The house was designed by the Palladian architects James Paine and Matthew Brettingham and was loosely based on an original plan by Andrea Palladio for the never-built Villa Mocenigo.

The central, corps de logis, the largest block, contains the state rooms and was intended only for formal entertaining.

Externally these latter pavilions would have differed from their northern counterparts by large glazed Serlian windows on the piano nobile of their southern facades.

This garden facade is divided into three distinct sets of bays; the central section is a four-columned, blind triumphal arch (based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome) containing one large, pedimented glass door reached from the rusticated ground floor by an external, curved double staircase.

Twenty fluted pink Nottingham alabaster columns with Corinthian capitals support the heavily decorated, high-coved cornice.

The saloon, contained behind the triumphal arch of the south front, like the marble hall rises the full height of the house, 62 feet (19 m) to the top of the dome, where it too is sky-lit through a glass oculus.

The decorative theme is based on the temples of the Roman Forum with more modern inventions: in the four massive, apse-like recesses are stoves disguised as pedestals for classical urns.

[6] The four sets of double doors giving entry to the room have heavy pediments supported by scagliola columns, and at second-floor height, grisaille panels depict classical themes.

From the saloon, the atmosphere of the 18th-century Grand Tour is continued throughout the remainder of the principal reception rooms of the piano nobile, though on a slightly more modest scale.

[7] The state bed posts are carved to represent palm tree trunks which soar up and break into flamboyant foliage at the top, sweeping in palm-fronds behind.

The fireplace with a scene of virtue rewarded by honour and riches is flanked by large female figures sculpted by Michael Henry Spang.

The ceiling contains panel paintings of the continents by Antonio Zucchi, the seasons by Gavin Hamilton and the centre is by George Morland.

[13] The theme carries on through the music room, down the grand staircase (not completed until 1922) onto the ground floor and into the so-called "Caesar's hall".

On the departure of guests, it must sometimes have been a relief to vacate this temple of culture and retreat to the relatively simple comforts of the family pavilion.

The landscape gardener William Emes had begun work at Kedleston in 1756, and he continued in Curzon's employ until 1760; however, it was Adam who was the guiding influence.

Among the statuary in the grounds is a Medici lion sculpture carved by Joseph Wilton on a pedestal designed by Samuel Wyatt, from around 1760–1770.

In 1763, it was reported that Lord Scarsdale had given his gardener a seed from rare and scarce Italian shrub, the "Rodo Dendrone" (sic).

Parts of the park are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, primarily because of the "rich and diverse deadwood invertebrate fauna" inhabiting its ancient trees.

It also formed one of the Y-stations used to gather signals intelligence by collecting radio transmissions which, if encrypted, were subsequently passed to Bletchley Park for decryption.

[25] In 1973-74 the central block roof was re-slated and exterior stonework was cleaned by Stone and Marble Maintenance Ltd of Willington Road, Etwall.

[27] The travel writer E. V. Lucas later commented that "It is easier in Calcutta to be suddenly transported to England than in any other Indian city that I visited.

There are, it is true, more statues of Lord Curzon than we are accustomed to [in England]; but many of the homes are quite English, save for the multitude of servants; Government House, serene and spacious and patrician, is a replica of Kedlestone Hall in Derbyshire."