Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is a large and monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the only non episcopal country house, in England, to hold the title "palace". The Palace, one of England's greatest houses in every sense of the word, was built between 1705 and circa 1722. Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation in return for military triumph against the French. However, it soon became the subject of political infighting which led to Marlborough's exile, the fall from power of his Duchess, and the irreparable damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Designed in the rare, and short lived, English baroque style, architectural appreciation of the palace is as divided today as it was in the 1720s. {{fn|1}} It is unique in its combined usage as a family home, mausoleum and national monument.

Footnotes

• {{fnb|1}} Voltaire wrote of Blenheim: "If the apartments were only as large as the walls are thick, this mansion would be convenient enough." Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope, and Robert Adam (normally an admirer of Vanbrugh's) also all criticised the design.
• {{fnb|2}} When the Duchess came to build Marlborough House, her London home, in 1706, she employed Sir Christopher Wren. She later dismissed him too, because she felt that the contractors took advantage of him. She personally supervised the completion of the house. See Marlborough House.
• {{fnb|3}} This clocktower, completed in 1710 at a cost of £1,435, was despised by the 1st Duchess, who referred to it as "A great thing where the Clock is, and which is Called a Tower of great Ornament (sic)".