Castle Howard Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Castle Howard
South (garden) face of Castle Howard
Type	Stately home
Location	North Yorkshire, England
OS grid reference	SE 71635 70088
Built	1701–1811
Architects	John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor
Architectural style(s)	English Baroque
Owner	Castle Howard Estate Limited

Listed Building – Grade I
Official name: Castle Howard and East Court
Designated	25 January 1954
Reference no.	1316030


National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
Official name: Castle Howard
Designated	10 May 1984
Reference no.	1001059

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Castle Howard is a huge and beautiful country house in North Yorkshire, England. It is located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of York. Even though it's called a "castle," it's not a fortified building like a real castle. The name "castle" was sometimes used for large country homes built where an old castle used to be.

Castle Howard has been the home of the Howard family for over 300 years. It is a private residence, meaning people still live there. You might have seen it before, as it was used as the fictional "Brideshead" in the 1981 TV show and the 2008 movie based on the book Brideshead Revisited.

History of Castle Howard
The House Itself
Beautiful Gardens
Important Status
Gallery
See also

History of Castle Howard

The story of Castle Howard began in 1699. A man named the 3rd Earl of Carlisle wanted a grand new home. He chose a famous architect named John Vanbrugh to design it. Vanbrugh had never designed a building before, but he got help from another architect, Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Building the house took a very long time, over 100 years! It started in 1701 and was finally finished with its decorations in 1811.

The house is surrounded by a huge estate, which is a large area of land. In the past, this estate was over 13,000 acres (about 5,260 hectares) and included several villages nearby. It even had its own railway station from 1845 to the 1950s.

In 1952, Castle Howard opened its doors to the public for the first time. Today, it is still owned by a company belonging to the Howard family. It is managed by Nicholas Howard and his wife, Victoria.

The House Itself

A view of John Vanbrugh's complete project for Castle Howard, from the north, published in 1725. Some parts, like the West Wing, were not built as planned.

Castle Howard is built in a style called Baroque, which means it has lots of fancy decorations, curves, and grand designs. It has two wings that stick out from the main building. A big dome sits in the middle of the house.

The building started with the East Wing in 1701. The central part with the dome was built from 1703 to 1706. The outside of the house is covered in beautiful carvings of crowns, angels, and urns. Many of the rooms inside were decorated by an artist named Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini.

A view of Castle Howard in 1819, from the north-west. You can see the different style of the West Wing on the right.

Even though the design was planned, the West Wing was not finished when Vanbrugh died in 1726. The house was still not complete when the 3rd Earl died in 1738. The 4th Earl continued the building, but the West Wing was built in a different style called Palladian. This style is more simple and balanced than Baroque. The inside of this wing wasn't fully decorated until 1811.

A big fire broke out at Castle Howard on November 9, 1940. The dome, the main hall, the dining room, and other important rooms were completely destroyed. A famous painting on the dome's ceiling, The Fall of Phaeton, was lost. Many other valuable artworks were also ruined. Firefighters worked for eight hours to put out the fire.

Over the years, many of the damaged rooms have been fixed. In the early 1960s, the dome was rebuilt, and the Fall of Phaeton painting was recreated. The East Wing is still mostly an empty shell, but it has a new roof.

In 2009, a special heating system was put in under the castle's lake. This system uses heat from the ground to warm the house, which cut the heating bill in half! In 2019, over 269,000 people visited Castle Howard.

Beautiful Gardens

The Atlas Fountain with the main house behind it.

Castle Howard has huge and varied gardens. Right behind the house, there is a large formal garden with neat paths and trimmed plants. Beyond that, there is a big park designed in the English landscape park style, which looks more natural with rolling hills and trees. These gardens are considered very important and are listed as Grade I on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

You can find two major buildings in the landscape park:

The Temple of the Four Winds at the end of the garden.
The Mausoleum in the park.

There are also two lakes, one on each side of the house. To the east of the house, you'll find Ray Wood, which is a woodland garden. There's also a walled garden with beautiful rose and flower gardens. The walls of Ray Wood were built in the 1700s and were fixed up in 2007.

Other interesting structures on the estate include:

Nicholas Hawksmoor's Pyramid, which was restored in 2015.
A tall obelisk.
Several follies and eyecatchers, which are decorative buildings that look like old forts. These have also been restored recently.

Close by, there's also The Yorkshire Arboretum, which is a large garden with many different kinds of trees. It's a separate place run by a charity.

Important Status

Castle Howard is a "Grade I listed" building. This means it is considered one of the most important historic buildings in England. Many other structures on the estate are also listed, showing their historical value.