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Easton Neston is a country house near Towcester (pronounced "Toaster") in Northamptonshire, England. It was designed in the classical style by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. Easton Neston is thought to be the only mansion which was solely the work of Hawksmoor. From circa 1700 Hawksmoor was to work on many buildings, including Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace, with Sir John Vanbrugh, often providing the technical knowledge to the less qualified Vanbrugh. Hawksmoor's work, even after their many collaborations, was always more classically severe than Vanbrugh's. However, Easton Neston predates this partnership by some six years. 1 Architect
Hawksmoor was commissioned to build Easton Neston by Sir William Fermor , later created Lord Leominster ("Lemster"); Hawksmoor had been recommended to Fermor by his cousin Sir Christopher Wren, who had advised on the building of a new mansion on the site circa 1680. However no details of quite what Wren envisaged survive, and work seems to have ceased following completion of the two service blocks, of which only one survives. Following Fermor's marriage to an heiress, Catherine Poulett, in 1692Events February 13 Massacre of Glencoe March 1 The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. June 10 Salem Witch Trials: three women hanged for witchcraft. August 19 Salem Witch T, he decided to resurrect the idea of a new mansion, and subsequently Wren's pupil Hawksmoor received the commission circa 1694.
2 Exterior
The house Hawksmoor built at Easton Neston can be best described as a miniature palacePalais de la Cit in Paris, the royal palace of France. Viewed from the back, across the Seine River, with the Sainte Chapelle on the right side. Painted in the 1410s. This article refers to royal residences. For more information on the graphical virtual r that owes something to Michelangelo's palazzi on the Campidoglio at Rome and is very reminiscent of the Petit Trianon at VersaillesVersailles is a commune in France. It is the prefecture (capital) of the Yvelines departement''. Population (1999): 88,476. History Versailles used to be an unimportant village a few miles west of Paris until May 6, 1682 when King Louis XIV moved his cour, which was not to be built for another 50 years. The rectangular house is on three principal floors, the first is a rustic ated basementA basement is an architectural contruction that is completely or almost below ground in a building. It may be located below the ground floor. House basements For houses, structurally, the basement walls typically form the foundations. In warmer climates,, the two floors above appear to have equal value - 9 bays divided by CorinthianThe Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greek and Roman architecture, although it was seldom used in Greek architecture. The other two orders were the Doric and the Ionic. When classical architecture was revived, two more orders were added pilasterIn architecture, pilasters comprise slightly-projecting pseudo- columns built into or onto a wall, with capitals and bases. See also Classical architecture List of classical architecture terms Architectural elements.s, each bay containing a tall slim sash window of the same height on each floor. The central bay contains the entrance, flanked by two Corinthian full columns. These two columns support a small round-headed pedimentA pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure ( entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns. It is found in classical architecture such as the Greek temple, t displaying the Fermor arms and motto. Above the door at second floor height is a massive venetian window. The roof-line is hidden by a balustrade and decorated at the ten intervals, above the pilasters below, by covered stone urn s. The design and fenestration of the entrance facade is repeated at the rear on the garden facade (illustration, above); except the roof balustrade here is undecorated by urns and pediment. The house is built of Helmsdon stone, a cream stone of exceptional quality, which has ensured the carving is as crisp today as it was on completion of the house in 1702. Both main facades are of simple clear design devoid of ostentation.
The two side elevations of the house are fascinating to a social historian, as they tell the story of life in a country house before the age of the servants' bell. Until the invention of the distant bell, which could be jangled by a rope from far away, it was necessary to have servants within calling distance. In older houses such as Montacute House servants slept on the floor of the hall or outside the door of their employer's bedchamber; by the late 17th century this arrangement was becoming undesirable. Houses now began to have corridors, and employers, rather than stepping over sleeping servants, began to tidy them away in small rooms, often shared with their employer's close-stool . However these small rooms still had to be with in calling distance. In a brand-new luxurious house such as Easton Neston, this was achieved by inserting two very low mezzanine staff floors between each of the two upper floors. Hence at Easton Neston, while the two principal facades (West and East) are of three floors, the two less important sides of the house, by their windows, betray the secret, that there are in fact five floors. The windows of the two mezzanines, as befits the humble rooms they light, are a mere half the size of those of the grander rooms above and below them. This makes the fenestration of the side facades a complex, but interesting sight.
Some years after completion of the mansion in 1702, Hawsmoor drew some further plans for a huge entrance court; these designs, never fully executed, flanked the existing rectangular house with two wings, one containing stables, and the other service rooms. The fourth side of the courtyard was to have been an elaborate colonnade and etera . Apart from the house the only part of this scheme to have been built was the stable block, but this was demolished less than a century after it was built. Many architectural commentators feel that Hawksmoor's mansion would, in fact, have been spoilt by this scheme, which owed more to Sir John Vanbrugh's architectural concepts than Hawksmoor's. The whole design was depicted in Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus vol. i (1715, pls 98 - 100) as though it existed. Two large entrance piers are all that remains of this grandiose design.
