Today’s fascination with vampires and horror stories is nothing new. For every cast member in Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or What We Do in the Shadows, there is a predecessor in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Edgar Allan Poe’s ghost stories. But if you want to know precisely where and when horror fiction first started, then look no further than Strawberry Hill House, near Twickenham. Why? Because Strawberry Hill was the inspiration for the first ever Gothic novel — The Castle of Otranto — penned by its owner, Horace Walpole in 1764, after he had a nightmare in one of its faux medieval chambers. Gothic fiction is all about imagination, suspension of belief and mystery, which pretty much sums up the extraordinary Strawberry Hill House. It is well worth a visit.
Horace Walpole, politician, man of letters and author, was the youngest son of prime minister Sir Robert Walpole. In need of a country residence, Horace acquired Chopp’d Straw Hall in 1749, a couple of 17th century cottages overlooking the Thames, and transformed the land into one of London’s most eccentric, influential and intriguing buildings. He hated the name, changing it to Strawberry Hill House and created “the prettiest bauble you ever saw”.
Serendipitous discoveries
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His little Gothic castle is a fantasy of pinnacles, towers and battlements — gleaming white, it looks like an iced-sugar wedding cake. It is an enchanting surprise today, so imagine the response from 18th century visitors — this
was a new type of architecture, more resonant of old churches than the then popular symmetrical facades of most country houses, which took inspiration from classical Greece and Rome. Strawberry Hill has a strong claim to be the starting point for Gothic Revival architecture in the country, which eventually led to many other London icons, including the Palace of Westminster and Tower Bridge.
If outside is a shock, wait until you open the great oak door and enter. The entrance hall is painted to resemble a tomb or church interior — an instant gothic touch that sets the scene for the rest of the visit. Walpole even had a word for it: gloomth, meaning the low light that heightens the sense of awe and horror. Amazingly, gloomth was not the only word invented by Walpole. He can claim many others, including serendipity, from Walpole’s story about two fortunate princes of Serendip (Sri Lanka). The dark hall is just a start, from it leads a dazzling array of showrooms.
You go from surprise to surprise… a gorgeous assault on the senses — back in time to a building that inspired vampires you all so much
Heraldry is everywhere — in stained-glass windows, staring down from the ceilings, even featuring as limewood beasts on stair finials, painted to look like carved stone. These, like the overall design of Strawberry Hill, seek to place the building in a far earlier age than the 18th century, ageing not just the building, but giving the family ancient credentials.
The magnificent library takes its inspiration from old St Paul’s Cathedral, all pointed arches and pierced fretwork, while its chimney piece imitates aristocratic tombs in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.
What I love about Strawberry Hill House is that no room is the same. You go from surprise to surprise: a room full of Holbein miniatures; the Tribune, a jewel of a chamber designed as Walpole’s cabinet of curiosities; the Round Room, with its Carrara marble chimney piece made by Robert Adam in 1767; so it continues, a gorgeous assault on the senses.
Undoubtedly the most theatrical room is The Gallery, a homage to Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey, and the main place of entertainment. Its walls are a sumptuous crimson damask, while the extraordinary fan-vaulted ceiling is gilded in gold, offsetting a bright white background. It might look like solid stone, but it is not. In one of many innovative features of Strawberry Hill, it is made from papier mâché, wood and plaster.
While Strawberry Hill was about a new form of architecture, it was also a showcase for Walpole’s eclectic collection of art, antiquities and curiosities from paintings by Reynolds, miniatures by Holbein and 1,200 pieces of pottery to a lock of Edward IV’s hair, James I’s gloves and Cardinal Wolsey’s hat. Walpole himself wrote the visitor guide, demanding only four visitors a day, and definitely “no children”. He soon tired of the attention “…take my advice, never build a charming house for yourself between London and Hampton-court, everybody will live in it but you.”
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Familiar yet stranger things
Inevitably, the family fortunes waned. In 1842 Walpole’s collection was sold and scattered across the globe, and the house fell into disrepair. Fortunately, the Strawberry Hill Trust was formed in 2002, and with help from the National Lottery, World Monuments Fund and many others, it has undergone full restoration.
It’s not been possible to reunite his 18th century collection, but copies of paintings such as Reynolds’ The Ladies Waldegrave by the Factum Foundation are accurate to a brush stroke — only an expert can tell the difference.
So, if you fancy travelling back in time to the building that inspired vampires and stranger things, Strawberry Hill is very much open to the public, including children. Don’t forget the garlic, a stake and a crucifix…
268 Waldegrave Road, TW1. House open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm. Entry from £14.50 for adults. strawberryhillhouse.org.uk
John Darlington is Director of Projects for the World Monuments Fund