Burghley House
Engraving: from 'Architectural Remains of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I', C.J. Richardson (1840)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library

Burghley’s lively exterior here has a fairy-tale quality. In plan and outline it echoes Medieval castles, with square and rounded towers projecting out and up. However, it is more restrained in ornamentation than the courtyard, less suffocating in its richness.

Decoration is found principally at roof level, with a classical balustrade, urns and towers set with pinnacles galore. Most astonishing are the chimneys, perching precariously atop. Composed of pairs of Doric columns, they support chunky Classical friezes. Like the courtyard, this is architectural quotation only. Only decorative, the columns have lost their meaning as load bearers. Altogether, the effect is more like cake icing than architecture.

With such a spectacle, it is perhaps not surprising that the building grabs all the attention in this later drawing by Richardson. Unlike the contemporary drawing for Burghley, this shows the house’s façade in full perspective. It is strange that the pair walking appear not to be admiring the façade, or the lamps, that appear to be anachronistic additions, a mistake by the artist?