Part Four of excerpts from my talk at the Beau Monde Conference July 23, 2019, in New York City, takes us to Piccadilly again and to Burlington House, now the home of the Royal Academy of Arts.
When this drawing was made about 1707, the open fields behind the house are clearly shown. Today, the building is substantially altered and it sits in the most congested area of Mayfair in the heart of London. Below is the view during the Annual Summer Exhibition of 2018. I am not sure what the large red disc represents, but the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of the R.A., is suitably draped in flowers.
Burlington House is familiar to most of us as the home of the Royal Academy of Arts since 1867. But before that, it was a mansion belonging to aristocrats, among the first of the large mansions built along Piccadilly after the restoration of Charles II in 1660. The original house was built by Sir John Denham in red brick. Unfinished, it was sold in 1667 to Richard Boyle, first Earl of Burlington. Another Richard Boyle, his grandson, became the 3rd Earl at the age of ten in 1704 and he inherited the house.
Above, l to r, Richard Boyle; Tribuna of the Uffizzi by Johann Zoffany; William Kent.
While the 3rd Earl was still a child, his mother, Juliana Noel Boyle, second Countess of Burlington, had ceilings painted by Italian masters in the baroque style. As a teen, the 3rd Earl traveled on several Grand Tours and became a devotee of the architectural style inspired by Andrea Palladio, who built villas in the Veneto in northeastern Italy. By 1718, the 3rd Earl took charge of his Piccadilly mansion and chose fellow Palladian practitioner Colen Campbell to work on the house. William Kent, who had traveled in Italy with the 3rd Earl, took over most of the interiors. This triumvirate can be considered with Inigo Jones as responsible for the Palladian Style in British Architecture which dominated for many years and greatly influenced other nations, particularly colonial America and the first decades of the United States.
While the 3rd Earl was still a child, his mother, Juliana Noel Boyle, second Countess of Burlington, had ceilings painted by Italian masters in the baroque style. As a teen, the 3rd Earl traveled on several Grand Tours and became a devotee of the architectural style inspired by Andrea Palladio, who built villas in the Veneto in northeastern Italy. By 1718, the 3rd Earl took charge of his Piccadilly mansion and chose fellow Palladian practitioner Colen Campbell to work on the house. William Kent, who had traveled in Italy with the 3rd Earl, took over most of the interiors. This triumvirate can be considered with Inigo Jones as responsible for the Palladian Style in British Architecture which dominated for many years and greatly influenced other nations, particularly colonial America and the first decades of the United States.
L to R, Andrea Palladio, Palladio's Villa, Chiswick House.
Despite all the Victorian additions of another storey to the Burlington House and the constructions of side pavilions, which house several learned societies, some of the original state rooms designed by Kent still survive in a suite known as the John Madejski Fine Rooms, named to honor the donor of the restoration funding in 2004. These were the first Kentian interiors in England …dating from 1719, including these plaster putti above the doorcases.
Despite all the Victorian additions of another storey to the Burlington House and the constructions of side pavilions, which house several learned societies, some of the original state rooms designed by Kent still survive in a suite known as the John Madejski Fine Rooms, named to honor the donor of the restoration funding in 2004. These were the first Kentian interiors in England …dating from 1719, including these plaster putti above the doorcases.
Last year the Royal Academy completed an ambitious project to enlarge their school and exhibition space by adding the building at the rear – or non-Piccadilly side, with new galleries and an additional entrance and academic facilities. This area, opening onto Saville Row, was all a part of the Burlington estate two to three centuries ago. I highly recommend exploring the old and the new at Burlington House next time you are in London.
Once the 3rd Earl had Burlington House in hand, he earned his honorary title as 'the architect earl' by designing and building Chiswick House, now on the west side of metropolitan London, but at that time in rural Twickenham. Among the many properties inherited by Burlington was a Jacobean mansion used as a summer retreat. After a fire in 1725, Lord Burlington redid the house, adding a villa with a connecting structure. The mansion itself was pulled down in 1788 leaving the villa, part of the connecting link, and the gardens. The villa now known as Chiswick House was used as an office, gallery, and rooms for entertaining.
Lord Burlington used his great wealth in sponsoring the work of many artists, architects and musicians. Handel was first a guest at Chiswick in 1712, and came back many times. The English Heritage Guidebook to Chiswick comments on the character of Burlington’s work: “Lord Burlington’s principal objective was to recreate the architecture and gardens of ancient Rome (and) re-establish its meaning…which told a story or painted a moral. Chiswick House incorporates an allegorical exposition of the polite arts; its garden includes reference to political liberty.”
Chiswick House, incidentally is pronounced Chis-ick, with a silent W as is usual in British names…Warwick, for another example.
The beauty of the house is in its symmetry, its proportions. Geometric shapes, circles, squares, octagons, all combine to create perfect balance. Based on the principles of ancient Greek architecture as reinterpreted by the Romans and Renaissance Italians, it is a pleasingly human scale which brings comfort and satisfaction in merely looking at the plans.
Each room flows from the central saloon under the shallow dome, one into another without barriers. The cornices and wall or ceiling paintings are the main decoration. Furniture was minimal and rearranged for specific purposes, as was usual in the days of many servants. Some rooms were used by Lord Burlington as a gallery for his collection of paintings.
Below, Burlington House in 1873, the Piccadilly facade.
Chiswick House, incidentally is pronounced Chis-ick, with a silent W as is usual in British names…Warwick, for another example.
The beauty of the house is in its symmetry, its proportions. Geometric shapes, circles, squares, octagons, all combine to create perfect balance. Based on the principles of ancient Greek architecture as reinterpreted by the Romans and Renaissance Italians, it is a pleasingly human scale which brings comfort and satisfaction in merely looking at the plans.
Each room flows from the central saloon under the shallow dome, one into another without barriers. The cornices and wall or ceiling paintings are the main decoration. Furniture was minimal and rearranged for specific purposes, as was usual in the days of many servants. Some rooms were used by Lord Burlington as a gallery for his collection of paintings.
Below, Burlington House in 1873, the Piccadilly facade.
The 3rd Earl of Burlington married Lady Dorothy Savile, daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Halifax, an heiress who brought additional estates to the family. They had no sons; his only surviving daughter Charlotte (1731-1754) inherited his properties; she was the Marchioness of Hartington, married to the eventual 4th Duke of Devonshire. Note that Charlotte had a very short life; her son William Cavendish (1748-1811) was born when she was a mere 17. But through her, the possessions of Lord Burlington passed into the hands of the Cavendish/ Devonshire family. Since the Devonshires already had a house on Piccadilly just a few doors away, they eventually sold the house to Lord George Cavendish, a younger brother of the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Lord George was named 1st Earl of Burlington of the second creation in 1831; He lived in Burlington House and built the Burlington Arcade on the west side of the house in 1818. Below, drawing of Burlington Arcade in 1827-28 by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd.
So next time you browse through the elegant shops in the Burlington Arcade, remember this is the province of two of the greatest families of the realm. Below, photo from Wikipedia.
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