{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox building | name = Henbury Hall | image = HenburyHall2015-2.JPG | building_type = Country house | architectural_style = New Classical | client = Sebastian Ferranti | location = Henbury, Cheshire, UK | coordinates = {{coord|53.25318 |-2.19739|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | construction_start_date = 1984 | completion_date = 1986 | architect = Julian Bicknell | other_designers = Felix Kelly }}
'''Henbury Hall''' is a country house about {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} southwest of the village of Henbury in Cheshire, England. The present house was built during the 1980s in New Classical style. Designed by Julian Bicknell, it is based on Andrea Palladio's Villa Rotonda.<ref name=pev/><ref name=defig/><ref name=bick/>
==History== [[File:Henbury, by Kip.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of Henbury Hall in the 1707 ''Britannia Illustrata'']] A hall known as Henbury Hall existed in the area in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://henburyvillage.org.uk/Cheshire/Walk_2.html |title=Welcome to Henbury village |access-date=13 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121003131/http://www.henburyvillage.org.uk/Cheshire/Walk_2.html |archive-date=21 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
A Neoclassical style hall was built on the present site in 1742. It was sold by Sir William Meredith to John Bower Jodrell in 1779 for £24,000<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Meredith, William|volume=37|first=William Prideaux |last=Courtney}}</ref> and passed on to his son Francis Bower Jodrell in 1796. John Charles Ryle, the banker and MP for Macclesfield, bought it in 1835 for £54,000 and sold it following his bankruptcy to Thomas Marsland, first MP for Stockport (1776–1854) in 1842. The hall was remodelled in a more severe Neoclassical style in the early part of the 19th century, and then stuccoed and drastically reduced in size in the 1850s. The estate passed to his grandson Edward Marsland (died 1857) whose widow Jane Marsland was forced to sell after a disastrous flood in 1872.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}
It was bought for £9000 and extensively remodelled by local silk manufacturer Thomas Unett Brocklehurst. In 1876 Brocklehurst reputedly imported a pair of grey squirrels from America and released them into the estate with ultimately disastrous results for the native red squirrel.<ref name="Hickman2012">{{cite news |last=Hickman |first=Leo |title=If you want red squirrels, you have to kill greys | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/05/red-grey-squirrels-cornwall |newspaper=The Guardian | location=London | date=5 September 2012 |access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/9105.aspx|title = 21 Facts about Red/Grey Squirrels |publisher=RSPB|access-date = 10 May 2013}}</ref> The Brocklehurst family remained in residence at Henbury for several generations.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}
In 1957 the estate was bought by Sir Vincent de Ferranti.{{efn|Sir Vincent was the son of Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, creator of the electrical engineering firm Ferranti.<ref name=pev>{{Citation | last = Hartwell | first = Clare |last2 = Hyde | first2 = Matthew |last3 = Hubbard | first3 = Edward | author3-link = Edward Hubbard (architectural historian) | last4 =Pevsner | first4 =Nikolaus | author4-link =Nikolaus Pevsner | series= The Buildings of England| title = Cheshire | publisher =Yale University Press| year =2011| orig-year=1971| location =New Haven and London| pages = 395–396| isbn =978-0-300-17043-6 }}</ref>}} He demolished the existing house and commissioned the architect Harry Fairhurst to convert the stable block for his own residential use.{{efn|The converted stable block is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1139299|desc= Henbury Hall |accessdate= 4 August 2012|mode=cs2}}</ref>}} After the death of Sir Vincent in 1980, his son Sebastian and the designer Felix Kelly, who had already been involved with some work on the Henbury estate, came up with the idea of creating a house in the style of a Palladian temple. Kelly executed an oil painting based on Villa Rotonda, a house near Vicenza built in 1552 and designed by Andrea Palladio. Sebastian then commissioned the architect Julian Bicknell to create a design similar to Kelly's painting.<ref name=defig>{{Citation | last = de Figueiredo | first = Peter | last2 = Treuherz | first2 = Julian | year = 1988 | title = Cheshire Country Houses | publication-place = Chichester | publisher = Phillimore | pages = [https://archive.org/details/cheshirecountryh0000defi/page/111 111–114] | isbn = 0-85033-655-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/cheshirecountryh0000defi/page/111 }}</ref> The new building was completed in 1986.<ref name=bick>{{Citation | url = http://www.julianbicknell.co.uk/view-henburyrotunda_cheshire.php| title = Henbury Rotunda, Cheshire| access-date = 4 August 2012| publisher = Julian Bicknell Associates}}</ref> Sebastian lived there with his wife Naomi, until her death in 2003. Together, they designed the interior with the help of David Milnaric. They also worked together on the gardens. He was married again briefly before his death on 15 October 2015.<ref>{{Citation | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11939157/Sebastian-de-Ferranti-businessman-obituary.html| title = Sebastian de Ferranti, businessman - obituary| access-date = 16 November 2015| publisher = Daily Telegraph}}</ref> In 2018 the house and estate was put on the market for an undisclosed sum.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/property/gallery/inside-breath-taking-country-manor-15222907 |title=Inside the breath-taking country manor house on the market for an undisclosed price |newspaper=Liverpool Echo |date=2 October 2018 |first=Emilia |last=Bona |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref>
==Architecture== thumb|The neo-Palladian house (left) and converted stables (right)
===Exterior=== Henbury Hall is constructed in brick and concrete which is faced with limestone from northeast France, with the roof in local stone. The dome is in lead, with a lantern in gunmetal and gilded copper.<ref name=bick/> It has a plan of {{convert|56|ft|m|0}} square, with four-way symmetry.<ref name=pev/> There is a rusticated basement, and an Ionic portico on each side. A stairway leads up to the south front. Within each portico is a Venetian window. Life-size statues by Simon Verity stand on the pediments. Topping the house is a dome surmounted by a lantern.<ref name=defig/> [[File:Model of Henbury Hall by Richard Armiger.jpg|thumb|Design development model, made in yellow cedar-wood by Richard Armiger in 1983-84 for Sebastian de Ferranti and Julian Bicknell, to guide construction of Henbury Hall, scale 1:50]]
===Interior=== The dining and drawing rooms are on the first floor, the ''piano nobile'', on the east and west sides of a central great hall which is open to the dome, with smaller rooms in the corners. In the basement is a central hall surrounded by kitchens and accommodation for the staff.<ref name=defig/> The upper floor has a gallery overlooking the great hall, with six bedrooms with bathrooms and dressing rooms.<ref name=bick/> The great hall has a floor of English limestone and Purbeck marble. The internal decoration is by David Mlinaric, with carving of the doorcases by Dick Reid of York.<ref name=pev/>
===Comparison=== Although Henbury Hall is based on the Villa Rotonda, there are significant differences. The major difference is that it has a smaller plan, with porticos of four rather than six columns. Venetian windows have been inserted behind the porticos. The entrance is at basement, rather than at ''piano nobile'', level, and the profile of the dome is higher.<ref>{{Citation| url = http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Palladio/PalladianBritain/VillasInBritain/VillaRotondasInfluence/HenburyHall.aspx| title = Henbury Hall| access-date = 4 August 2012| publisher = Royal Institute of British Architects| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120322072550/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Palladio/PalladianBritain/VillasInBritain/VillaRotondasInfluence/HenburyHall.aspx| archive-date = 22 March 2012| df = dmy-all}}</ref>
==Notes== {{portal|Cheshire}} {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}} {{commons category}}
Category:Country houses in Cheshire Category:Palladian Revival architecture in Cheshire Category:Houses completed in 1986 Category:1980s in England Category:Julian Bicknell buildings