Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor is a
country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire,
England. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale, 6.6 miles (10.6 km)
west of Aylesbury. The house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style
of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de
Rothschild (1839–1898) as a weekend residence for grand
entertaining.
The last member of
the Rothschild family to own Waddesdon was James de Rothschild
(1878-1957). He bequeathed the house and its contents to the National
Trust. It is now administered by a Rothschild charitable trust that
is overseen by Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild. It is one of
the National Trust's most visited properties, with around 335,000
visitors annually.
Prior to the
construction of Waddesdon Manor, no house existed on the site.
Ferdinand de Rothschild wanted a house in the style of the great
Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley. The Baron, a member of the
Viennese branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty, chose as his
architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. Destailleur was already
experienced in working in this style, having overseen the restoration
of many châteaux in that region, in particular that of the Château
de Mouchy.
Through
Destailleur's vision, Waddesdon embodied an eclectic style based on
the châteaux so admired by his patron, Baron Ferdinand. The towers
at Waddesdon were based on those of the Château de Maintenon, and
the twin staircase towers, on the north facade, were inspired by the
staircase tower at the Château de Chambord. However, following the
theme of unparalleled luxury at Waddesdon, the windows of the towers
at Waddesdon were glazed, unlike those of the staircase at Chambord.
They are also far more ornate.
 |
Plan of Waddesdon's
ground floor. 1:Vestibule; 2:Entrance Hall, 3 Red Drawing room;
4:Grey Drawing Room; 5:Library; 6:Baron's Sitting room; 7:Morning
Room; 8:West Hall; 9:West Gallery; 10:East Gallery; 11:Dining Room;
12:Conservatory; 13:Breakfast Room; 14:Kitchen; 15:Servant's Hall;
16:Housekeeper's Rooms; 17:Site of further servants quarters (not
illustrated); 18:Terrace and parterre; 19 North Drive; St:staircases.
|
The structural
design of Waddesdon, however, was not all retrospective. Hidden from
view were the most modern innovations of the late 19th century
including a steel frame, which took the strain of walls on the upper
floors, which consequently permitted the layout of these floors to
differ completely from the lower floors. The house also had hot and
cold running water in its bathrooms, central heating, and an electric
bell system to summon the numerous servants. The building contractor
was Edward Conder & Son.
Once his château
was complete, Baron Ferdinand installed his extensive collections of
French 18th-century boiseries, Savonnerie carpets, tapestries,
furniture, Sèvres ceramics, and books, as well as English and Dutch
paintings and Renaissance treasures. Works were acquired for their
exquisite quality and fine provenance. One of the highlights of the
collection is the extraordinary musical automaton elephant, dating
from 1774 and made by the French clockmaker H Martinet. Of the ten
surviving examples of the Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a
ship from the 1760s, three are at Waddesdon, including one with a
very rare scene of a battle connected to the Seven Years' War.
In the 1890s, Baron
Ferdinand focused on the Renaissance collection for his small museum
in the New Smoking Room. This collection was bequeathed to the
British Museum and is now known as the Waddesdon Bequest..The
interior of Waddesdon Manor was photographed in 1897 for Baron
Ferdinand's privately published The Red Book.
Subsequent owners
added noted collections of arms and armour, maiolica, medieval
manuscripts, prints and drawings.
Extensive
landscaping of the hill was carried out, including leveling the top.
The gardens and landscape park were laid out by the French landscape
architect Elie Lainé. An attempt was made to transplant full-grown
trees by chloroforming their roots, to limit the shock. While this
novel idea was unsuccessful, many very large trees were successfully
transplanted. The gardens were enhanced with statuary, pavilions and
an aviary. The Proserpina fountain was brought to the Manor at the
end of the 19th century from the Palace of the Dukes of Parma in
northern Italy: the Ducal Palace of Colorno. The gardens are listed
Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Baron Ferdinand
played host to many important guests including the future Edward
VII.[13] The grounds and house were such a wonder of their day that,
in 1890, Queen Victoria invited herself to view them. The Queen was,
however, more impressed by the electric lighting in the house than
the wonders of the park. Fascinated by the invention she had not seen
before, she is reported to have spent ten minutes switching a newly
electrified 18th-century chandelier on and off.
