THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. XIII. No. 353.] | SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1829. | [PRICE 2d. |
VILLAS IN THE REGENT'S PARK.
The villas of this district are among the most pleasing of allthe architectural creations that serve to increase its picturesquebeauty. Their structure is light and elegant, and very differentfrom the brick and mortar monstrosities that line the southernoutlets of London.
The engravings on the annexed page represent two of a group seento advantage from Macclesfield Bridge, pictured in our 351stNumber. The first is
HANOVER LODGE,
the residence of Colonel Sir Robert Arbuthnot, K.C.B. Thearchitectural simplicity and beauty of this mansion can scarcelyfail to excite the admiration of the beholder. The entrance is by ahandsome portico; and the internal accommodations combine all theluxuries of a well-proportioned dining-room, and a splendid suiteof drawing-rooms, extending above sixty feet in length, by eighteenfeet in breadth. The upper story comprises nine chambers,bathing-room, dressing-rooms, &c.; and the domestic offices arein the first style of completeness.
The grounds are unusually picturesque, for they have none of thegeometrical formalities of the exploded school oflandscape-gardening, or of Nature trimmed and tortured intoartificial embellishment. We have often wondered where the oldgardeners acquired their mathematical education; they must havegone about with the square and compasses in their pockets—forknowledge was then clasped up in ponderous folios.
The second engraving is
GROVE HOUSE,
the elegant residence of George Bellas Greenough, Esq., builtfrom the designs of Mr. Decimus Burton. This is a happy specimen ofthe villa style of architecture. The garden front, represented inthe print, is divided into three portions. The centre is atetrastyle portico of the Ionic order, raised on a terrace. Betweenthe columns are three handsome windows. The two wings haverecesses, "the soffites of which are supported by three-quartercolumns of the Doric order. Between these columns are niches, eachof which contains a statue. The absence of other windows and doorsfrom the front," (observes Mr. Elmes,) "gives a remarkable andpleasing casino or pleasure-house character to thehouse."
The portico is purely Grecian, and the proportion of thepediment very beautiful. The entrance front also consists of acentre and two wings; but the former has no pediment. The door isbeneath a spacious semicircular portico of the true Doric order,which alternates with the Ionic in the other parts of the buildingwith an effect truly harmonious.
Of the internal arrangements of Grove House we will vouch; butour artist has endeavoured to convey some idea of the na