Sezincote House
Sezincote House | |
---|---|
Neo-Mughal | |
Town or city | Sezincote, Gloucestershire |
Country | England |
Completed | 1805 |
Client | Charles Cockerell |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Samuel Pepys Cockerell |
Website | |
Sezincote |
Sezincote House (pronounced seas in coat) is the centre of a
Sezincote is dominated by its red sandstone colour, typical in
The landscape was designed by Humphry Repton. It is essentially a renaissance-style garden with elements of Hindu style, as seen in the crescent bridge with columns.
Site and commission
The house is in countryside 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) from Moreton-in-Marsh, "set on high ground in the shelter of the Cotswolds".[1] Colonel John Cockerell bought the estate in 1795 on his return from Bengal where he had been in the service of the East India Company (EIC). After his death in 1798, his youngest brother, Sir Charles Cockerell, inherited the property who then "employed another brother, Samuel Pepys Cockerell, to build him a house in the Indian manner."[3]
Samuel Pepys Cockerell had worked as a surveyor for the EIC and as an apprentice to
Cockerell had already experimented cautiously with Indian elements at Daylesford, Gloucestershire, built for Warren Hastings, first governor-general of British India, nearby. Here the style is characterized by a striking revival of Islamic architecture in northern India, where Persian, Indian and various provincial styles were fused to produce works of great refinement. Favoured materials included white marble and red sandstone. A notable example is the Taj Mahal, completed in 1648 by the Emperor Shah Jahan.
Architecture
The architecture of the estate can be described as a British re-interpretation in Georgian architecture of classic Mughal forms. Emperor Akbar, who ruled the empire from 1556 to 1605, "deliberately mixed Islamic and Hindu elements in architecture in an effort to culturally integrate" his kingdom.[3] It has a green onion shaped dome, umbrella-shaped chhatris and overhanging chajjas, Mughal gardens, serpent fountains, a Surya temples, Shiva lingams and has Nandi bulls guarding the estate.[4]
Construction
The house is made of stone, taken from a nearby quarry and may have been artificially stained.[3] Traditional Mughal construction materials would include red sandstone and white marble. Sezincote uses copper, however, on the dome. It is a Grade I listed building.[5]
Sources
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Thomas Daniell (1749–1840)
References
- ^ a b "Sezincote Gloucestershire". Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ "Sezincote Orangery". Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ a b c "Sezincote – House & Garden – The Original Brighton Pavilion – Gloucestershire – Cotswolds". Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ISBN 978-93-84067-88-5.
- ^ Historic England. "Sezincote House (Grade I) (1341231)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
External links
- Media related to Sezincote House at Wikimedia Commons
- Sezincote (official site)
- Sezincote entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses