Netherleze Hall

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Quote:
Netherleze Hall, how proudly it sits in its parkland, it isn't but a third of the house it used to be.




"The party must go on!" was a favourite line of the owner's young wife. The Elizabethan mansion built by her husband's ancestors was too old fashioned and draughty for her liking, there was nowhere in it that she deemed fit enough to host a ball, she couldn't possibly have all friends all the way down to the west country from London to a marital home without a ballroom. For their honeymoon they went on the Grand Tour and were gone almost a year. And so her aged husband had the whole place pulled down, in its place he commissioned a grand Palladian Revival style mansion; consisting of a large central block flanked by smaller pavilions to the north and south.
At its heart the central block contained a large marble hall which served as his wife's new ballroom along with the opulent state apartments, whilst the south wing contained guest bedrooms and the north wing contained the kitchens and service rooms. Each pavilion was linked to the main block by a curved arcade, each arcade house a collection of Grecian sculptures which guests could admire on their way back and fourth from the main block, with the servants being able to make the same journey in a tunnel directly below.
Food never arrived piping hot to the dining table because it had to travel so far from the kitchens in the north wing all the way through the tunnel and up into the Dining Room in the main block. His Lordship had the Dining Room relocated twice before in the hopes of receiving warmer food but he didn't live long enough to see the completion of the last move. His young wife had well and truly worn him out, both financially and physically, neither him nor his estate could keep up with her extravagant lifestyle. At that point the interiors of the north and south pavilions still hadn't been completed. Her Ladyship ended up remarrying within a year just to finance the completion of her pleasure palace. She thoroughly intended on having the great Robert Adam to come and renovate it too, although it is unknown as to whether he was the architect behind the slightly later modifications in the 1780s.



Her son was just about able to keep things going after she died but had to resort to selling off parcels of the estate just to fund the house's upkeep. But without a son of his own the estate passed to his niece, she didn't feel the same fondness for the cavernous pile as her uncle did and so in 1839 she came to power and set about demolishing the main block and north pavilion which she had gutted and most of the contents sold off as architectural salvage. A lot of the money she made from doing this was then invested into the estate to help revive its fortunes and drag it kicking and screaming into the 19th century. She then turned her attention to the remaining south pavilion and had all the necessary service rooms added to it along with the creation of a grand staircase hall using remnants from the one in the central block. The hole in its north side left by the demolition of the arcade was reconfigured to create the entrance it has today. The built-in buffet table is thought to have originated for the central block too. She was a very practical and strong-minded lady, what she had created was adequate for a country retreat without being a burden on its estate. The house then received very little attention until the 20th century.



Quote:
Mother loved going to Liberty's, ever since her aunt took her there as a child, she loved the style of the place and the feeling of the exotic, it was so wildly different to what she was used to growing up in a house like this. She loved the warmth and colour of the woodwork and rich textiles that adorned it, and watching down over the galleries at the people bustling about below. She wanted to recreate it all here but her father wouldn't allow it. Then when she married our father he allowed her to create a little glimpse of it here in her childhood bedroom. Grandma was still alive at that point and she wouldn't hear of tearing out the original fireplace from that room to replace it with something like those at Liberty's, so instead mother had to work her design around it. It's very at odds with its Regency era neighbour, the Gold Bedroom.




I've been working away at this one since all the way back in August 2017, so it's been a long time coming...
Heavily inspired by a trip to Claydon House, National Trust and its appearance in the 2015 adaptation of Far From The Madding Crowd, and trips to Ickworth House, National Trust, Kedleston Hall National Trust, and Basildon Park, National Trust, with a healthy dose of Came House in there too.
Lot Info:
Netherleze Hall is built on a 50 by 50 lot costing 467,390 Simoleons furnished and 297,100 Simoleons unfurnished, it has a total of 7 bedrooms, 8 reception rooms, 4 bathrooms and 3 water closets.
CC Required Before Installation:
Georgian Window Double Hung 2x1 by missyzim
Georgian Window Double Hung 1x1 by missyzim
Palladian Arch Window tall by missyzim
2-Tile Colonial Window
Fixes for Three EA Wall Sets from the Base Game and Ambitions by Buckley
Creator Notes
All fireplaces, appliances and plumbing have been upgraded to Fireproof or Unbreakable.
In order to get the best effect with the skylight above the Staircase Hall I have had to avoid decorating the ceilings. Should you wish to change the tiles on the ceilings you will no longer be able to see through the skylight in its current form.


Lot Size: 50x50
Lot Price (furnished): 467,390
Lot Price (unfurnished): 297,100

Custom Content by Me:
- Netherleze Hall (Package File)
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