Hollinghurst Manor

**Hollinghurst Manor** is the seat of the Earls of Hollinghurst, first introduced in the Franklin Mint Edition.

## Background

### **The Hall**

Very little remains of the original 1665 Entry Hall. Due to major financial gains made by William Boddy in the late 17th century with the East India Company, his son, William Boddy, the first earl of Hollinghurst, was able to undertake major renovations to Hollinghurst Manor in 1712. The most impressive remnant of this undertaking is the Hall as designed by William Kent (1686-1748), one of the most innovative and important architect/designers of the first quarter of the 18th century.

Successive generations did not alter the design of this magnificent early Georgian room, but rather kept it in its original splendor and commissioned the restoration of the original blue deep-cut silk velvet damask that Kent designed for this room. KIent's classical architecturee is elegantly adapted for this Great Hall. He also designed a pair of settees (on the East Wall), four candelabra, and a tabble in the center of the room. Matthais Locke, another prominent furniture designer, supplied a pair of console tables (a similar example is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) on the North Wall.

The portrait over the fireplace is of William Boddy, painted in 1734; he is flanked by portraits of his daughter Dorothy, on the left (she was the mistress of Hollinghurst from 1752-1775) and his son George (the future second earl of Hollinghurst). Family portraits adorn two of the other walls. On the pair of Locke consoles on the North Wall are a pair of Roman busts: Livia (c.75 A.D.) and Commodus (c. 123 A.D.). On the floor is one of the glories of French craftsmanship: a rare Savonnerie carpet originally made in 1740 for Louis XV, who rejected it because it was too small for his library. Lady Dorothy, who was a special friend of the French Queen, was able to acquire this treasure for Hollinghurst Manor.

### **The Lounge**

Lady Emily Boddy, an amateur Egyptologist and an accomplished pianoforte player, was in need of a salon devoted to her interests and for the entertainment of her friends. When Lord Edward Boddy's great horse, Queen of the Nile, won the second Ascot Gold Cup in 1812, Lady Emily decided to remodel the Reception Hall (her favorite room at Hollinghurst) using some of the winnings from the race. She appropriately chose an Egyptian Revival style. For the undertakings, the most prominent designer of the time, Thomas Hope (1769-1831), was hired to design the room.

With the unusual flair for the theatrical and for appropriating architectural vocabulary from the Ancient World (Egyptian, Greek, and Roman), Hope designed one of his most successful rooms, the Lounge at Hollinghurst Manor, which survives intact from the early 1820s. A frieze containing Egyptian motifs runs around the room. The walls are covered with the original mustard-color silk, with matching drapery treatment covering the windows and doors. Most of the furniture in the room, which was designed by Hope, still survives: the four armchairs (North and South Walls), the sofa stool and end tables. Hope also designed the fireplace on the North Wall and the picture frame on the East Wall. The only piece that was purchased is the French Empire-style piano, which was acquired in Paris for Lady Emily. In a bit of whimsy, Hope designed Greek masks to be hung on the wall. These masks were connected to pipes through which Lady Emily could transmit sounds from her boudoir upstairs. This always succeeded in leaving her visitors terrified. Long before interest in Egyptian artifacts reached a fevered pitch, Lady Emily installed a gilt sarcophagus in the room to conceal the secret passage that leads to the Conservatory.

### **The Dining Room**

The room in Hollinghurst Manor that retains the most authentic features from teh original house is the Dining Room. The 17th-century Jacobean woodwork designed in 1690 by Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) is typical of the 17th-century fascination with Oriental decor. The woodwork still maintains its beautiful dark red varnish in imitation of Chinese Red lacquer. The impressive marble fireplace is summounted by the original carved garlands within which hangs a portrait of William Boddy - first earl of Hollinghurst - which was painted by the workshop of Van Dyck.

Through his alliance with the East India Company, William Boddy was able to amass an important collection of Asian ceramics and lacquer. This collection was augmented by successive generations, so that today the Hollinghurst collection of Eastern ceramics and lacquers is considered one of the finest private collections.

Many of the original objects collected by the first Earl of Hollinghurst are still prominently displayed in this room. Most notable is the Japanese lacquer cabinet on an English gilt wood base placed against the North Wall. Flanking this ornate piece is a pair of monumental blue and white porcelain vases. A handsome porcelain charger rests atop the lacquer cabinet and another, smaller vase sits below. On the West Wall of the Dining Room is the Coromandel lacquer screen and an unusual 17-th century red lacquer trunk presented as a diplomatic gift to William Boddy. An elegant pair of Console tables have been placed on the East Wall, each below an ornate gilt-framed mirror.

