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Life in the English country house a social and architectural history Mark Girouard
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Girouard, Mark, 1931-2022, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Upper class--Great Britain--History.
- Upper class.
- Country homes--Great Britain--History.
- Country homes.
- Country life--Great Britain--History.
- Country life.
- Architecture and society--Great Britain--History.
- Architecture and society.
- Architecture, Domestic--Great Britain.
- Architecture, Domestic.
- Manors--Great Britain--History.
- Manors.
- England--Social life and customs.
- England.
- Genre:
- Lectures
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (v, 344 pages) 258 illustrations (chiefly black and white), plans
- Place of Publication:
- Yale University Press, 1978.
- New Haven London Yale University Press [1978]
- Summary:
- "The English country house has flourished over the centuries because of its ability to adapt to changes in English society. This book is the first account of the ways in which changes in upper-class lifestyle were reflected in the houses in which the wealthy and powerful lived. Mark Girouard traces the evolution of the country house from the Middle Ages to the world of Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse. Drawing widely from familiar novels and plays, and from virtually untouched records and family archives, he presents a unique and vivid picture of the life of the upper classes over 500 years-- how they ran their estates, how they entertained their colleagues and rivals, how they were served by their tenants, butlers, footmen and maids, how they reconciled their conflicting desires for personal privacy and public display.... This book provides a new understanding of the English upper classes, their servants, and their homes"--Publisher's description
- Contents:
- The power houses
- The mediaeval household
- The mediaeval house
- The Elizabethan and Jacobean house
- The formal house: 1630-1720
- First interlude: virtuosos and dilettanti
- The social house: 1720-70
- The arrival of informality: 1770-1930
- Second interlude: early country-house technology
- The moral house: 1830-1900
- The Indian summer: 1900-40
- Notes:
- Based on the author's Slade lectures given at Oxford University in 1975-1976
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Description based on print version record and online resource (A&AePortal, viewed November 11, 2025)
- Other Format:
- Girouard, Mark, 1931- Life in the English country house
- Print version Girouard, Mark, 1931- Life in the English country house
- ISBN:
- 9780300285345
- 0300285345
- OCLC:
- 1150207763
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license
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