Stowe House: Saving an Architectural Masterpiece

The restoration of Stowe House and development of the surrounding estate by Stowe School, allied to work in the landscape gardens by the National Trust, is one of the greatest rescues of a country house ever achieved. The ancestral home of the Temple-Grenvilles came close to demolition in 1920, when the entire site was put up for sale. The formation of Stowe School in 1923 secured a future use that maintained the traditions of the Enlightenment with its unrelenting quest for knowledge and understanding. The past 94 years have seen innovation in land management with the gifting of the gardens to the National Trust and a renovation programme of truly monumental proportions. This major new work details the architectural history of the site, tells the story of the restoration through the words of those most closely involved and demonstrates how the School has continued to build in a sympathetic and harmonious manner that preserves the identity and character of the estate as a whole.

Stowe House's Chief Executive Officer Nick Morris, who has managed restoration work there for the past eight years, has drawn together contributions from leading experts to produce an authoritative work that looks behind the creation of the house, charts the continuing evolution of the site and demonstrates the care taken to ensure authenticity throughout the ￡40m restoration programme. As Stowe School's Operations Director from 2009 to 2017, he was closely involved in the School's building projects and management of the site and he now looks forward to completing the restoration and continuing to work closely with the School and the National Trust in that work and in presenting the House to the public.