Stourhead house: the Hoare family home

The Palladian villa at Stourhead was finished in 1725 and had taken four years to build. The land had previously been owned by the Stourtons, and Henry Hoare I (known as 'Good Henry' due to his charitable works) pulled down the near derelict Stourton Manor to build his fashionable Palladian country house which was, designed by the Scottish architect, Colen Campbell. Stourhead House has changed somewhat over the years, with different members of the family altering the appearance to suit their own tastes and fashions of the time. The additions of the wings and of the portico to the front of the house were made by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and Sir Henry Hugh Hoare during their ownership. Over the years, the shape, size, and functions of the rooms have also changed to best suit the members of the family living there at the time.

Stourhead was one of the first grand Palladian-style villas to be built in England and therefore it follows the correct tradition, where the carriage entrance leads to the piano nobile, or main floor, where the principal rooms are arranged. Underneath, in a semi-basement, lie the ‘engine rooms’ of the house – the kitchens, sculleries and storerooms. The house was intended to be the main country home for Henry Hoare I and his family, but unfortunately Henry died the same year that the house was completed.

The great grandson of Henry Hoare I, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, made significant changes to the house, not only by adding the wings, but also by adding to the wonderful collection of objects inside. He had found that the original house was not large enough for his books and paintings, so the wings were built to house this collection and are great examples of his Regency taste. Sir Richard Colt Hoare also employed furniture-maker Thomas Chippendale the Younger to make furniture for the newly built wings.

Great estates were hit by hard times during the agricultural depression of the late nineteenth century and Stourhead was no exception. Then owned by Sir Henry Ainslie Hoare, he had to sell some of the treasures bought and commissioned by Henry Hoare II ‘the Magnificent’ and Sir Richard Colt Hoare. These included paintings of Salisbury by JMW Turner, watercolours by Francis Nicholson and Colt Hoare’s unequalled library of topographical books.

When the last owners, Sir Henry and Alda, Lady Hoare, inherited Stourhead it had been closed up for a number of years, and when they first moved to Wiltshire they occupied ‘the Cottage’ (now the National Trust Estate Office) while the house was redecorated and put back in order. They also set about renovating the gardens which had also been neglected. In 1902 a fire took hold of the recently restored house, destroying the central section, and the family once again moved back into the Cottage for two years.