Clandon Park, Surrey 1983

A 1983 view of Clandon Park, Surrey, showing the great red-brick Palladian mansion with its balustraded roofline, central pedimented centrepiece and imposing stone entrance portico approached by broad steps and a gravel sweep. Built in the 1730s for the Onslow family to designs by the Italian architect Giacomo Leoni, Clandon was one of England’s best-known Palladian country houses, and this photograph records the exterior before the devastating fire of 2015 that destroyed much of the historic interior while leaving the shell of the house standing. The scaffolding at the left-hand end and the slightly weathered façade also give the image the feel of a working historic estate rather than a staged postcard view.