Country Life's Top 10 architecture stories of 2025, from the South Wales terrace with an exquisite Georgian interior, to Ireland's remarkable country houses
We look back at the most-read architecture stories on the Country Life website in 2025.
‘It has been destroyed beyond repair, not by the effect of gunfire, but by a deliberate act of vandalism’: Britain’s long lost great houses that live on only inside the Country Life archive
Bayons Manor is one of the many long lost houses photographed for Country Life.
Countless great houses of Britain were lost between the First and Second World Wars, whether through financial woes, neglect, vandalism, tragic accidents or familial lines dying out. Thankfully, plenty are preserved — in photographic form at least — inside the Country Life archive and back in June, Melanie Bryan took a look at some of the most beautiful.
By Melanie Bryan — read the full story.
Step through the front door and your expectations evaporate in amazement and delight'
What lies within on Llangyfelach Road is quite incredible.
On a sleepy residential steet in South Wales lies an unassuming house that is a normal terraced home on the outside — and a neo-classical wonder within.
By John Goodall — read the full story.
The rise and fall and renewed interest in Ireland’s remarkable country houses
Kylemore Abbey photographed from the other side of the glassy lake that frames it.
‘Its loss became a cautionary tale, and a rallying cry for architectural conservation,' wrote Lesley Bond in August as she examined the history of Ireland’s country houses, and questioned whether you can ever separate the house from the history it represents.
By Lesley Bond — read the full story.
Marble Hill: The house built for a secret lover of the Prince of Wales, with a little help from one of Britain's greatest ever poets
Marble Hill House in Richmond-upon-Thames has never looked better in its three centuries of existence.
A major programme of restoration at Marble Hill has transformed both the house and grounds, and in September Jeremy Musson admired what has been achieved by English Heritage at this outstanding property in Richmond-upon-Thames.
By Jeremy Musson — read the full story.
One of 'the most magnificent and perfectly preserved of Britain’s great Edwardian country houses', built for the heir to Thomas Cook's vast fortune
Sennowe Park in Norfolk is sumptuous outside and in. This is the inner hall, divided from the top-lit main stair by a timber arcade.
What better in the height of August than to look at the great house built by travel agents par excellence Thomas Cook? John Goodall visited Sennowe Park in Norfolk, charting its transformation at the hands of a local architect from a Georgian lodge to a luxurious Edwardian home.
By John Goodall — read the full story.
The Henry VII-era house that was dismantled piece-by-piece and shipped to the USA
Agecroft Hall was moved
Agecroft Hall, near Manchester, escaped the fate of the great houses that were destroyed in the 20th century, only to undergo an even more unusual future: it was shipped brick-by-brick to the USA and repurposed as a museum.
By Melanie Bryan — read the full story.
'It is so full of turrets and lofty buildings, spires and towers, it looks not like a town but a city'
Glamis Castle was featured both in the article and on the cover of Country Life in 2025.
Our architectual editor John Goodall told the tale of the real Glamis Castle, made famous by Macbeth, and beloved by the Queen Mother.
By John Goodall — read the full story.
The country home with an intriguing connection to the Titanic, doomed for demolition
Dawpool is one of the many fine old homes whose pictures live on only in the Country Life Archive.
Another peek into the Country Life Archive, this time to see what happened to Dawpool — unusual in being a great country house that was just 40 years old at the time of its demise.
By Melanie Bryan — read the full story.
A derelict school turned into a gorgeous home with 'an interior of harmony and visual éclat'
Capel House in Gloucestershire is utterly charming inside.
John Martin Robinson looked at Capel House in Badminton, Gloucestershire, a fine 18th-century estate building that has been converted into a stylish home.
By John Martin Robinson — read the full story.
The once-splendid Gothic castle photographed at the height of its ruin
The romance of a ruin is as strong as ever.
In November, the incredible ruins of Tong Castle came under the microscope, a ruin that was captured on film before being lost forever.
By Melanie Bryan — read the full story.
