Compton Verney House

In 1656 William Dugdale wrote in his Antiquities of Warwickshire: “Richard Verney Esquire (afterward Knight)... built a great part of the House, as it now standeth, wherein, besides his own Armes with matches, he then set up...towards the upper end of the Hall, the Armes of King Henry the Sixth.“[3]The house was further extended in the late sixteenth century, following the marriage of Sir Richard Verney (1536–1630) to Margaret, daughter of Sir Fulke Greville (1535–1606).

A drawing by Wenceslaus Hollar of about 1655, published by William Dugdale, shows a great hall, a long south wing with gabled dormer windows and chimneys looking down to the lake.

A silk and wool embroidery showing Lucretia’s Banquet may have been one of the original pieces hanging in the Great Hall from this period.

The title went into abeyance until William's great-uncle Richard Verney (1621–1711), who inherited the estate in 1683, decided to exert his claim to the barony.

[5][6] In 1711, George Verney (1661–1728) the 12th Baron Willoughby de Broke, inherited the estate and decided to rebuild the house and re-landscape the gardens.

This was a period when medieval houses were being remodelled in the classical style, and new country seats such as the Duke of Marlborough’s Blenheim Palace in nearby Woodstock were being built.

This additional income and his marriage in 1761 to the sister of Lord North (from nearby Wroxton Abbey, Oxfordshire) may have been what encouraged John Peyto Verney to improve the estate and completely remodel the house as George had done.

[4] John commissioned the prominent Scottish neoclassical architect, Robert Adam,[9] to propose alterations to Compton Verney.

The building work for Adam's alterations was carried out from about 1762–1768, supervised by the Warwick architect and mason, William Hiorn, who was also employed locally at Charlecote House and Stoneleigh Abbey.

The most important changes include the removal of the Great Staircase on the west front and its replacement by a Saloon with pairs of columns, plus alterations to the Hall, as well as the creation of an attic storey above it.

Adam also added a library and octagonal study to the south wing and adapted the brewhouse and bakery to the north of the house.

The floor plans of the house were published in the fifth volume of Vitruvius Britannicus in 1771 by Colen Campbell, and show various differences from Adam’s drawings, some of which suggest that some of the Baroque interiors had been left as they were.

These landscapes were painted by the Venetian artist and favoured collaborator of Robert Adam, Antonio Pietro Francesco Zucchi (1726–1795).

It is this period in the history of the house that is captured in the famous painting by the artist Johann Zoffany, now owned by the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

He made changes to the Hall, which included the addition of a splendid hunting frieze, the decorated ceiling and a new external door.

The 18th Baron also made significant changes to the landscape, the most dramatic being the addition of a long, majestic crescent of Wellingtonia (also known as Giant Sequoias or Sierra Redwoods) between the Upper bridge and the south-eastern gate.

[18] Having merged the core part of his business into what became Unilever and sold his holding, he retired relatively young in his 40s intending to devote the rest of his life to horse-racing, fox-hunting and the life of a country gentleman, whilst also redirecting his business acumen into pioneering industrial agriculture on other estates he had acquired with his proceeds, namely at nearby Offchurch, at Selby in Yorkshire and at Orford in Suffolk.

He purchased the famous racehorse training estate of Manton in Wiltshire, and in 1921 had already produced horses which won The Oaks, the Grand Prix de Paris (the world's highest prize-money) and a 3rd place in The Derby, for which the racing press called him "Mr Lucky Watson".

In 1922, he was made The 1st Baron Manton, of Compton Verney in the County of Warwick,[18] for his wartime services in manufacturing munitions at Barnbow near Leeds; however, just a few months later, he died from a heart attack following a fall whilst out hunting with the Warwickshire Foxhounds near his new seat.

In 1958, it was acquired by Harry Ellard, a local property and nightclub owner, who occasionally authorised film companies to shoot there.

The architectural practice Stanton Williams was commissioned to repurpose it as an art museum, designing a new wing and providing exhibition spaces and visitor facilities.