Amport House, Amport

Image: © Stephen Richards Taken: Unknown

Neo-Elizabethan of 1855-57 for John Paulet, Marquess of Winchester. It is built of yellow brick, with two gables and canted bays. The architect was William Burn. Grade II listed. It now houses the British Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre. Burn (1789-1870), a pupil of Robert Smirke, established himself in his Scottish homeland before doing the same in England. He was a phenomenally prolific designer of country houses, sought after by the wealthy largely because he was very adroit at planning homes to accommodate the increasing complexity of Victorian country house living - vast numbers of very specialised servants requiring specialist rooms and more segregation of the sexes (e.g. billiard rooms). In his Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, Howard Colvin states that by 1840 Burn "had already designed or altered ninety country houses, besides thirty churches and twenty-five public buildings", and he was to be in practice for almost another thirty years. He was competent across the gamut of architectural styles, but the results were rarely very exciting. The data of the photo is uncertain. Another view here: Image

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