Upton House

Earlier Houses: The current house incorporates a small part of an earlier, probably Elizabethan, house.

Built / Designed For: Nathaniel Cripps

House & Family History: Upton is a surprisingly grand house of seven bays and three stories with a palace-like ashlar façade, very likely designed by a provincial architect. The house is most notable for its Baroque plasterwork and its entrance hall, which soars to two stories and features giant fluted Corinthian pilasters. During the time Upton was the home of Sir Kenneth Clark (he leased the house between 1939 and 1943), many of the great and good of the artistic community came to stay, including Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Eddy Sackville-West, and William Walton. The Clarks gave up the lease of Upton when the government requisitioned the house for the Women's Land Army during World War II.

Comments: Nicholas Kingsley, writing in "The Country Houses of Gloucestershire: Volume Two, 1660-1830," says that Upton is a house of "...Palladian magnificence humanised and provincialised by Baroque features."
Architect: William John Donthorn

Date of Birth: 1799
Date of Death: 1859
Nationality: British
Notes: Born in Norfolk, Donthorn was a pupil of Wyatville, whose style of Picturesque he helped to develop. He is considered to be one of the most significant Greek Revival architects of the 1820s and 1830s and was a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Date: 1832
Designed: Rebuilt house in Greek Revival style

View all houses

Architect: John Wood the Elder

Date of Birth: 1704
Date of Death: 1754
Nationality: English

Date: 1752
Designed: House for Nathaniel Cripps
(Attribution of this work is uncertain)
View all houses

Architect: William (Michael) Halfpenny (Hoare)

Date of Birth: ?
Date of Death: 1755
Nationality: ?
Notes: Halfpenny was an assistant of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. Together with his brother, John Halfpenny, he wrote the 1752 book "Chinese and Gothick Architecture Properly Ornamented." The brothers designed a noted Gothick pavilion for Tsarkoe Selo, St. Petersburg, that is similar to the famous Gothick Orangery at Frampton Court.

Date: 1752
Designed: House for Nathaniel Cripps
(Attribution of this work is uncertain)
View all houses

Architect: Frederick Sandham Waller

Date of Birth: 1822
Date of Death: 1905
Nationality: British
Notes: Gloucester architect. Partner of Thomas Fulljames.

Date: 1870-71
Designed: New Service Block for Sir Archibald Little

View all houses
Country Life: CLIII, 390, 1973.
Title: Country Life (magazine)
Author: NA
Year Published: NA
Reference: Feb 15, 1973, pg. 394
Publisher: Bath: Future plc
ISBN: NA
Book Type: Magazine
House Listed: Grade II*

Park Listed: Not Listed
Current Seat / Home of: Roger Seelig; here since 1983.

Past Seat / Home of: Nathaniel Cripps, 18th century; Cripps family here until 1818. J.W. Biederman, 1823-31. Maurice Maskelyne, 1856-66. Major General Sir Arichibald Little, 1866-90; Major A. Cosmo Little, 1890-1934. Sir Kenneth Clark (tenant), 1939-43. Malcolm St. Clair, mid-20th century; St. Clair family here until 1983.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home
House Open to Public: No
Historic Houses Member: No

House, Family & Collections History

Architects

Historic Publications References

Bibliography / Reading List for this House

Listings for House & Park

Families Who’ve Lived Here / Current Ownership Type & Use

Access

VISIT AND HELP PRESERVE HISTORIC BRITISH HOUSES