ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Holkham Hall in Norfolk, built in 1734–64 by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, who played an important part in the genesis of the design, together with the architects Matthew Brettingham and William Kent. Respecting the disposition of the apartments, one may say that contrivance must have been the characteristic of Lord Leicester ; for so convenient a house does not exist – so admirably adapted to the English way of living, and so easily to be applied to the grand, or the comfortable stile of life. Through the other drawing-room to the statue-gallery, which may be called the rendezvous-room, and connects a number of apartments together, in an admirable manner; for one octagon opens into the private wing, and the other into the strangers on one side, and into the dining-room on the other.
