Kedleston Hall

Kedleston Hall stands in parkland near Derby, a grand English country house built in the 1760s for the Curzon family. Its Palladian exterior and Adam interiors mark it as a masterpiece of 18th-century design. The medieval village once here was moved in 1759 to make way for the new estate, leaving only the 12th-century All Saints Church. The house owes much to Robert Adam, who took charge after impressing Nathaniel Curzon with garden temples. Adam’s south front, with its four-columned arch and dome, shows his delicate neoclassical style. Nikolaus Pevsner called the marble hall one of England’s finest 18th-century rooms, lit by a glass skylight instead of windows. Inside, the marble hall rises 12 metres with pink alabaster columns and grisaille panels. The saloon beyond is circular, 13 metres wide, and sky-lit through a dome. State rooms hold carved beds, Venetian windows, and paintings by Zuccarelli and Hamilton. The music room’s organ and the library’s Doric doorcase complete the tour of Adam’s refined interiors.