Hovingham Hall

Details

HOVINGHAM CHURCH STREET SE 6675 (west side) 8/102 Hovingham Hall 25.1.54 GV I Country house. c1750-1774 with additional C19 servants' wing. By Thomas Worsley VI for himself. Craftsmen included Jonathan Rose the plasterer; John Devall Junior who provided an Ionic chimney-piece; Moss, Kelsey and West joiners; Jelfe the mason; Abbott the painter and Lawrence the woodcarver, all of whose names appear in Thomas Worsley's accounts held at Hovingham. Limestone ashlar, Westmorland slate roof. L-shaped on plan with riding school providing substantial entrance wing, flanked by stables to south, C19 addition to east of north range. Based on design for town house by Palladio; balancing south-west wing never built.

Garden facade: spinal range with cross wing to left. 2 storeys with basement and attics. Spinal range symmetrical 9-bay facade with return for unbuilt south wing to right forming tenth bay. Central pedimented 3-bay pavilion breaks forward slightly. Plinth and faced rustication to blind arcade of ground floor. Double-leaf half-glazed door beneath fanlight flanked by inserted 8-pane fixed windows. Central keystone bears inscription: 'Pro viribus non pro votis erexit T.W.' First-floor band carries blind balustrade. Rusticated blind arcade. Venetian window flanked by plate-glass sashes in eared architraves. Doric frieze with bucrania and paterae in metopes. Oculus to pediment. Flanking sections each have blind arcade of rock-faced rustication containing half-glazed door beneath original lunettes flanked by inserted 8-pane fixed windows. First floor: unequal 9-pane sashes in eared architraves, those to right smaller than those to left. Moulded eaves course. To right: gabled return bay has 6- panel door beneath overlight with 2 fixed windows above. Ridge and eaves stacks. Staircase dome to left at junction with north wing. North wing: 3 bay pedimented pavilion to west facade, 6 bays to return. 2 storeys. West facade: rock-faced plinth carrying continuous sill band to sashes with glazing bars in architraves with canopies. First floor: sashes with glazing bars in architraves. Diocletian window to pediment. Return facade: 6 bays, that to left being part of the pavilion is taller and breaks forward. To left bay: 2 basement windows in rock-faced plinth carrying continuous sill to sash with glazing bars in architrave with canopy. To right: 2 basement windows to left. Plinth and rock-faced rustication to blind arcade of ground floor containing sashes with glazing bars, the central one in former position of main entrance. First floor: sashes with glazing bars in moulded architrave to left bay. Casements in keyed architraves to right bays. Ridge stacks. Street facade: pedimented gable end to street. 2 storeys, 3 bays with curved flanking walls. Rock-faced stone to both storeys and flanking walls, ashlar to pediment. Tall keyed carriage arch rising through 2 storeys with impost band, flanked by keyed sashes with glazing bars to ground floor and keyed 6-pane sashes to first floor. Band above bears motto 'VIRTUS IN ACTIONE CONSTITIT'. Plain pediment with oculus flanked by dragon acroteria and surmounted by cornice stack. The ramped flanking walls terminate in square-section piers with ball finials, and carry continuation of impost band.

Interior: the main entrance to the house has always been through the riding school, a unique arrangement. Tripartite round-arched arcades to each end with grisaille paintings above to east end and windows to ballroom balcony. School lit by 3 large elliptical-arched tripartite windows at first-floor level to each side. Double-leaf doorway beneath fanlight at west end leads to Samson Hall, originally a carriageway to the forecourt beyond, flanked by stables. This arrangement was found to be impractical and by 1778 these 3 rooms had been converted to halls. All have quadripartite vaults held on Tuscan columns. The Samson Hall is floored in hexagonal oak blocks suitable for carriages. The drawing room in the north wing is the former entrance hall and has a tripartite Corinthian colonnade of painted plaster and Doric fireplace. Dining room, originally State bedroom, with fluted Corinthian colonnade and Ionic fireplace. Early C19 wrought-iron open well staircase, beneath dome painted in 1830s with a copy of Guido Reni's "Aurora". Ionic room: overhanging entablature with anthemion frieze supported by fluted Ionic columns of scagliola, now painted over. Coved ceiling with guilloche and waterleaf enrichment. Ballroom: square-on plan, plain with Ionic frieze. East doorway leads to balcony giving on to riding school. Green room: originally 3 bays, now subdivided. Baseless Doric columns with egg- and-dart abacus.

Country Life, 4 February 1905; Country Life, 10, 17 December 1927; Country Life, 15 June 1961; Hussey C, English Country Houses: Early Georgian, 1955; Pevsner N, Yorkshire: The North Riding, 1966; Worsley G A, "Thomas Worsley: An Eighteenth Century Amateur Architect", unpublished dissertation, Oxford University, 1982; Worsley Sir Marcus, Hovingham Hall, York, (Guidebook), 1984.

Listing NGR: SE6662775673

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

329058

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Thomas Worsley an Eighteenth Century Amateur Architect, ()
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The North Riding, (1966)
Hussey, C, English Country Houses Early Georgian 1715-1760, (1955)
Worsley, M, Guidebook Hovingham Hall York, (1984)
Country Life in 10 December, (1927)
Country Life in 15 June, (1961)
Country Life in 17 December, (1927)
Country Life in 4 February, (1905)

End of official list entry

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