When Baron Ferdinand
died in 1898, the house passed to his sister Alice de Rothschild, who
further developed the collections. Following Alice de Rothschild's
death in 1922, the property and collections passed to her
great-nephew James A. "Jimmy" de Rothschild of the French
branch of the family, who further enriched it with objects from the
collections of his late father Baron Edmond James de Rothschild of
Paris. James hosted a Liberal Party rally at Waddesdon in 1928, where
David Lloyd George addressed the crowd. During World War II, children
under the age of five were evacuated from London and lived at
Waddesdon Manor.
When James de
Rothschild died in 1957, he bequeathed Waddesdon Manor, 200 acres
(0.81 km2) of grounds and its contents to the National Trust, to be
preserved for posterity. A nearby ancillary property, The Pavilion at
Eythrope, became the home of James de Rothschild's widow, Dorothy de
Rothschild, usually known as "Mrs James". She took a very
keen interest in Waddesdon for the remainder of her long life.
Eythrope and the rest of the Waddesdon estate were bequeathed to the
4th Lord Rothschild.
Jacob Rothschild,
4th Baron Rothschild, has been a major benefactor of Waddesdon Manor
through The Alice Trust, a registered charity headed by the
Rothschild family. In an unprecedented arrangement, he was given
authority by the National Trust in 1993 to run Waddesdon Manor as a
semi-independent operation. Since 2011, the family charity handling
Waddesdon’s management has been the Rothschild Foundation.
The Manor underwent
a major restoration from 1990 to 1997, and the visitor attractions
were enhanced. In 2003, in a burglary committed by the Johnson Gang,
approximately 100 priceless gold snuff boxes and other items were
stolen from the collection prompting the installation of new security
measures. In 2012, it was announced that Waddesdon Manor would be one
of the sites for Jubilee Woodlands, designated by the Woodland Trust
to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.
New works of art
continue to be acquired to complement the existing collections at
Waddesdon, such as Le Faiseur de Châteaux de Cartes by
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, added in 2007. Contemporary works have
also been sited near the Manor and on the wider estate including by
Richard Long, Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst.Commissions to
contemporary architects have also occurred. Windmill Hill Archive
(2011) was designed by Stephen Marshall. Flint House (2015) was
designed by Skene Catling de la Peña. It won RIBA House of the Year
in 2015. In April 2015, artist Joana Vasconcelos installed two
sculptures entitled Lafite in front of the Manor.
Since 2012, when
Christie's chose the Manor to exhibit sculptures by leading
contemporary artists, the Manor has gone on to host other major
exhibitions, including the Lod Mosaic.[28] Waddesdon was one venue
celebrating the work of Henry Moore in 2015. Bruce Munro has also
exhibited several works at the Manor.
Lord
Rothschild: My manor from heaven
In a rare interview,
Lord Rothschild talks about the priceless collections at Waddesdon
and why the HS2 transport link won't derail his ambitions.
Clive Aslet By Clive
Aslet7:00AM GMT 17 Jan 2012
I interrupt Lord
Rothschild in the middle of a decision. It’s not about finance or
philanthropy, though these are subjects that occupy other parts of
his mind. A friend has offered him the loan of two 8ft-tall columns
of green semi-precious stone and he is wondering where they would
show to best effect. We could only be at Waddesdon Manor in
Buckinghamshire, where people have been worrying about such arcane
and delicious matters since it was begun by Baron Ferdinand de
Rothschild in 1874.
Waddesdon has been
in the news recently for an unwelcome reason: HS2, the high-speed
rail network, is planned to come slicing through the Vale of
Aylesbury about two miles from its front door. Two miles is not far
in the case of an estate the size of Waddesdon. It will also make a
“great noise”, shattering the tranquillity of a place whose
special magic attracts 350,000 visitors a year.
“I have particular
feelings as a neighbour to the railway,” says Lord Rothschild with
polished understatement. “But more generally, the economic case has
not been well made. You hear different opinions. Infrastructure ought
to be integrated in the UK.” If a new airport were to be built east
of London, for example, Britain’s rail needs would change
radically. “We’re talking about very large sums of money and the
impact on some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain, which
are very big things.”
