English stately homes are almost guaranteed to have an awe-inspiring library, with wall-to-wall books, elegant architecture and usually the requisite accoutrement to imbue readers with an atmosphere of wisdom and comfort, from globes and oil paintings, to roaring fires and creaking armchairs. Here’s some library inspiration from some of Great Britain’s most distinguished homes:
Harewood House, in West Yorkshire, was designed by one of Britain’s most acclaimed architects, Robert Adam, whose classical-inspired designs include Bath’s famous Pulteney Bridge, Old College at the University of Edinburgh and The Duke of Wellington’s London residence; Aspley House.
Adam’s neoclassical style is reflected in Harewood House’s libraries, of which there are three, with The Old Library (above) displaying Adam’s work at its best; classical pilasters, neo-Grecian reliefs and arched alcoves. Integrated murals depict scenes from antiquity, all by the hand of Biagio Rebecca, while the black marble busts are of intellectual figures from history including Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Dante and Sir Isaac Newton. ‘It is clear the Old Library at Harewood was designed to portray a theme of scholarship and intellectuality’ explains the Harewood House website.
Chatsworth House is home to one of Britain’s oldest families, so it stands to reason their library would be distinctly grand. The Cavendish family date back to the Norman Conquest, eventually rising to the Devonshire dukedom in the late 17th century. The Cavendish family purchased the Chatsworth estate in 1549, and over the proceeding centuries would transform, rebuild and develop the estate into the one of Britain’s most stunning country homes.
Many of the dukes took off to the continent on the requisite Grand Tour, bringing back artefacts, trinkets and great volumes of literature, all of which contributed to growing library at Chatsworth. The 6th Duke in particular was a great bibliophile and transformed the long gallery into a grand library with a second mezzanine storey installed under the room’s high, ornate ceilings. The upper floor is now reached by a secret door, adding to the enchanting atmosphere of the hallowed room. Find out more about Chatsworth, one of Britain’s most popular stately home with a thorough history, at the website here.
Canons Ashby, in Northamptonshire, is a grade I listed Elizabethan manor now operated by the National Trust. The medieval interiors have largely been preserved including Elizabethan wallpaintings and Jacobean plasterwork. As well as once being home to an active priory church, the estate has also been home to Sir Henry Edward Leigh Dryden, a Victorian baron with a passion for history; so naturally a handsome library was formed in its walls.
Dryden refused to call the library a ‘library’ and instead referred to the studious room as a ‘book room’. Today, the library hosts wall-to-wall bookshelves centred by a large stone fireplace and smattered with a collection of all the objects you would might hope for in a ‘book room’, including an antique globe, writer’s desk, index-card cabinet and inkwell,. Find out more about Canons Ashby and how you can visit at the National Trust’s website here.
More library inspiration:
Find more library inspiration in previous posts such as the home of illustrious writer Elizabeth Gaskell, a classic British library at Dunrobin Castle or the evocative landscapes of Bronte country. You can also use the ‘library‘ tag for more bookish posts in the future.
feature image © Copyright David Dixon cc by-sa 2.0