Holkham Hall

Holkham Hall. The severely Palladian south facade with its Ionic portico is devoid of arms or motif; not even a blind window is allowed to break the void between the windows and roof-line, while the lower windows are mere piercings in the stark brickwork. The only hint of ornamentation is from the two terminating Venetian windows.

Holkham Hall (/ˈhoʊkəm/ or /ˈhɒlkəm/[1]) is an 18th-century country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for the 1st Earl of Leicester (of the fifth creation of the title)[2][3] by the architect William Kent, aided by Lord Burlington.

Holkham Hall is one of England's finest examples of the Palladian revival style of architecture, and the severity of its design is closer to Palladio's ideals than many of the other numerous Palladian style houses of the period. The Holkham Estate was built up by Sir Edward Coke, the founder of his family's fortune. He bought Neales manor in 1609, though never lived there, and made many other purchases of land in Norfolk to endow to his six sons. His fourth son, John, inherited the land and married heiress Meriel Wheatley in 1612. They made Hill Hall their home, and by 1659, John had complete ownership of all three Holkham manors. It is the ancestral home of the Coke family, who became Earls of Leicester.

The interior of the hall is opulent, but by the standards of the day, simply decorated and furnished. Ornament is used with such restraint that it was possible to decorate both private and state rooms in the same style, without oppressing the former.[4] The principal entrance is through the Marble Hall, which is in fact made of pink Derbyshire alabaster; this leads to the piano nobile, or the first floor, and state rooms. The most impressive of these rooms is the Saloon, which has walls lined with red velvet. Each of the major state rooms is symmetrical in its layout and design; in some rooms, false doors are necessary to fully achieve this balanced effect.

  1. ^ "Holkham Hall". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  2. ^ Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation)(1697–1759), the builder of Holkham, should not be confused with his great-nephew Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation), the celebrated agrarian known as "Coke of Norfolk", who also lived at Holkham Hall. Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (builder of Holkham), died without surviving sons, hence his Earldom terminated. Holkham subsequently passed to Thomas Coke's nephew Wenman Roberts who assumed the Coke surname but could not inherit the title. It was Roberts's son, Thomas Coke, born in 1754, for whom the title "Earl of Leicester, of Holkham in the County of Norfolk", was created in 1837. The new title was an honour granted in recognition of Coke's services to politics and agriculture. As this earldom was of a new creation, he too became the 1st Earl. It is his descendant Thomas Coke, 8th Earl of Leicester, who resides at Holkham today. The surname "Coke" is pronounced "Cook".
  3. ^ The Earldom of Leicester has been, to date, created seven times. Thomas Coke, the builder of Holkham, was the 1st Earl of the fifth creation. His grand nephew Thomas Coke was the 1st Earl of the seventh creation.
  4. ^ Nicolson, p.237