Building record 0446500000 - WEST WYCOMBE HOUSE

Summary

Late seventeenth to early eighteenth century mansion of West Wycombe House.

Protected Status/Designation

  • Listed Building (I) 1160521: WEST WYCOMBE PARK HOUSE

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Type and Period (1)

  • COUNTRY HOUSE (17th Century to 18th Century - 1600 AD to 1799 AD)

Description

Plan Form - Rectangular.
Grade I. Later C17 or early C18 structure remodelled circa 1735-65 for Sir Francis Dashwood Bart, Lord Le Despencer (1708-81). Stone and stucco house of rectangular plan with long sides facing north and south. North front in Palladian manner with projecting central pediment on 4 engaged Roman Ionic columns. East elevation tetrastyle Doric portico with frescoes (in course of restoration), to tympanum and to external wall of house, shown in engraving of 1757. South front by John Donovell circa 1760 (perhaps based on Palladio's Palazzo Chiericati at Vicenza) has double, superimposed colonnade, Tuscan on ground floor, Corinthian to 1st floor, with central projecting pediment; frescoes on ground floor ceiling and east end wall. West front has Greek Ionic hexastyle portico (based on the Temple of Teosiin Greece) with coffered and frescoed soffit. Designed circa 1765 by Robert Adam and carried out with modifications by Nicholas Revett. Interior has ground floor ceilings printed by Borgnis, either Giuseppe or his son Giovanni. Carved marble chimneypieces, - in State Drawing Room by Henry Cheere, in Dining Room by Thomas Carter. Staircase wall paintings after Raphael's Vatican Loggie. See Country Life, 1 and 8.1.1916 alma 6 and 13.5.1933 (B9).
During World War II it had been intended to store part of the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection in the house and outbuildings, but the offer was withdrawn in August 1939. In 1941 part of the Wallace Collection was moved here from Ball Park in Hertfordshire. Staff from the National Trust HQ were based in the house and staff from an evacuated maternity hospital were also billeted at the house (B29).

Sources (34)

  • ---SBC17191 Aerial Photograph: Aerofilms. 1968. Aerofilms oblique AP. SU829945. Yes.
  • ---SBC17552 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16 16A. SU\829949. Yes.
  • ---SBC17554 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16/19. SU\828943. Yes.
  • ---SBC17555 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16/20. SU\828943. Yes.
  • ---SBC17556 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16/21. SU\828943. Yes.
  • <1>SBC7342 Bibliographic reference: LANGLEY T 1797 HISTORY & ANTIQUITIES OF THE HUNDRED OF DESBOROUGH PP414-421.
  • <2>SBC19727 Bibliographic reference: James Joseph Sheahan. 1862. History and Topography of Buckinghamshire. pp932-933.
  • <3>SBC20462 Bibliographic reference: William Page (ed). 1925. A History of Buckinghamshire (Victoria County History) Volume III. Volume 3. p135.
  • <4>SBC11706 Bibliographic reference: Nikolaus Pevsner. 1960. The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire. pp283-287; Plate 56.
  • <5>SBC10400 Map: Ordnance Survey. 1960. OS 1960 6-INCH MAP. 1:10,560.
  • <6>SBC9890 Bibliographic reference: NATIONAL TRUST 1977 PROPERTIES OF.
  • <7>SBC6117 Bibliographic reference: HARRIS J 1979 THE ARTIST & THE COUNTRY HOUSE: A HISTORY OF COUNTRY HOUSE AND GARDEN VIEW PAINTING 15.
  • <8>SBC10628 Unpublished document: Ordnance Survey Field Investigator. OS RECORD CARD.
  • <9>SBC3604 Bibliographic reference: DoE. 1973. LIST OF BUILDINGS OF SPECIAL ARCHITECTURAL OR HISTORIC INTEREST: BUCKINGHAMSHIRE: WYCOMBE DISTRICT: BOROUGH OF HIGH WYCOMBE.
  • <10>SBC4635 Bibliographic reference: ENGLISH HERITAGE 1994 REGISTER OF PARKS & GARDENS OF SPECIAL HISTORIC IN-TEREST IN ENGLAND: PART 4 B.
  • <11>SBC9893 Bibliographic reference: NATIONAL TRUST 1981 WEST WYCOMBE PARK (COPY, FILED).
  • <12>SBC19995 Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2001. West Wycombe Park Buckinghamshire - Part 1: Site History and Introduction. 1.
  • <13>SBC19996 Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2001. West Wycombe Park Buckinghamshire - Part II: The Earthwork Surveys. 2.
  • <14>SBC19998 Graphic material: English Heritage. 2000. West Wycombe Park: detailed plans of Pleasure Grounds, Wider Parkland and Church Hill. 1:2500.
  • <15>SBC19576 Article in serial: National Trust. 2001. The National Trust Annual Archaeological Review 2000-2001. No 9.
  • <16>SBC19209 Bibliographic reference: National Trust. 1999. Annual Archeological Review No. 7 1998-99.
  • <17>SBC22630 Article in serial: Michael Symes. 2005. 'Flintwork, Freedom and Fantasy: the Landscape at West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire', in Garden History Vol 33. No 33:1.
  • <18>SBC22708 Article in serial: Kate Felus. 2006. 'Boats and Boating in the Designed Landscape, 1720-1820', in Journal of the Garden History Society, Summer 2006, pp22-46.. Vol 34, No. 1.
  • <19>SBC22755 Article in serial: Richard Wheeler. 2005. 'Lost and Found: Statues and Goddesses at West Wycombe', in The Bucks Gardener, Autumn 2005 pp3-4. Issue 22.
  • <20>SBC23229 Unpublished document: Parklands Consortium Ltd. 2008. West Wycombe Park: Historic Landscape Management Plan.
  • <21>SBC20535 Bibliographic reference: Hazelle Jackson. 2001. Shell Houses and Grottoes.
  • <22>SBC24063 Article in monograph: Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust. 2007. Talking Heads: Garden Statuary in the Eighteenth Century.
  • <23>SBC24371 Article in serial: John Phibbs. 2013. 'A List of Landscapes That Have Been Attributed to Lancelot 'Capability' Brown', in Garden History Vol 41 part 2 pp244-277. Vol 41, part 2.
  • <24>SBC24856 Unpublished document: Oxford Archaeology. 2017. West Wycombe Park Dam: Desk-based Assessment.
  • <25>SBC25044 Bibliographic reference: Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust. 2018. Humphry Repton in Buckinghamshire and Beyond.
  • <26>SBC25381 Unpublished document: Oxford Archaeology. 2018. The Cascade, West Wycombe Park: Geoarchaeological Assessment Report.
  • <27>SBC25496 Bibliographic reference: Marshall G Hall. 2021. Historic Bridges of Buckinghamshire.
  • <28>SBC19664 Bibliographic reference: Nikolaus Pevsner & Elizabeth Williamson. 1994. The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire.
  • <29>SBC26878 Bibliographic reference: Caroline Shenton. 2021. National Treasures: Saving the Nation's Art in World War II. pp85-86,243-244.

Location

Grid reference SU 82934 94305 (point)
Civil Parish HIGH WYCOMBE, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (3)

Related Events/Activities (2)

  • : Desk-based assessment, West Wycombe Park dam (Ref: WEWYDADB) (EBC17905)
  • Event - Survey: Detailed topographic survey and background research (EBC16386)

Record last edited

Nov 4 2024 11:02AM

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