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One of the first substantial buildings constructed from cast iron lives on only in the Country Life Archive
The London Coal Exchange enabled City merchants to buy and sell coal across the world. Despite this magazine's best efforts, it was destroyed in the 1960s.
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The National Trust's untold story: How generations of bachelors poured their souls into their houses, and then gave them to the nation
The acquisition of houses by the National Trust from the 1930s had less to do with the impoverishment of aristocratic families than the industrial wealth of bachelor donors, as Michael Hall reveals.
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'This is an international institution, a great Regency building and a public face of London. It deserves something better'
The British Museum's proposal for a new temporary pavilion has every chance of casting a permanent shadow.
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The best country house architects in Britain
Country Life's list of the finest country house architects in Britain — an indispensable guide if you're considering serious work on your home.
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From baroque masterpiece to the UKs most picturesque motor circuit: The tragic tale of Oulton Park and its inhabitants
One hundred years ago, Oulton Park — whose family had already been torn apart by the First World War — was consumed by fire.
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At war in a foreign country, jailed by your own son and traded as a teenager as part of a business proposition: The ladies of Leeds Castle saw it all
Laura Kay charts the remarkable history of ‘The Ladies' Castle’ near Maidstone, Kent.
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'A celebration of connoisseurship and the sheer enjoyment of art and history': The extraordinary treasures of Ampthill Park House
In the second of two articles on Ampthill Park House, Bedfordshire — the home of Sir Timothy and Lady Clifford — Jeremy Musson looks at an exceptional modern collection that speaks to the history and character of the house it dignifies.
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There's a town in the Netherlands where you can build whatever you want. The outcome is quite extraordinary
Tim Abrahams on the bewildering and intoxicating architectural collage that is Oosterwold.
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'A blue-blood background and a drive to disrupt': Lady Violet Manners on the importance of preserving Britain's privately-owned country homes
The Viscountess talks about a childhood at Belvoir Castle, primogeniture and why Americans love a British country home.
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A Suffolk home where glass, steel, timber and thatch come together in perfect harmony
This new house of four discrete elements adopts vernacular forms and materials to striking effect. Clive Aslet pays a visit to Housestead, Suffolk — home of Abigail Hopkins and Amir Sanei — to discover more. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Why has everyone fallen under the spell of Wrotham Park — one of the largest private houses inside the M25
Wrotham Park, the seat of the Earls of Strafford, is not open to the public and hardly any interior photographs are available to view online. So why do film directors, photographers and luxury brands continue to flock to it?
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Refurbishing the Palace of Westminster will be extremely expensive, but so too will be doing nothing
We must confront the neglect of Parliament.
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What binds the Queen Mother and Chicago's first department store? A lost Scottish castle that was blown to smithereens by the Territorial Army
Streatlam Castle was one of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne three principal seats.
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The only thing better than a stately home is a stately home in wooden miniature
Meet George Barham — the gifted woodcarver who can turn your family pile into a wooden masterpiece.
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'I have never ceased talking of the beauty of Ampthill': The tale of one of Britain's best-loved country houses
Jeremy Musson describes the complex evolution of Ampthill Park House, Bedfordshire — home of Sir Timothy and Lady Clifford — at the hands of Sir Christopher Wren’s master mason Robert Grumbold, mason-surveyor John Lumley and Sir William Chambers.
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Les Espaces d'Abraxas: 'Building a Versailles for the people in Noisy-le-Grand'
The Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill's development in the suburbs of Paris is an intriguing solution to how you expand a city using unwieldy machinery.
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'A fantastic creation, with the magic of a strange, dreamed, longed-for world': Inside Schloss Charlottenhof, the Prussian royal family's exquisite sanctuary
The desire for a retreat from the cares of the Prussian court and the formality of palace protocol created Schloss Charlottenhof, Brandenburg, a neo-Classical masterpiece. Aoife Caitríona Lau explains more; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Repton: The 500-year-old school with a medieval priory whose story leads back to the kings of Mercia
The medieval Augustinian priory within the curtilage of Repton School in Derbyshire links together the history of this great public school with the Anglo-Saxon era and the Kings of Mercia. David Robinson tells its story, with photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The striking Arts & Crafts country home with interiors by William Morris that disappeared without a trace
Rounton Grange was built using profits from the Industrial Revolution, but couldn't quite survive the economic difficulties unleashed by the Second World War
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'The Shakespeare of architects... he has yet had no equal in this country': Sir John Vanbrugh and the legacy of Blenheim Palace
To mark the tercentenary of Sir John Vanbrugh’s death, Charles Saumarez Smith considers the changing reactions to one of his greatest creations, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Photographs by Will Pryce for Country Life.
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Can you tell the difference between a trefoil and an embrasure? A pictorial guide to medieval architecture
Medieval architecture is easy to admire, but its terminology can be impenetrable. Matthew Rice's illustration unlocks it.
