The house was built in 1859–62[1] for the 4th Baron Calthorpe.[3] It was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, who was noted for his polychrome brickwork. It is built of red brick and stone dressing, with bands and decoration in black brick. It is an ornate design with hipped and mansard roofs with gables and dormers, tall brick chimneys and an entrance front dominated by a tall tower. The interior is notable for its fireplaces.
The house has a porte-cochère that was added in 1901 and a dining room that was added in 1911. Both are designed "deceivingly" to match the original house.[4]
The architectural historians Nikolaus Pevsner and David Lloyd called Elvetham Hall "A major house of [Teulon], but not one anybody would praise for beauty".[3] Another architectural historian, Mark Girouard, called it "the holiest or unholiest of zebras, being not only striped, but also zigzagged and diapered all over with bricks, and slates of different colours... like an enormous multi-coloured jelly".[5]
Estate
The 300-acre (120 ha) Elvetham estate was established by Sir William Sturmy in 1403 after inheriting the possessions of his uncle Sir Henry Sturmy in 1381. He died there in 1427 and the estate, along with his main seat at Wulfhall in Wiltshire, passed to his son-in-law John Seymour. It passed down in the Seymour family and was visited by Elizabeth I, who planted an oak tree that still stands in the park.
The estate passed to the Calthorpe family in the middle of the 17th century. The original manor house burnt down in 1840.[6]
In 1953 the Hall and gardens were sold to ICI, then to Lansing Bagnall of Basingstoke. The gardens were restored in 1962 when a croquet lawn and tennis courts were laid out. The hall was run as a conference centre in the 1960s but is now a hotel. [8]
