If I had to pick my favourite London stately home, it would be Horace Walpole’s “little Gothic castle” in Twickenham. This white confection of turrets, battlements and pointed arches once shocked fashionable Georgian society.
Step inside Strawberry Hill House to discover how an eccentric genius changed the course of British architecture and literature.
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Horace Walpole’s Gothic Dream
Horace Walpole (1717-1797) is my kind of historical figure: creative, innovative and wonderfully eccentric. He was the son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister, with whom he had a strained relationship.
In 1747, Walpole bought “Chopp’d Straw Hall’”, a modest cottage overlooking the River Thames in Twickenham. Over several decades, he transformed it into a Gothic Revival villa, establishing one of the most influential architectural movements of the 18th century. To help him do this, he formed a “Committee of Taste”, with like-minded members including John Chute (whom he met on the Grand Tour), Richard Bentley, Thomas Pitt and the Georgian superstar architect, Robert Adam.
The house became a laboratory for his fascination with medieval aesthetics, featuring pointed arches, elaborate fan vaulting and decorative battlements that broke dramatically with the Palladian style then dominant in England. Walpole was the ultimate cultural magpie, drawing inspiration from places visited on the Grand Tour.
He opened the house to visitors by ticket, making it one of the first examples of a private home functioning as a tourist attraction and cultural landmark.
After Horace Walpole died in 1797, Strawberry Hill passed to his distant cousin Anne Damer, a sculptor, and then to Elizabeth Waldegrave, his great-niece.
In 1923, it was purchased by St Mary’s University (then St Mary’s Teacher Training College) and was used for teaching for decades. The house fell into significant disrepair by the late 20th century, leading to a major restoration project that began in 2004 and was completed in 2010, returning Strawberry Hill House to much of its Gothic splendour.
Inside Strawberry Hill House
Armed with a laminated floor plan and advice from the excellent volunteer guides, I took a self-guided tour of Strawberry Hill House, starting in the small entrance hall.
Like many of London’s other historic houses, its contents were sold off to the highest bidder to get the owner out of financial dire straits. In this case, it was the dissolute 7th Earl of Waldegrave, grandson of Elizabeth Waldegrave.
Although Lady Frances Waldegrave, the 7th Earl’s widow, later meticulously reconstructed the house’s rooms from historic records, many of the pieces you see are copies. The fish bowl in the hallway, however, is a piece of original porcelain owned by Walpole.
Selima, his favourite cat, drowned in the bowl whilst trying to catch a goldfish, and was immortalised in the mock elegy Ode on Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Bowl of Fishes, written by the poet Thomas Gray in 1747.
The Great Parlour on the ground floor has a copy of the Joshua Reynolds portrait, The Three Ladies Waldegrave, commissioned by Horace Walpole, in the hope it would attract husbands for them (the original is in the National Galleries of Scotland). He was fond of his great nieces, who are depicted working on a piece of needlework.
I next climbed the stairs to the second floor to Horace Walpole’s Bedchamber. Take a look at the cupboard made for Lady Frances in the corner of the room. To the left, you can see her rose-pattern machine-print wallpaper, which was pasted over Horace’s original hand-made flock paper, reproduced in the rest of the room.
After taking a peek at the Plaid Bedchamber, I made my way to the first floor, which has the house’s largest concentration of rooms.
The Breakfast Room takes you on a journey through three hundred years of Strawberry Hill House’s history, from its life as Horace Walpole’s everyday living room with views over the river and Richmond Park, to Lady Frances’s boudoir. I loved the gorgeous tiling and Dutch stained glass.
The Library in a bibliophile’s dream. Walpole designed the ceiling, which is a profusion of heraldic emblems, mythical beasts, coats of arms and crusaders. The bookcases and chimney pieces, designed by John Chute, were based on the choir stalls of St Paul’s Cathedral and the medieval tombs of Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral
Its most prized volume is a fourth edition (1782) of Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. This is the first Gothic novel, and was inspired by a dream he had at Strawberry Hill, featuring a “gigantic hand in armour” on the Great Staircase.
There’s a copy of the bed used by Sir Robert Walpole in the Blue Bedchamber. Modelled on George II’s campaign bed, it was one of the first pieces of furniture to be installed at Strawberry Hill. A portrait of Walpole’s parents hangs above the fireplace.
Walking through the Star Chamber, I reached the Holbein Chamber, which was Horace Walpole’s homage to Tudor history and art, and Henry VIII in particular. It was where he displayed 18th-century copies of Holbein drawings by George Vertue. These drawings now hang in Sudeley Castle, and the ones you see here are copies of these copies.
Richard Bentley based the chamber’s extraordinary carved wooden screen on the choir doors of Rouen Abbey, and the ornate chimneypiece on the tomb of Archbishop Warham in Canterbury Cathedral. And just look at that ceiling; inspired by the ceiling in the Queen’s Dressing Room at Windsor Castle, it is made from papier-mâché and plaster
The fifteen portraits of English kings and queens, displayed in the niche, were less to my taste. These 17th-century paintings are on loan from Dulwich Picture Gallery and were never part of Walpole’s collection.
Adjacent to the Holbein Chamber is Strawberry Hill’s most gobsmacking room: The Gallery. This was where Horace Walpole displayed his artworks, and he drew inspiration from the Henry VII chapel at Westminster Abbey, the north door of St Alban’s, and the tomb of Archbishop Bourchier in Canterbury Cathedral.
The house was described as “teeming with the finest works of the greatest masters”, but most of these items ended up many miles from Twickenham. One piece that made its way home is Catherine de’Medici with her Children, painted by the workshop of François Clouet in 1561. Walpole was fascinated by the Medici, and this portrait is of the last members of the Valois dynasty, including Charles IX, who was crowned King of France in 1560, aged just ten.
Modelled on that in Florence’s Uffizi Palace, the highly ornate Tribune leads off the Gallery. Walpole kept his greatest treasures in this tiny room, including miniatures and enamels.
At the end of the Gallery is the Round Drawing Room. The room was largely designed by Robert Adam, and the tomb of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey inspired its imitation chimney piece. St. Paul’s Cathedral’s rose window inspired the room’s ceiling.
Exploring Strawberry Hill House Gardens
Strawberry Hill’s gardens were an integral part of Horace Walpole’s vision, designed in the picturesque landscape style that emphasised natural-looking, romantic scenery rather than formal geometric patterns. Walpole created winding paths, carefully composed views, and planted a mix of trees and shrubs to create an idealised pastoral landscape that complemented the Gothic architecture of the house.
Sit down on the shell bench and take one last look back at the house, and imagine the parties it would have seen in Georgian times.
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.