.

The house is 322 feet long. The main or west front has three storeys and twenty-one windows, built of local freestone ashlar with Portland stone for ornamental sections. Above the first floor is a heavy moulded cornice, another cornice above the second floor, and a solid parapet with panels of balustrading. The roof is mansarded slate. The three centre window bays and the three window bays at each end project and have cornices over the ground floor windows surmounted by busts and elaborate volutes above the first floor windows supporting the cornice. The three centre window bays are flanked by rusticated pilasters with ornamental panels above the first floor windows and imitation balustrading below them, also with projecting cornices over the ground floor windows with consoles. All windows in the front are sash windows with coved reveals, keystones above, and intact glazing bars. In front of the house is a terrace approached by three steps, with short walls at each end ending in piers surmounted by urns. Cast iron railings branch from this, separating the garden from the park, with a double gate with crestings.

The south side has three storeys and a basement above ground level, with six windows; those in the basement have segmental heads. The two centre window bays break forward slightly.

The north front is flanked by rusticated pilasters with a complicated design of lines and niches. The North Gallery projects on the ground floor only, with five round-headed windows, now boarded up, each flanked by rusticated pilasters.

The south end of the east front, up to Salvin's porch, has been refaced to match the other fronts and has five windows, then a projection of three window bays with rusticated quoins. Three storeys and basement are visible above ground level. North of this, the porch projects at right angles and joins the house to the Estate Office. A carriage arch through the porch forms a porte cochere flanked by twin free-standing rusticated columns on high plinths. On each side of the arch is a solid portion containing one window and a niche flanked by rusticated pilasters. A cornice and blocking course spans the whole. The east face north of the porch is plain and undecorated with irregularly placed windows. It is of stone rubble and cement, has five buttresses, and at the north end a projection containing the high pointed window of the chapel in a wide reveal and a large segmental-headed window above this.

The interior includes the Carved Room, which contains probably the finest work that Grinling Gibbons ever executed in a private house; carving by John Seldon in the chapel and elsewhere; and the Grand Staircase, painted by Louis Laguerre between 1715 and 1720 after the fire.

Many famous visitors have been entertained at the house, including King Edward VI in 1551; the Archduke Charles of Austria, later Emperor Charles VI, on 28 December 1703; the Prince Regent, Tsar Alexander I and Frederick William III of Prussia on 24 June 1814; and King Edward VII on many occasions.