Regular readers of this blog will recall mentions of Stowe Gardens on a number of occasions. Today it’s the turn of the house within the gardens.
Stowe Gardens are owned by the National Trust. These extensive gardens, laid out by Capability Brown with lakes, follies and temples scattered across the sweeping landscape, are the backdrop to an extraordinary Country House.
Stowe House had its origins in the seventeenth century and rose to be a seat of power and influence in the reign of Queen Victoria before extravagance, and debt led to the near bankruptcy of the estate. Much of the content was sold in 1922 and in 1923 the House became a school for 99 boys. It is now one of the most well known of British Public Schools whose alumni include David Niven, George Melly and Richard Branson (Virgin Atlantic etc).
The façade of the main building is huge and impressive and the image above is just the central portion. The exterior of the main building is part way through a programme of extensive restoration.
At the heart of the house is the grandest room – The Marble Saloon – based on the Pantheon. An elliptical room with a domed ceiling 56ft high this is a magnificent grand room built in the 1770s.
Visitors are allowed into the building for guided tours of the principal rooms during term time. During school holidays, as well as guided tours, visitors are allowed to roam the principal rooms at their leisure.
Click here for the Wikipedia entry about Stowe House.
LensScaper 
The Marble Room is awesome Andy. Love the details and work that must have went into creating it.
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Thanks Len.No expense was spared when this place was built.
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Love the view of the Marble Saloon, Andy. Looks like you got some nice light from the domed ceiling helping you bring out the wonderful details.
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Thanks Mark. The light up high was difficult. Periodically with the sun out, there was a very bright area up high and left. I waited for some time until the contrast was reduced but you can still see the area just a little bleached out. For once an overcast grey sky would have helped, but we’ve had quite enough of that recently!
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We just don’t see new architecture like this anymore. You’ve done a terrific job capturing it.
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Thanks you Ken. They spent a couple of years creating this room, imaging that would cost in today’s money!
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What an impressive architectural gem! That Marble Saloon is just magnificent! Great shots, thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Thanks Erin. I needed a Fisheye to get all this in, sadly had to make do with a 16mm equiv. This room really has to be seen to be believed. Glad you like it
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I’ll have to add it to my list of “someday shots.” 🙂
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Thanks for the comment, Erin. If you ever come this way we’ll show you round! We don’t live far away. The gardens are littered with Follies and Temples.
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Terrific architecture, Andy! You’ve done such an incredible job with these shots, my friend, great expressions of what is truly a grand, grand place!
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Thank you so much Toad. This is an extraordinary building – fancy being a schoolboy in this place! The image of the Marble Saloon was shot at the wide end of my 11-16mm Tokina wide-angle zoom on a DX camera – so that would equate to about 16mm full frame. Still couldn’t reach the top of the ceiling in landscape mode
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