Country Life Bookazine Country Life: Great Georgian Houses First Edition Back Issue

At the beginning of the long 18th century, the Hanoverian George I took a throne that reigned over a country still in the throes of the aftermath of revolution. He and his dynasty would preside over a golden age for British architecture, interiors and gardens. From the unique English Baroque of Wren, Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor at the beginning of the period to the rise of the stately Palladian style that would become the archetype of the tasteful country house, the Georgian era saw the great houses and public buildings of Britain attain new heights of beauty and function. The technical developments of the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions too transformed town and country alike, with higher volumes of material available to construct the model villas, elaborate façades and whimsical follies that dotted the country’s estates, while their interiors and gardens benefitted from exotic goods and plants drawn from the far-flung edges of the empire, designed and landscaped into perfect expressions of elegance and good taste. Like the regal ascents into heaven that characterised the opulent painted ceilings of the period, the graceful luxury of the Georgian era represents the apotheosis of British country house design.