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Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century country house located adjacent to the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England. The house was constructed in the Palladian style for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation)〔Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation)(1697–1759), the builder of Holkham, should not be confused with his great-nephew Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation) (1754–1842), the celebrated agrarian known as "Coke of Norfolk", who also lived at Holkham Hall. Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (builder of Holkham), died without surviving sons, hence his Earldom terminated. Holkham subsequently passed to Thomas Coke's nephew Wenman Roberts who assumed the Coke surname but could not inherit the title. It was Roberts's son, Thomas Coke, born in 1754, for whom the title "Earl of Leicester, of Holkham in the County of Norfolk", was created in 1837. The new title was an honour granted in recognition of Coke's services to politics and agriculture. As this earldom was of a new creation, he too became the 1st Earl. It is his descendant Thomas Coke, 8th Earl of Leicester, who resides at Holkham today. The surname "Coke" is pronounced "Cook".〕〔The Earldom of Leicester has been, to date, created seven times. Thomas Coke, the builder of Holkham, was the 1st Earl of the fifth creation. His grand nephew Thomas Coke was the 1st Earl of the seventh creation.〕 by the architect William Kent, aided by the architect and aristocrat Lord Burlington. Holkham Hall is one of England's finest examples of the Palladian revival style of architecture, and the severity of its design is closer to Palladio's ideals than many of the other numerous Palladian style houses of the period. The Holkham Estate, had been built up by Sir Edward Coke, the founder of his family fortune. He bought Neales manor in 1609, though never lived there, and many other purchases of land in Norfolk to endow to his six sons. His fourth son, John, inherited the land and married heiress Meriel Wheatley in 1612. They made me Hill Hall their home and by 1659 John had complete ownership of all three Holkham manors. It is the ancestral home of the Coke family, the Earls of Leicester of Holkham. The interior of the hall is opulently, but by the standards of the day, simply decorated and furnished. Ornament is used with such restraint that it was possible to decorate both private and state rooms in the same style, without oppressing the former.〔Nicolson, p.237〕 The principal entrance is through the Marble Hall (which is in fact made of pink Derbyshire alabaster), which leads to the piano nobile, or the first floor, and state rooms. The most impressive of these rooms is the Saloon, which has walls lined with red velvet. Each of the major state rooms is symmetrical in its layout and design; in some rooms, false doors are necessary to fully achieve this balanced effect. ==Architects and patron== Holkham was built by 1st Earl of Leicester, Thomas Coke,〔 who was born in 1697.〔Hiskey, Christine. "The Building of Holkham Hall: Newly Discovered Letters". ''Architectural History''. Volume 40, 1997. 144–158.〕 A cultivated and wealthy man, Coke made the Grand Tour in his youth and was away from England for six years between 1712 and 1718. It is likely he met both Burlington—the aristocratic architect at the forefront of the Palladian revival movement in England—and William Kent in Italy in 1715, and that in the home of Palladianism the idea of the mansion at Holkham was conceived.〔Wilson, Michael I. "William Kent: Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685–1748". Routledge, 1984. 173–176. ISBN 0-7100-9983-5〕 Coke returned to England, not only with a newly acquired library, but also an art and sculpture collection with which to furnish his planned new mansion. However, after his return, he lived a feckless life, preoccupying himself with drinking, gambling and hunting,〔 and being a leading supporter of cockfighting.〔Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Christopher Simon Sykes. "Great houses of England and Wales". London: Laurence King Publishing, 1994. 336. ISBN 1-85669-053-9〕 He made a disastrous investment in the South Sea Company and when the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, the resultant losses delayed the building of Coke's planned new country estate for over ten years.〔 Coke, who had been made Earl of Leicester in 1744, died in 1759—five years before the completion of Holkham—having never fully recovered his financial losses. Thomas's wife, Lady Margaret Tufton, Countess of Leicester (1700–1775), would oversee the finishing and furnishing of the house.〔"(Holkham Hall )". Coke Estates Ltd. Retrieved on 19 June 2008.〕 Although Colen Campbell was employed by Thomas Coke in the early 1720s, the oldest existing working and construction plans for Holkham were drawn by Matthew Brettingham, under the supervision of Thomas Coke, in 1726. These followed the guidelines and ideals for the house as defined by Kent and Burlington. The Palladian revival style chosen was at this time making its return in England. The style made a brief appearance in England before the Civil War, when it was introduced by Inigo Jones.〔Lees-Milne, James. "The Age of Inigo Jones". London: B. T. Batsford, 1953. 54–56.〕 However, following the Restoration it was replaced in popular favour by the Baroque style. The "Palladian revival", popular in the 18th century, was loosely based on the appearance of the works of the 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio. However it did not adhere to Palladio's strict rules of proportion. The style eventually evolved into what is generally referred to as Georgian,〔Downs, Joseph. "The Tower Hill Room". ''Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum''. Volume 21, No. 96, October 1925. 4–11.〕 still popular in England today. It was the chosen style for numerous houses in both town and country, although Holkham is exceptional for both its severity of design and for being closer than most in its adherence to Palladio's ideals. Although Thomas Coke oversaw the project, he delegated the on-site architectural duties to the local Norfolk architect Matthew Brettingham, who was employed as the on-site clerk of works. Brettingham was already the estate architect, and was in receipt of £50 a year (about pounds per year in terms) in return for "taking care of his Lordship's buildings".〔Colvin, H. M. "A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects, 1660-1840". Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954. 91.〕 William Kent was mainly responsible for the interiors of the Southwest pavilion, or family wing block, particularly the Long Library. Kent produced a variety of alternative exteriors, suggesting a far richer decoration than Coke wanted. Brettingham described the building of Holkham as "the great work of (life )", and when he published his "The Plans and Elevations of the late Earl of Leicester's House at Holkham", he immodestly described himself as sole architect, making no mention of Kent's involvement. However, in a later edition of the book, Brettingham's son admitted that "the general idea was first struck out by the Earls of Leicester and Burlington, assisted by Mr. William Kent".〔 In 1734, the first foundations were laid; however, building was to continue for thirty years, until the completion of the great house in 1764.〔Summerson, 204.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Holkham Hall」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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