Vanbrugh

SIR JOHN VANBRUGH (1664 - 1726)

In this age of specialisation, Vanbrugh's double achievement as playwright and architect seems remarkable indeed. His first play, The Relapse, written in 1696, was a great triumph, the character of Lord Foppington being especially memorable. It was followed shortly afterwards by another success, The Provok'd Wife. Both have retained their popularity with modern theatre-goers.

Vanbrugh was apparently entirely untrained as an architect when the Earl of Carlisle invited him to design a new house at Castle Howard near York in 1699 and Jonathan Swift summed up the general surprise: 'Van's genius, without thought or lecture/ is hugely turned to architecture.' Castle Howard became familiar to many when it was used for the television version of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. This dramatic baroque style of Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor was a short-lived phenomenon. The sedate Georgian architecture of southern England was soon to prevail, and after Vanbrugh's death, the general opinion on the architect of Blenheim Palace was wittily expressed by Abel Evans:

Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he
Laid many heavy loads on thee!

The Vanbrughian style was, however, peculiarly suited to the north, which Vanbrugh preferred to the 'tame and sneaking south'. The attractive barracks in Berwick, begun in 1717, are the earliest in Britain. Before that, troops were billeted on the local people - the Newcastle housewives, in fact, are on record as objecting to the self-catering smells produced by the Spanish mercenaries quartered on them by Henry VIII in 1542. Vanbrughian in style, the barracks are now known to be by Hawksmoor.

Vanbrugh certainly designed the Morpeth Town Hall, though the fire of 1869 reduced its effect considerably. He also worked in County Durham at Lumley Castle. It was at Seaton Delaval, however, that Vanbrugh fully realised his dramatic vision. It was his last (1718-28) and, in the opinion of many, his greatest house. Built for Admiral Delaval, who was not disposed to 'starve the design', it stands massively compact and powerful. As Sir Nikolaus Pevsner remarks: 'No one can forget Seaton Delaval'.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
SIR JOHN VANBRUGH (1664 - 1726) In this age of specialisation, Vanbrugh's double achievement as playwright and architect seems remarkable indeed. His first play, The Relapse, written in 1696, was a great triumph, the character of Lord Foppington being especially memorable. It was followed shortly afterwards by another success, The Provok'd Wife. Both have retained their popularity with modern theatre-goers. Vanbrugh was apparently entirely untrained as an architect when the Earl of Carlisle invited him to design a new house at Castle Howard near York in 1699 and Jonathan Swift summed up the general surprise: 'Van's genius, without thought or lecture/ is hugely turned to architecture.' Castle Howard became familiar to many when it was used for the television version of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. This dramatic baroque style of Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor was a short-lived phenomenon. The sedate Georgian architecture of southern England was soon to prevail, and after Vanbrugh's death, the general opinion on the architect of Blenheim Palace was wittily expressed by Abel Evans: Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he Laid many heavy loads on thee! The Vanbrughian style was, however, peculiarly suited to the north, which Vanbrugh preferred to the 'tame and sneaking south'. The attractive barracks in Berwick, begun in 1717, are the earliest in Britain. Before that, troops were billeted on the local people - the Newcastle housewives, in fact, are on record as objecting to the self-catering smells produced by the Spanish mercenaries quartered on them by Henry VIII in 1542. Vanbrughian in style, the barracks are now known to be by Hawksmoor. Vanbrugh certainly designed the Morpeth Town Hall, though the fire of 1869 reduced its effect considerably. He also worked in County Durham at Lumley Castle. It was at Seaton Delaval, however, that Vanbrugh fully realised his dramatic vision. It was his last (1718-28) and, in the opinion of many, his greatest house. Built for Admiral Delaval, who was not disposed to 'starve the design', it stands massively compact and powerful. As Sir Nikolaus Pevsner remarks: 'No one can forget Seaton Delaval'.
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