Fonthill Abbey
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Fonthill Abbey was an extraordinary Gothic Revival country house in Wiltshire, England, designed by architect James Wyatt for the writer William Beckford. Construction began in 1796 and was intended to be a landscape feature, eventually developing into a sensational home. The house was known for its great central tower, which stood 270 feet (82 meters) tall.12
Unfortunately, the tower collapsed in 1807, and after Beckford sold the estate in 1822, the house further fell into ruin. Today, much of Fonthill Abbey has disappeared, but its spectacular and notorious quality is documented in historical accounts. The term "abbey" generally refers to a complex of buildings housing a monastery or convent, centered on an abbey church and led by an abbot or abbess.13
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Gothic Revival…toward ornamentation and decoration was Fonthill Abbey, designed by James Wyatt, a country house with a tower 270 feet (82 metres) high. Nothing could more clearly illustrate both the impracticality of usage and the romantic associations with medieval life.
Read More…toward ornamentation and decoration was Fonthill Abbey, designed by James Wyatt, a country house with a tower 270 feet (82 metres) high. Nothing could more clearly illustrate both the impracticality of usage and the romantic associations with medieval life.
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Western architectureFrom the 17th to the 19th century…all Gothic Revival buildings was Fonthill Abbey (1796–1806), Wiltshire, designed by James Wyatt primarily as a landscape feature for the arch-Romantic William Beckford. The great central tower collapsed in 1807, and most of the building has today disappeared; but, in John Rutter’s Delineations of Fonthill (1823), it is still possible…
Read More…all Gothic Revival buildings was Fonthill Abbey (1796–1806), Wiltshire, designed by James Wyatt primarily as a landscape feature for the arch-Romantic William Beckford. The great central tower collapsed in 1807, and most of the building has today disappeared; but, in John Rutter’s Delineations of Fonthill (1823), it is still possible…
Read More