From Lord
Rothschild, that comment is something; he is used to dealing with big
things. One of them is Waddesdon. Built in the style of a French
chateau, it was not intended to shelter a spreading family, since
Baron Ferdinand’s wife and baby both died during the birth, nor to
entertain great Victorian shooting parties; the place was conceived
as a showcase for the collections, acquiring which provided the
mainspring of Baron Ferdinand’s life. They are fabulous, opulent,
well-chosen, gilded – a cardinal statement of a taste so associated
with this one international family, which had 40 great houses across
Europe in the 19th century, that it simply went by the name of “the
Rothschild taste”.
Luxurious French
furniture was combined with the best British 18th-century portraits.
Here is the playwright Beaumarchais’s de luxe writing desk. There,
a jewel-encrusted miniature of James I. Every marble surface supports
a pair of Sèvres parrots or an agate vase. Even the collection of
18th-century buttons is memorable.
In this age of
dumbing down, the public is presumed not to appreciate miniature
Dresden horsemen, made by court goldsmiths in the 1690s out of ivory
and jewels. But Waddesdon is the second-most visited property of the
National Trust. Much of the credit for that is down to Lord
Rothschild, who has been developing it in conjunction with the Trust.
Visitors have been mesmerised by the quality that pervades every
aspect – thanks to the demanding eye of a man who, in every aspect
of his life, operates at the highest level.
The Rothschilds have
always been well connected – Lord Rothschild’s son, Nat, has been
the subject of media speculation after entertaining George Osborne
and Peter Mandelson on the oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s yacht – but
this family does not court publicity, preferring to operate through a
network of connections behind the scenes. Indeed, Lord Rothschild
rarely gives interviews, even about a subject as close to his heart
as Waddesdon.
If you had thought
he’d done enough to revitalise an old family possession, you’d be
wrong. Although in his mid-seventies, he talks as if he has only just
begun. He appears to have analysed the needs of the property, much as
he would an investment decision. The strategy is to make it “much
wider in its interest”, while not abandoning one whit of rigour as
regards connoisseurship. This year, the estate will plant a 40-acre
wood in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee, and Lord Rothschild is
excited. The idea is to make it “more than an extraordinary house
on the hill with its collections”.
Then comes an
exhibition programme, beginning this spring with the most ambitious
yet held at the house, on Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s painting
The House of Cards. There are four versions of this painting: at the
National Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Art in
Washington, the Louvre and Waddesdon – not such a bad club to
belong to. There is a family connection with the artist, since Henri
de Rothschild collected 19 of his works; alas, his heir installed
them for safe keeping during the Second World War in a house in Bath,
which was bombed.
The present baron, a
former chairman of the National Gallery, has always collected, albeit
“schizophrenically”, he says. “My mother was a Bloomsbury
figure; a great friend of TS Eliot, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell. My
grandmother, Mary Hutchinson, gave her life to works of art, being an
admirer of Matisse and Giaometti, whom I collected as a young man
because of her.” Through his father came the love of things
traditionally Rothschild. He has kept both aspects of his collecting
personality in play.
The estate has
developed another new venture. Built on the site of a redundant farm,
Windmill Hill, as it is known, is a superb work of architecture,
designed by Stephen Marshall, in a glorious open landscape. The
purpose is to provide an archive and a conference centre, holding
meetings on “subjects of interest to mankind, such as climate
change, the environment, the Middle East, investment. Ten years ago I
held a conference with Warren Buffet and people were queuing to come.
I intend to do more of those, perhaps with the Saïd Business School
at Oxford. If delegates feel in need of spiritual refreshment, they
need only look through the windows, whether to the natural world or
the art works.”
Best of all,
perhaps, is something not immediately visible to the visitor. Baron
Ferdinand fretted that, since he had no children, Waddesdon would
“fall into decay”. But the future of the house has never looked
so assured. Windmill Hill is the base for the Rothschild Foundation,
in which any or all of Lord Rothschild’s “four children and eight
grandchildren may become involved”. With assets in excess of
£250 million it will underwrite the family’s standards of
excellence in perpetuity.
Clive Aslet is
Editor at Large of 'Country Life’
No comments:
Post a Comment