University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Link to University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Link to University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture

Page View

Repton, Humphry, 1752-1818 / Observations on the theory and practice of landscape gardening: including some remarks on Grecian and Gothic architecture, collected from various manuscripts, in the possession of the different noblemen and gentlemen, for whose use they were originally written; the whole tending to establish fixed principles in the respective arts
(1803)

[Chapter XII, continued],   pp. 179-182


Page 179

179
or saloon. 4th. The Music-room. 5th. The Billiard-room. 6th.
The Conservatory attached to the house; and lastly, the Boudoirs,
wardrobes, hot and cold baths, &c. which are all modern appen-
dages unknown in Queen Elizabith's days, Under these circum-
stances, it is difficult to preserve the ancient style of a mansion
without considerable additions. For this reason we see few
specimens of Gothic buildings which have not been mixed and
corrupted with the architecture of various dates; and whilst'
every casudl observer may be struck with the incongruity of
mixing the Grecian with the Gothic styles, yet the nice anti-
quarian alone discovers by the contour of a moulding, or the
shape of a battlement, that mixture of the castle and abbey
Gothic, which is equally incorrect with respect to their different
dates and purposes.
The annexed view of this house will, I hope, justify my
anxiety to preserve it as far as may be consistent with modern
habitation: for although it can neither be deemed a castle, an
abbey, or a house of any Gothic character with which we
are acquainted, yet its form is singularly picturesque, and the
slide shews the effect of removing the present road, walls, and
stables, which would obstruct the view from the new apartments.
In determining the situation for a large house in the country,
there are other circumstances to be considered besides the
offices and appendages immediately contiguous. These have so
often occurred, that I have established in imagination certain
positions for each, which I have never found so capable of being
realized as at MICHEL GROVE,.


Go up to Top of Page