Besides the portrait of William Boddy above the fireplace, the room is also the setting for several ancestral portraits painted in the academic tradition of British portraiture exemplified most notably by Sir Joshua Reynolds and the Royal Academy artists.

### **The Kitchen**

The Kitchen, which dates to the 15th century, retains very little of its medieval look. It has been altered throughout the history of Hollinghurst. The present layout was the one undertaken by Lady Priscilla Boddy in 1910. She hired M. Feetham & Co. from 9 Clifford Street in London - a firm that specialized in the engineering and fitting of the modern kitchen.

The cast-iron range was installed in the massive walk-in-fireplace on the West Wall. On the left side is an arcaded nook for storage of coal, wood and miscellaneous items for cooking: on the right, in another arcaded nook, are some of the kegs from the wine cellars of Hollinghurst. Like the Rothschilds, Mr. Boddy owns several vineyards in the Bordeaux region of Southern France which produce the famous Chateau Coquelicot wines. The North and East Walls have pedimened sideboards filled with chinaware cabinets filled with copper pots and pans. Te famrs at Hollinhurst keep the Kitchen well stocked with the basic neccessities to prepare a lavish feast - cuts of chicken, rabbit, beef and lamb are displayed on the East Wall and vegetables and fruits fill the kitchen tables.

In the center of the Kitchen sits a massive work table hewn of English oak taken from the forests that lie to the east of Hollinghurst Manor. On the table, nicked and scarred by years of use as a chopping, slicing and butchering surface, can often be found a variety of knives, cleavers and skewers kept honed to a keen sharpness.

Hollinghurst Manor has a permanent kitchen staff, most of whom have been in the Boddy's employ for two generations. This staff is greatly augmented when Mr. Boddy hosts parties or more than twenty guests.

### **The Ballroom**

There is no other room in Hollinghurst Manor that surpasses the Ballroom in sheer spectacle. No expense was spared when Lord Nigel Boddy decided to remodel the 17th-century enclosed loggia in 1861. Since work had recently been finished on the Conservatory, Lord Nigel undertook remodeling the rest of the northern wing, which included the loggia (now the Ballroom) and the Kitchen. The inspiration for the Ballroom came during one of Lord Nigel's visits to Paris. He had been invited by Napoleon III to an official state reception in 1860. The festivities commenced at the Salon d'Or et Blanc at the Louvre, which had been completed in 1857 in a Louis XVI style. The salon was meant to surpass Versailles in size and elaboration. Lord Nigel was overwhelmed with what he saw and vowed to replicate, on a smaller scale, the Salon at Hollinghurst Manor.

The present Ballroom is exactly the way Lord Nigel left it when work was finished in 1865. The gold and white color scheme has yellowed a bit over the years but still sparkles brightly when all the lights are turned on and the mirrors reflect the gold and crystal in the room. Mirrors were also placed in the transoms above the doors. The furniture, as in the Salon d'Or et Blanc, is in the Louis XV style. The set of chairs was made in the late 1860s by Wright & Mansfield. Wall lights are applied to the pilasters that separate the arched elements throughout the rooms. The grand piano in the center of the room was specifically made for this room. However, the masterpieces of this sumptuous Ballroom is the fireplace and the elaborate overmantle mirror. It was carved by Italian artisans and faithfully replicates the fireplace at the Louvre. The white marble fireplace surround is supported by carved and gilt figures on each side holding elabborate candelabra. The coat of arms of the Hollinghursts is in the cartouche above the mirror surrounded by the symbols of glory.

### **The Conservatory**

The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in London, proclaimed the eminent arrival of the Modern Age. Joseph Paxton, a landscape architect by profession, was given the charge of building one of the largest structures at that time, the challenge was to errect this structure in less than a year. Through the use of pre-fabricated iron architectural members, Paxton erected the monumental complex in nine months (which was disassembled after the Exhibition). Nigel Boddy, the sixth earl of Hollinghurst, attended the opening festivities, which were presided over by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Sir Nigel decided to emulate that structure on a very small scale at Hollinghurst Manor.

Using pre-fabricated cast-iron parts supplied by the firm of William Cooper & Co., the two exterior (North and East) walls of the original Game Room of 1665 were demolished and two glazed walls in the Gothic revival style were erected circa 1856. Exoticism andd fantasy were in order for this room.

Sir Nigel had traveled extensively, especially to Turkey and the Far East. He filled this room with some prized acquisitions from his trips: the Ottoman stained glass which was placed in clerestory windows, the tiled niches inspired by Islamic tiles from the Alhambra, the Burmese carved settee placed against the West Wall and the Chinese Red jardinieres.

But most impressive of all is the elaborate tile work that covvers all the walls of the Conservatory. William de Morgan (1839-1917) was commissioned to design tiles in imitation of Turkish Isnck tile work. De Morgan produced the present tiles and went on to design numerous wares based on this commission for which he is world renowned.

