Thanks to Walpole’s personal records, which describe the works carried out at Strawberry Hill, and letters to friends about the evolution of this thinking about the rooms and their arrangement, Strawberry Hill is well documented. Similarly, after Walpole’s time at Strawberry Hill, Lady Waldegrave wrote extensively about her changes and modernization of the estate. (...)
Thanks to Walpole’s personal records, which describe the works carried out at Strawberry Hill, and letters to friends about the evolution of this thinking about the rooms and their arrangement, Strawberry Hill is well documented. Similarly, after Walpole’s time at Strawberry Hill, Lady Waldegrave wrote extensively about her changes and modernization of the estate. One of the great challenges in presenting the house to the public is to showcase Walpole’s vision and show the evolution over time as the house adapted to new needs and owners.
Horace Walpole was a chronicler of his social milieu, a historian, antiquarian, and collector. While at Strawberry Hill, Walpole composed The Castle of Otranto, perhaps the work most identified with him today. The fame of the house, grounds, and collections were established by the Description of Strawberry Hill (1784), an illustrated account meant to encourage public curiosity about the estate, which endures into the twenty-first century.
