Strawberry Hill House facts for kids
Strawberry Hill House, often called Strawberry Hill, is a special kind of house in Twickenham, London. It was built by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) starting in 1749. This house is famous because it was one of the first to be built in the "Gothic Revival" style. This means it looked like old medieval castles and cathedrals.
Walpole slowly rebuilt his house over many years, adding towers, battlements, and fancy decorations inside. He wanted it to feel a bit mysterious, or "gloomth," to match his collection of old and interesting objects. The garden, however, was designed to be cheerful and "riant." The house even had a fireplace designed by the famous architect Robert Adam.
Contents
Horace Walpole's Vision
Buying and Planning the House
In 1747, Horace Walpole rented a small, old house with a bit of land. He felt he needed a country home, especially a "family castle," which was popular back then. The next year, he bought the house. Its first owner, a coachman, had called it "Chopped Straw Hall," which Walpole did not like.
Walpole found an old paper that called his land "Strawberry Hill Shot." He decided this would be the new name for his elegant home. Over the years, he made the property much bigger, from 5 acres to 46 acres.
Strawberry Hill was very important. It was the first house built from scratch in the Gothic style without being an actual old medieval building. It also used real historical examples for its design. This makes it a key starting point for the whole Gothic Revival movement.
Walpole worked with two friends, John Chute and Richard Bentley. They called themselves the "Committee of Taste" or "Strawberry Committee." They helped plan the changes to the house. John Chute was very good at design and helped with most of the outside and some inside parts.
Building the Gothic Castle
William Robinson, a professional builder, helped oversee the construction. They looked at many old buildings, like the chapel at Westminster Abbey, for ideas. They used these ideas for things like the fan-shaped ceilings in the gallery. Fireplaces were designed from pictures of old tombs.
Walpole brought many details from cathedrals into the house's inside. From the outside, the house looked like a mix of styles. It had castle-like towers and battlements, and also Gothic cathedral features like arched windows and stained glass.
The house grew over time, much like a medieval cathedral. There was no single plan from the start. Walpole kept adding new parts for over 30 years. The first part was finished by 1753. Later additions included the "Beauclerk Tower" in 1776, designed by architect James Essex. The whole project cost about £20,720.
Walpole's "little Gothic castle" was very important. It helped make Gothic designs popular for houses and influenced the later Gothic Revival style in the 1800s. This style is sometimes called Georgian Gothic or Strawberry Hill Gothic.
Inside the House and Walpole's Collection
Walpole's unique style continued inside Strawberry Hill. He described the house as the place that inspired his famous book, The Castle of Otranto. Even though his book had a dark mood, the rooms at Strawberry Hill were light and elegant.
The rooms were meant to be a "Gothic 'gloomth'" setting for Walpole's large collection of interesting old objects. He even published two books, A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, to show off his collection to the world.
His collection was a key part of the house's look and feel. The style of the rooms was shaped by Walpole's love for old things. Even without the collection, the house still feels like something from a fairy tale.
Today, you can still learn about Horace Walpole's collection. Yale University has a special database that lists all the art and objects from his collection.
Designing the Gardens
Walpole put as much care into his gardens as he did into his house. He started working on the grounds even before the house.
In his essay "On Modern Gardening," Walpole shared his ideas about gardens. He didn't like the old, formal gardens with straight lines and statues. He thought they looked unnatural in England. Instead, he preferred trees and bushes planted in "natural groupings" on the lawn. He believed all of nature could be a garden.
Walpole saw the English garden as perfect. He wrote that "we have given the true model of gardening to the world." He wanted gardens to be simple and natural, "softening nature's harshness." He was a fan of William Kent, who helped create the English landscape garden style.
The gardens at Strawberry Hill are now protected as a Grade II* listed site.
The Shell Bench
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One special part of Walpole's garden was a unique bench shaped like a giant sea shell. It was one of Walpole's favorite ideas. This shell bench, along with a rustic cottage and a small chapel in the woods, showed Walpole's charming and unusual taste.
