DiCamillo Companion
England

Kirby Hall

  • Built / Designed For: Stephen Thompson

    House & Family History: Kirby was erected in the mid-18th century for the enormous sum of £13,500 (approximately £24 million in 2014 inflation-adjusted values using labour value commodity index). The house contained carving by Grinling Gibbons and murals by James Thornhill, the latter reputedly from Canons. Kirby was illustrated in "Vitruvius Britannicus." An eight-room wing was built in 1800 and subsequently demolished in 1857 and replaced with a 24-room wing, completed in 1860. The house was demolished in the early 1920s.

    Comments: Kirby Hall was considered one of the West Riding's most important houses.

  • Garden & Outbuildings: New Lodge gatehouse (see "Images" section) by Robert Lugar, is extant. The Pantheon-like Thompson Mausoleum, built 1742-43 for Henry Thompson, still stands in the former Kirby Hall Estate. The mausoleum is interesting and important on a number of levels: it's located on a former Roman road and would not be out of place on the famous Appian Way, which today remains lined with ancient Roman tombs and mausolea. The Thompson Mausoleum, with its pseudoperipteral rotunda, shallow lead dome, and 13 engaged Roman Doric columns, could easily have been inspired by the Tomb of Caecelia Metella (see "Images") on the Appian Way. The tabula ansata over the doorway to the mausoleum is one of the earliest examples of the fishtail pane in England.

  • Architect: Roger Morris

    Date: 1746
    Designed: House for Stephen Thompson

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    Architect: Richard Boyle (Burlington)

    Date: 1746
    Designed: Assisted Roger Morris in plans for House

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    Architect: John Carr

    Date: 1748-56
    Designed: Worked on interiors

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    Architect: John Buonarotti Papworth

    Date: 1833
    Designed: Landscaped Park and added Conservatory

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    Architect: Joseph Paxton

    Date: 1863
    Designed: Hothouses

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    Architect: Robert Lugar

    Date: Circa 1814
    Designed: New Lodge for R. J. Thompson

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  • Vitruvius Britannicus: C. V, pls. 70, 71, 1771.

  • Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - HARDBACK
    Author: Colvin, Howard
    Year Published: 2008
    Reference: pg. 662
    Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
    ISBN: 9780300125085
    Book Type: Hardback

    Title: Lost Houses of the West Riding
    Author: Waterson, Edward; Meadows, Peter
    Year Published: 1998
    Reference: pg. 15
    Publisher: Yorkshire: Jill Raines
    ISBN: 0951649442
    Book Type: Softback

  • House Listed: Grade II

    Park Listed: Not Listed

  • Past Seat / Home of: Stephen Thompson, 18th century. George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry, 19th century.

    Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

    Primary Current Ownership Use: Ruinous

  • House Open to Public: No

    Historic Houses Member: No

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