Luscombe Castle, (Dawlish, England), 1797, Gothic Revival
Luscombe Castle is a home located in Dawlish, England. The land for the house was purchased in 1797 by Charles Hoare whom demolished the original home, and immediately began the planning of his new home. The architects for the building were John Nash and Humphrey Repton. The design for the home was based on Downtown Castle and Gothic Revival. It included Tudor-Gothic style windows, castellated parapets, turrets, pinnacles, and chimney stacks. What made the design different from standard Gothic Revival was the irregularities, such as the varying roof elevations, and the roofs not being flat, as well as the strategic view points that focused on the surrounding landscape, all of which was in the picturesque ideal. Nash had the intention of showing that classicism did not have to mean flat roofs and a symmetrical design.
The layout was comprised of an asymmetrical, cruciform plan with wings and a central lobby. Upon passing through the porte-cochère, one enters a circular foyer. There is a staircase hall to the upper level on the right, and to the left is the dining room entry. The dining room has views that face the park. Through the staircase hall the drawing room can be accessed, which held views to the park on the west or the south side. The servants quarters were also on the ground floor, but placed in their own wing without prominence, in order to maintain hierarchy of the spaces. The building was constructed or Portland stone, and was over two storeys tall, with an octagonal drawings room tower that was three storeys tall. The tower was designed to have glass doors that open in summer, and can be closed off in winter.
The overall style of the home as well as being gothic, was also along the lines of the picturesque movement. At the time, there was a high demand for houses that served as an escape from city life for the rich bankers and merchants, who didn’t want to have proper estates built, but homes that blended more into the landscape. They wanted homes that made them feel like they were in a different place and different time entirely. What makes this home unique is that it was designed to look like a historical fortress that was scaled down to the size of a middle class house, with the comfortable interiors of a traditional home. The irregularities in the design and layout, went hand in hand with the carefully designed gardens, and even including a loggia.
Humphrey Repton and John Veitch were in charge of designing the landscape that surrounded Luscombe Castle, and with the picturesque ideals in mind, he created a rich 350 acre scenery to surround a richly designed home. The are two ornamental woods on the property with a stream running through it, as well as an 18th century pine plantation. There is an American Garden that was intended to be the primary outdoor space that features ponds throughout. There are also separate structures on the property like a 19th century lodge, and others that were developed later on, like a round summerhouse in 1799 which was moved in 1830, and a Chapel built in 1862.
Luscombe castle was a landmark of irregular architecture, that blended with the irregular, picturesque landscape. The connections between interior and exterior spaces, as well as the variation in shape and elevation of the rooms, made this a truly unique building. Although Nash has been said to have a distaste for the Gothic Revival style, he made many more structures in this style throughout his career, in response to demand at the time. Some say Nash simply built what was popular at the time, but the execution of such typologies and styles is what’s most notable about his works.
Bibliography:
Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House: a Social and Architectural History. Yale Univ. Pr., 1984.
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