The bench was placed where Walpole and his guests could see the river and the view. Only two drawings of the original bench still exist. Today, the garden is being restored to look as it did in Walpole's time, and the amazing Shell Bench has been rebuilt.
Visitors to Strawberry Hill
Even when Walpole was alive, many people came to see Strawberry Hill. They wanted to admire the house, the gardens, and Walpole's collection. The house quickly became famous in the area and then across the country. Even important people, including the royal family, came to visit.
While Walpole enjoyed sharing his home, the constant stream of visitors sometimes bothered him. He would give tours to the most important guests. But for others, he would hide in his small cottage in the flower garden while his housekeeper gave the tours.
In a letter, Walpole joked that his house was like an "inn" because so many people visited. He advised his friend not to build a charming house between London and Hampton Court, or everyone would want to see it! However, Walpole also realized that his home brought joy to many people.
Important Dates for Strawberry Hill
Here are some key dates in Horace Walpole's life related to Strawberry Hill:
- 1747 – He leases Strawberry Hill.
- 1749 – He buys Strawberry Hill.
- 1750 – He forms the "Committee on Taste" to plan the Gothic changes.
- 1753 – The first part of the building is finished.
- 1757 – He sets up his own printing press, the Strawberry Hill Press.
- 1764 – His famous novel, The Castle of Otranto, is published.
- 1774 – He prints A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, describing his house and collection.
- 1784 – He prints a new version of A Description of the Villa with more details.
Later Owners of the House
After Walpole passed away, the house went to his cousin, Anne Seymour Damer. Then, in 1797, it went to John Waldegrave, 6th Earl Waldegrave. In the early 1800s, two brothers, John and George Waldegrave, owned the house. They spent most of their family's money. This led to a huge "Great Sale" in 1842 that lasted 24 days. Almost everything inside the house was sold.
From 1883 to 1887, the house was owned by Baron Hermann de Stern, a banker. In 1923, St Mary's University College bought it. The university still owns it today.
Strawberry Hill in the 21st Century
In 2004, Strawberry Hill was featured on a TV show called Restoration. In 2007, a group called the Strawberry Hill Trust took over the house to restore it and open it to the public.
Before the house opened, many items from Horace Walpole's collection were shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2010. After a big £9 million restoration that took two years, Strawberry Hill House officially reopened to the public on October 2, 2010.
In 2013, Strawberry Hill House won a special award for cultural heritage called the Europa Nostra Awards. The Walpole Trust reopened the house to visitors again on March 1, 2015.
Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill Exhibition
From October 2018 to February 2019, about 150 artworks from Horace Walpole's original collection were brought back to the house. These items had been sold in the 1842 sale and were found in museums and private collections all over the world. They were placed back in their exact spots in Strawberry Hill House, just as Walpole had planned.
Some objects in the exhibition had a unique historical feel. For example, there was a clock that Henry VIII gave to his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was later executed. Another item was a 500-year-old red cardinal's hat that Walpole believed belonged to Cardinal Wolsey. One notable painting was by Walpole's friend, William Hogarth: his 1733 portrait of Sarah Malcolm in prison.
Strawberry Hill Gothic Style
The "Strawberry Hill Gothic" architectural style became popular for a short time. However, some experts say that this term might not fit all "Georgian Gothic" houses. This is because many houses called "Strawberry Hill Gothic" look quite different from Walpole's original home.
Some houses that are said to be built or changed in this style include:
- Braziers Park in Oxfordshire, which was updated in 1799.
- Chalfont Park in Buckinghamshire, rebuilt in 1760.
- Donnington Park in Berkshire, designed in 1763.
- Houghton Lodge in Hampshire, built around 1800.
- Lee Priory in Kent, built between 1780 and 1790 (but later destroyed).
- Priory Hospital in Roehampton, which was built in 1811.
See also
In Spanish: Strawberry Hill House para niños