### **The Billiard Room**

John Robert, Senior, a close friend of Lord Nigel Boddy, was the acknowledged champion of billiards in England from 1849-1870. He was challenged in 1870 by William Cook, who won the first official championship of English Bililards. Two months later, the title went to john Robert, Junior, the son of John Robert, Senor. John Robert, Junior went undefeated for 30 years and held the championship title until 1900. He was a close friend of Lord Edward Boddy, son of Nigel Boddy, whom he convinced to establish the Billiards Association in 1885. A year later, in 1886, Lord Edward decided to remodel oneo fhte rooms in the East Wing of Hollinghurst Manor into a Billiard Room. He chose the room just to the north of the Library. He hired the firm of John Thurston & Sons Ltd., the English cabinet makers who founded a billiard equipment firm in 1799. John Thurston & Sons Ltd. not only supplied the billiard equipment but also designed the interiors of the Billiard Room at Hollinghurst Manor. This room still retains the original mahogany wall treatment with the green woven cloth with a lustrous nap similar to that used on the billiard table top. Many billiard matches were played at Hollinghurst with John Robert (father & son) participating. One of the most memorable evenings was the one that took place on the evening of October 20, 1890, when Lord Edward enveiled his latest invention, the curved cue stick, and went on to defeat John Robert.

The North Wall is dominated by a recessed nook with elevated seating area and fireplace, which provides a great space for watching the games. Above the fireplace hangs an 18th-century painting of a view of a room purchased in the 1760s by Lord George Boddy, the second earl of Hollinghurst, during his Grand Tour.

### **The Library**

Lord George Boddy, the second earl of Hollinghurst, was as passionate about his manor as was his father, William. He was a well educated nobelman and a great lover of the arts. Like many men of his station, Lord George Boddy, in the 1760s, went on the Grand Tour.

In each place he went, Lord George made it a point to visit the greatest thinkers, artists, and writers of the day - even spending a fortnight with Voltaire on his estate that straddled the border between France and Switzerland. Upon his return in 1766, Lord George commissioned Robert Adam (1728-1792) to design a new library to house the numerous books that he purchased on the Grand Tour. Included among these are the Persian tales of Montesquieu, the first ten volumes of Diderot's Encyclopedie, Lessing's Nathan the Wise and several anonymous tractys that everyone ascribed to Voltaire. Adam undertook this project with great zest and produced one of his trademark designs that was to be imitated in future projects. In the frieze area, Adam designed niches for ancient Greek marbles that Lord George had brought back with him from excavations in Greece. Interspersed between these ancient gods are the busts of some of the great thinkers of the time, such as Newton and Galileo.

On the South Wall is the neo-classical fireplace with a Greek subject paiting of Alexander the Great examining the work of the great painter Apelles, painted by Angelica Kauffman. The suite of four sofas and four armchairs designed by Adam still maintain their original fabric with gold embroidery. The carpet is one of the few surviving carpets that were executed after a design by Adam. As with many of his later projects, the carpet design reflects the plaster design he created for the ceiling. At the center of the room stands a massive globe, reflecting perhaps, the wide scope of Lord George's interests.

### **The Study**

Alexander Boddy, the seventh earl of Hollinghurst, was an avid traveler and explorer. He was responsible for remodeling the 1665 Antechamber into a Study in 1873. Having traveled extensively in Japan and other parts of the Far East, Boddy accumulated an amazing collection of Japanese ceramics, for which this room is a repository.

For his collection of fossils, gems and insects from around the world, Lord Alexander needed an appropriate setting designed in the most rarefied style of the 1870s: the Aesthetic Movement. He appropriately hired Richard Norman Shaw, who designed the highly functional and beautifully simple display cabinets. Above the high dado, the walls are covered in a fabric which terminates in a segmented attic section made up of painted gold-ground panels.

Alexander Boddy was patron to many artists, designers and writers of the period, e.g., Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Oscar Wilde. His proximity to the artistic movements of the time is evidenced by the several Pre-Raphaelite paintings commissioned by Lord Alexander, which hang on the walls.

Among the other commissions in this room is the cabinet on the West Wall by Christopher Dresser on which is displayed a variety of contemporaneous ceramic vvessels. The area rug was designed by William Morris; Thomas Jekyll designed the intricate bronze fireplace with its overmantle unit that holds more ceramic vessels by many of the leading designers of the day. On the elegant lectern rests Lord Alexander's first edition of On the Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects by Sir John Lubbock, first baron of Avebury. Sir John and Lord Alexander were classmates at Eton and their friendship continued throughout the years, cemented, no doubt, by their mutual interest in understanding the world of insects.