Grand Designs

Described by Edward Hasted as ‘the greatest ornament of this part of the county’, Barham Court has been ‘saved’ by being converted to serviced office accommodation.

- Pat Crawford

WE VALUE OUR HERITAGE – historic houses and stately homes have never been more central to our culture. Yet only a relatively short time ago things were very different. Architectural historian John Martin Robinson reported that some 1,000 houses were lost between 1945 and 1955 and, by the mid-fifties, losses of historic houses were running at the staggering rate of one house every five days.

During the Second World War many substantial houses were requisitioned (ITV’s Foyle’s War demonstrated the point very well) and many were returned to their owners needing extensive restoration and refurbishment. And of course, most were built at a time when armies of servants looked after them (recorded authentically by Julian Fellowes in Downton Abbey).

Owners determined to retain their historic houses or preserve them for future generations looked to various alternatives. Cash strapped but intent on saving their property from demolition, they cut down maintenance by removing service wings.

Here in Kent, the roof of Chevening – a property subsequently gifted to the nation by the 7th and last Earl Stanhope – was lowered and the attics removed. Said to have been designed by Inigo Jones, Grade I-listed Chevening has been the official residence of successive Foreign Secretaries. Throughout the current Government it will be shared by the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for International Trade.

Some owners sold off land, cottages and other parts of their estate to keep things going but this only provided a respite before the next lot of death duties or substantial bill for repairs once again threatened stability.