It's hard to imagine there would be an oasis of grandeur hiding in plain sight as you sit in traffic trying to exit London on the Great West Road, but that is exactly the case with Chiswick House and Gardens, which was the location for our SS26 campaign shoot. This Neo-Palladian villa, with its symmetrical façade, domed octagon, and sprawling gardens, provided the idyllic setting to capture the essence of our new menswear and womenswear collections against this historic backdrop. The villa's clean lines and proportionate symmetry complemented the collection's tailored silhouettes, while providing a structured backdrop against which to contrast bold feminine florals in glossy silks.
The Origins of Chiswick House
The story of Chiswick House begins in the early 17th century, when a Jacobean manor house was built on the site around 1610 by Sir Edward Wardour or his father. This original structure served as a country retreat, capitalising on the area's proximity to London and the River Thames for easy access to the city. By the early 18th century, the estate had passed to Richard Boyle, the 3rd Earl of Burlington, who inherited it in 1715 along with Burlington House in Piccadilly. Rather than merely reside there, Burlington envisioned a radical transformation inspired by his Grand Tours of Italy.
Burlington, an ardent admirer of Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and ancient Roman designs, sought to create a villa that rejected the ornate Baroque style dominant in England at the time. Between 1726 and 1729, he designed and built the new Chiswick House as a "bold architectural experiment"- a symmetrical, compact structure featuring a central octagonal dome, Corinthian portico, and clean lines drawn from Palladio's villas and the works of Inigo Jones. The house was not intended as a family home but as a pavilion for entertaining friends, displaying his art collection (including Old Masters and classical antiquities), and hosting intellectual gatherings. It housed paintings, custom furniture, and souvenirs from his travels, making it a showcase of cultural refinement.
The Revolutionary Gardens
No discussion of Chiswick House is complete without its ground-breaking gardens, often hailed as the birthplace of the English landscape movement. Collaborating with designer William Kent from 1725 to around 1738, Burlington transformed the formal, geometric layouts popular in Europe into a more naturalistic paradise. Influenced by Italian landscapes and classical ruins, the 65-acre grounds feature serpentine paths, a man-made lake, obelisks, temples, and statues evoking ancient Rome and Greece. Kent's innovations included the Ionic Temple, the Obelisk Pond, and the Cascade - an artificial waterfall that added a sense of romantic wilderness. Exotic trees such as cedars of Lebanon were planted, creating picturesque vistas that influenced later designers such as Capability Brown. This shift from rigid formality to harmonious nature set a precedent for English gardens worldwide, emphasising beauty, surprise, and tranquillity.
Later Chapters and Legacy
After Burlington's death in 1753, the estate passed to his daughter and then to the Dukes of Devonshire. In 1788, the 5th Duke demolished the old Jacobean house and added substantial wings to make Chiswick a more functional mansion, redecorating it to suit Georgian tastes. The 18th and 19th centuries saw it host luminaries such as composer George Frederic Handel and politicians, while the Duchess Georgiana brought vibrant social life to its halls.
A unique chapter unfolded from 1892 to 1928, when the Tuke brothers leased it as a progressive mental health institution, pioneering talking therapies for 30-40 private patients. In 1929, Middlesex County Council purchased the property, opening it to the public. Today, managed by English Heritage and the Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, it underwent a major restoration in 2010, preserving its interiors like the domed saloon and blue velvet room. It can now be hired for weddings and private parties, too, and having seen our Spring-Summer collections in situ, it's hard to imagine a more splendid place to tie the knot.
