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One family, six centuries and an Irish house of unsurpassed beauty: The fascinating tale of CurraghmoreCurraghmore in Co Waterford, Ireland — the home of the Marquess and Marchioness of Waterford — has been developed over the course of six centuries by a single family. In the first of two articles, John Goodall explores its early history and first Georgian transformation. Photographs by Paul Highnam.
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'They will never be for the purists': The relentless, referential and upbeat joy of postmodern buildingsAs many of postmodern architectures finest buildings enter their fourth decade, Jack Watkins makes the case for why this often overlooked architectural style warrants further study.
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The great Tudor hall that housed the guillotine probably used on Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette was executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793. Rumour has is that the exact same machine found its way to Weald Hall in Essex where it was photographed by Country Life.
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Scarborough: How the 'queen of spas' created the modern seaside townA woman’s discovery of an iron-rich spring four centuries ago launched the development of Scarborough as the original seaside resort. Kathryn Ferry tells the remarkable story of the architectural development of the North Yorkshire spa.
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This remarkable timbered home was preserved for 300 years — and then flattened by a earlLynmore Hall was inextricably linked to the fall and rise of the British monarchy, but it only took a humble earl to finish it off.
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The architectural evolution of Selwyn College, CambridgeFounded as a hostel for trainee Anglican clergy, Selwyn College became a fully fledged college within Cambridge University with a set of landmark buildings, as Jeremy Musson explains. Photographs by Will Pryce.
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The unpublished photographs of a gargantuan Victorian mansion whose bulldozed remains were dumped in its own ornamental lakeWarter Priory was once a prime example of peak Victoriana architecture and interior design — but it met a watery end.
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From Arabia to Dorset: T. E. Lawrence's 'pathetic little shoddy' sanctuary that became a remote home for a true one-offTo escape his celebrity and write, T. E. Lawrence created a sequestered home for himself: Clouds Hill, Dorset. Michael Hall finds an unlikely hideaway of tins and silver walls.
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'My house will rise again': The promise and its fulfilment of iconic architect Clough Williams-Ellis, and the home he and his wife loved and (almost) lostA disastrous fire in 1951 gave the architect Clough Williams-Ellis the opportunity to re-think Plas Brondanw, Gwynedd, the house that he and his wife, Amabel, loved. Kathryn Ferry admires the result. Photography by Paul Highnam.
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Nowa Huta: An elegant expression of Soviet socialist mightBuilt around a steelworks, Nowa Huta is one of Krakow's hidden delights and an intriguing architectural gem, argues Tim Abrahams.
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A lost Surrey garden infested with peacocks and influenced by Gertrude JekyllValewood Farm and gardens was described as 'straying into a Hans Christian Andersen fairy story'
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Warwick Castle is a masterpiece that's become a medieval theme park — but then again, it always has beenJohn Goodall looks at the development of Warwick Castle since the 16th century and the way in which its history has been enriched by legend. Photography by Will Pryce for Country Life.
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One of the great treasures of Highclere shows 'Nature set into marble, frozen and made eternal'A Florentine table created with pietra dura fuses art and Nature. John Goodall spoke to the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon about this unique treasure in the halls of Highclere.
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Felled by a pair of cursed shoes — the butterfly-shaped house that Lutyens builtMelanie Bryan investigates the spooky and eccentric history of Papillon Hall.
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Warwick Castle: The 700-year story of one of the world's great strongholdsJohn Goodall looks at Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, and how a combination of legend and the profits of war created one of the most celebrated and imposing of all English castles. Photographs by Will Pryce for Country Life.
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'A corner of the USA that is forever Putney': Charleston is a masterpiece of urban give and takeJohn Locke's ideas about individual liberty and public order emerged from this ideal new town in South Carolina.
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What do Rihanna and a 19th century vegetarian activist have in common? This sprawling Tudor house that American money couldn't saveMelanie Bryan traces the history of Cassiobury House — and its bohemian inhabitants.
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The never-before-seen, 70-year-old photographs of Pugin's Bishop's House that Parliament destroyed to make room for a ring roadMelanie Bryan tells the tale of a Gothic Revival bishop's residence in Birmingham that lives on only in the Country Life Archive.
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Doddington Hall: The story of an Elizabethan marvelJohn Goodall looks at the creation of Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire, and the unexpected story of this important Elizabethan house's descent and Georgian development. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Louvain-la-Neuve: What happens when you combine Cosmic Brutalism, high Modernism and the Catholic churchWhen the Catholic and French-speaking population of Leuven were forced to find a new university, they built their own in a unique, almost operatic architectural style.
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The pen is mightier than dynamite: A truly unique 20th-century building destroyed by the wrong paperworkWhat happens when you accidentally knock down the wrong Fonthill House.
