Session 1 – The Evolution of the British Villa: architecture and interiors 1600-1900

Join us on Zoom every Tuesday throughout June (3rd, 10th, 17th, & 24th June 2025) when experts will consider a variety of villas built in Britain between the early seventeenth century and the turn of the twentieth, paying particular regard to their architecture, interior spaces and furnishings. The course charts the villa’s development in Britain from its adoption as an entertainment space and smaller cousin of the country house through to its incarnation as a luxurious and beautifully designed modern dwelling.

Session 1 – Tuesday 3 June

5.30pm – 7.30pm (BST) / 12.30pm – 2.30pm (EST)

The Continental Influence: the villa arrives in Britain in the early 17th century

Paula Henderson – A ‘house of delight’ for the Queen: Inigo Jones and the idea of the ‘villa’

Elizabeth Deans – The Thames Trianon: William Talman and the Authority of French Architecture

Jeremy Howard – “The Palladian Paradigm”: Chiswick House, its sources and influence on Neo-Palladian architecture and interiors

Tickets may be bought for individual sessions or for the entire course, but you will benefit from a discount if all 4 sessions are bought together. Don’t worry if you cannot attend the sessions live because they will be recorded and links to the recordings will be sent to ticketholders. These recordings will not be available to buy after the course has ended. FHS members and ECD members will benefit from a discount on all tickets. For further information and to purchase tickets please click here to travel straight to the relevant Eventbrite page. If you cannot visit the website or have any other questions, please email bifmo@furniturehistorysociety.org.

Images above: All details from the following from left to right: Painting of Strawberry Hill by Johann Heinrich Müntz (c.1755-59). Public domain; light fitting at Windy Hill, Kilmacolm, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Public domain; watercolour drawing by F.C. Witney taken from The Art and Craft of Home Making by Edward W. Gregory, published by Thomas Murby & Co. (1913); ‘Woodland House, Kent’, engraving by James Walker(1795). © The National Gallery, London; Tulip Stairs and lantern at the Queen’s House, Greenwich by Inigo Jones (1616-1635). Creative commons. Photo: Mcginnly.