HAR-lux-tun

England

Lincolnshire

Grantham

52.915279

-0.63811

1831

1855

Fully Extant

Unknown

Unknown

No

11 April 1957.

Yes

01476-564-541

01476-570-730

School

School

Since 1971 has housed Overseas Study Center of the University of Evansville, Indiana, now called Harlaxton College.

Gregory Gregory, 1837-55. George Gregory, 1855-60. John Sherwin-Gregory, 1860-92. Thomas Sherwin Pearson, 1892-1935. Violet Van der Elst, 1937-48.

The current house replaced an earlier Elizabethan manor House in Harlaxton Village.

Gregory Gregory

Harlaxton Manor was built in the 1830s for Gregory Gregory, a wealthy Nottinghamshire businessman. The House, of Ancaster stone, is an amazing blending of Baroque, Gothic, and Jacobethan styles. The Cedar Staircase is the interior for which Harlaxton is most famous; the neo-Baroque room, with its clerestory, is an exceptionally fine example of 19th century stucco work, probably executed by the firm of Francis Bernasconi of London. The design of the oak-paneled Great Hall, complete with a minstrel's gallery, was inspired by medieval great halls and is notable for the stone screen through which visitors enter the room, one of only four in Britain. The crystal chandelier in the Hall was originally designed for a palace in Madrid and was purchased by Mrs. Van der Elst at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. During the time the Jesuits occupied Harlaxton the Great Hall was used as a chapel. The Long Gallery originally displayed a fine set of Beauvais tapestries, long since sold from the House. Four of the Seven Deadly Sins (Deceit, Jealousy, Pride and Malice) can be seen depicted in marble over two of the Long Gallery doorways. There is also a hidden doorway in the paneling at the far end of the room which gives access to a spiral staircase which would have been used for the servants' access. During 1943 a company of the 1st Battalion of the British Airborne Division occupied Harlaxton; it's from this period that the emblem in the Pegasus Courtyard dates. From 1948 until 1965, Harlaxton was occupied by the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits). Stanford University, California, owned Harlaxton from 1965 until 1968, and ran it as Stanford in Britain. In 1971 the University of Evansville, Indiana, purchased the Estate and ran it, first as Harlaxton Study Centre, and later as Harlaxton College, which it remains today (2005).

"Harlaxton must be seen to be believed and even when one has seen it, it is not always easy to believe it," Mark Girouard writing in "The Victorian Country House." Harlaxton is considered to be Anthony Salvin's masterpiece.

The Conservatory was a later addition to the House. By the late 1970s it had become derelict and was one of the first parts of the House to be restored. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew donated a number of plants to celebrate the Conservatory's restoration and reopening. Today it is one of the largest conservatories of its kind in the Midlands. The Harlaxton Lions (2 stone lions) originally came from Witley Court near Worcester.

"The Ruling Class" (1972). "The Last Days of Patton" (1987). "The Haunting" (2000).