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Tuesday 11 April 2017

A-Z Challenge 2017 - Houses, some real, some not - 'I'

I - Ickworth House

For a while I thought that I would have to resort to an igloo to cool down after the usual hectic start to the Challenge.

Then I discovered:


Ickworth House, near Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk
(16 June 2004; ex geograph.org.uk - by Chris Downer - CC BY-SA 2.0)
Round the building, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, below its 100 ft high dome is a finely carved frieze of scenes from Homer.

The rotunda and its pavilions for his art treasures was designed by Frederick Hervey, the 4th Earl of Bristol in the late 18th century. Unfortunately for him, while he was in Rome, Napoleon occupied the city and seized his art collection. Frederick died in 1803 before the house was finished.

The layout of the house may be seen in this plan:

Ickworth House - ground floor plan
(Plan drawn by user Giano - in Public Domain)

1 Library 2 Drawing Room 3 Dining Room 4 Entrance & inner Staircase Hall 5 Smoking Room 6 Pompeian Room 7 Orangery & West Wing 8 East Family Wing 9 Portico 10 Topiary Garden

The West wing remained unfinished until early in the 21st century - it is now an hotel and conference centre. The house is owned by the National Trust and  open to the public.


8 comments:

Mail Adventures said...

Before reading the post, the fist picture suggested to me the Pantheon of Rome. What a house!

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Eva - Mail Adventures

FinnBadger said...

What an unusual design. It seems more unreal than real!

Phillip | I is for IUOMA

Kristin said...

Too bad he never finished and got to live there. It would have been like living in a museum.

Finding Eliza

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob - what a fascinating house ... beautiful part of the world and at some stage - well worth a visit! Definitely ... cheers Hilary

http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/i-is-for-ice-age-art.html

21 Wits said...

Excellent post, very happy you went this route instead!

Jo said...

Looks as though it's leaning slightly. Interesting concept for a house.

John Davis Frain said...

Wow, that is cool. Is it leaning or is that an optical illusion in the photograph?

Wendy of the Rock said...

Looks like a wedding cake.