Last Updated on January 28, 2025
Following a major renovation of its historic interiors, Castle Howard’s 21st Century Renaissance will open to the public on 25 April 2025. It will include the unveiling of its lost Tapestry Drawing Room which has been restored to its original 18th-century splendour for the first time since a devastating fire in 1940.
There will also be the opportunity to see the renovated Long Gallery and Grand Staircase and a complete rehang and redisplay of Castle Howard’s collection of paintings, sculptures and tapestries, opening prior to the 300th anniversary of Sir John Vanbrugh’s death in 2026.
Castle Howard is Britain’s most famous country house, recognised by millions across the world as the location for Brideshead Revisited and Bridgerton. It is set in a thousand acres of sweeping parkland filled with statues, temples, lakes and fountains, and is one of the most historically significant houses in Europe. Castle Howard has been home to nine generations of the Howard family across three hundred years, with each contributing to its creation, evolution, and preservation.
A devastating fire in 1940 destroyed the iconic dome and more than 20 rooms in the house whilst it was being used as a girls’ school during the Second World War. Upon his return from war, George Howard made the decision to keep the house and estate in family ownership and he embarked on the restoration of the house, which in 1952 opened to the public. He restored the dome in 1962, and the filming of Brideshead Revisited two decades later enabled the reconstruction of the Garden Hall and New Library.
The restoration work is being continued by the present generation of custodians, Nicholas and Victoria Howard, with work led by architect Francis Terry and designers Remy Renzullo and Alec Cobbe.
“Magical, romantic, monumental – Castle Howard can lay claim to many superlatives, but every few generations a wave of the wand of taste has renewed and revived its charms,” Simon Thurley, historian and former Chief Executive of English Heritage, said. “If anyone doubted the ability of this greatest of houses to be reborn for a new generation, they should come and admire the sensitive but confident way the state rooms have been brought back to life. It is a remarkable achievement, worthy of the ambitions of Castle Howard’s first builder and designers some 350 years ago.”
The Tapestry Drawing Room
The Tapestry Drawing Room was gutted by the fire of 1940 and has remained a shell ever since. From April 2025, visitors will be able to see the fully restored and redecorated space, with the tapestries that originally hung in the room returned to their original positions.
The four tapestries were woven for the room in 1706 by John Vanderbank and depict ‘The Four Seasons’ in scenes taken from the work of David Teniers. Theroom was the first room of the State Apartments, a suite of richly decorated, interconnected rooms reserved for a visiting monarch or head of state.
The Grand Staircase
The Grand Staircase was created in the 1870s and today continues to provide an impressive first impression for visitors. Following the re-hang, visitors will immediately be introduced to the Grand Tour history of the house, with antique sculptures and artefacts collected by the 4th and 5th Earls on their travels, displayed alongside a series of newly acquired plaster casts and busts.
The Long Gallery
The Long Gallery will once more become a great showcase of Castle Howard’s art collection. It will contain Italian and Grand Tour paintings, including the noted Pannini capriccios of Rome commissioned by the 4th Earl, counterbalanced with eighteenth-century views of Castle Howard. Portraits of previous generations of the Howard family, including works by Kneller, Lely and Hoppner, will be displayed throughout the gallery.
“Every one of the nine generations who have lived in Castle Howard has enjoyed dancing with its particular aesthetic. We are no exception,” Nicholas and Victoria Howard said. “From its inception 325 years ago, it has been a vivacious house, demanding lively evolution. During all that time it has managed to achieve the duality of being both a family home and a place at which to marvel. The re-creation of the Tapestry Drawing Room is at the centre of our contemporary evolution. The evisceration of more than 20 rooms in the 1940 fire had the silver lining of once more allowing us to step into the creative process here. Spreading out from the Tapestry Drawing Room, we have re-purposed, re-hung, and re-decorated, re-vivifying the house that has refused to die.”
Listings Information:
Castle Howard’s 21st Century Renaissance
From 25 April 2025
Castle Howard, York YO60 7DA
Castle Howard
Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, 15 miles north of York. Set in the Howardian Hills National Landscape, Castle Howard has been home to the Howard family for more than 300 years. The house, perhaps the best example of the English Baroque style, was conceived in 1699 by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor for Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle.
Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor died before the house was finished, and the plans evolved under different talents; the Palladian west wing was completed by Sir Thomas Robinson in the 1750s, the neoclassical interior of Long Gallery was designed by Charles Heathcote Tatham in the 1810s, and the Arts and Crafts style decoration of Chapel was undertaken in the 1870s, with stained glass made by Edward Burne-Jones.
Castle Howard was first opened to the public by George Howard in 1952. Visitors can expect dramatic interiors and world-renowned art collections inside the House. The Gardens offer extensive woodland walks, temples, lakes and fountains with an adventure playground for the younger visitors to burn off steam. Castle Howard welcomes nearly 300,000 visitors per year.
Castle Howard and the Grand Tour
Castle Howard’s genesis was the Grand Tour. The 3rd Earl of Carlisle embarked on this cultural and educational pilgrimage to Europe as a young man, and, having paid particular attention to the art and architecture of Italy, upon his return sought to transform his country estate into an arcadia akin to those seen on his travels. He did so on the grandest scale.
The successive 4th and 5th Earls of Carlisle made similar Grand Tours and became acclaimed collectors or virtuosos, enhancing Castle Howard with exceptional works of art, sculpture, and furniture.
