Sir John Soane and the Country Estate

Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was one of Britain's most inventive architects, whose achievements include the Bank of England and the world's first picture gallery at Dulwich. His country estate work, inspired by classicl antiquity, ranges in scale from the remodelling of existing country houses, such as Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire and Aynhoe Park in Northamptonshire, to simple outbuildings. Each reveals further the emergence of key themes of Soane's style and the results of his precise attention to proportion, design detail, and light and shade.