Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire - RP postcard by Aero Pictorial, c.1960s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire - real photo
• Publisher: Aerofilms & Aero Pictorial  Ltd., Elstree
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale, 6.6 miles (10.6 km) west of Aylesbury. The house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898) as a weekend residence for grand entertaining and as a setting for his collection.

The last member of the Rothschild family to own Waddesdon was James de Rothschild (1878–1957). He bequeathed the house and its contents to the National Trust. It is now managed by the Rothschild Foundation chaired by Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild. It is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, with over 390,000 visitors annually.^[1] Waddesdon Manor won Visit England's Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category in 2017.^[2

In 1874, Baron Ferdinand bought a farming estate from the Duke of Marlborough with money inherited from his father Anselm. He was familiar with the estate as he had seen it while hunting in the area. There was no existing house, park or garden, only a bare hill that had been stripped of its timber.^[3] The foundation stone was laid on 18 August 1877, and the site was quickly transformed.

The first house party was held in May 1880 with seven of Ferdinand's close male friends enjoying a grand fireworks display. When the main house was ready in 1883, Ferdinand invited 20 guests to stay. Before his premature death in 1898, on weekends between May and September Baron Ferdinand played host to many important guests including the future Edward VII, politicians and members of The Souls group. House parties usually involved 14 to 20 people coming to stay^[4]

Guests commented on the level of luxury service provided by the 24 house staff.^[5] In 1890, Queen Victoria unusually requested to pay a visit. She was impressed with the beauty of the house and grounds as well as Ferdinand's ability to quietly manage the day's events. She was struck by the newly installed electric lights, especially designed to look like candles in the chandeliers, and it is reported that she asked for the room to be darkened to fully witness the effect.^[6]

Once his château was complete, Baron Ferdinand installed his extensive collections of English 18th-century portraits by artists like Gainsborough and Reynolds, as well as French 18th-century boiseries, Savonnerie carpets, Gobelins and Beauvais tapestries, furniture, Sèvres ceramics, books, Dutch paintings and Renaissance treasures.

Works were acquired for their exquisite quality and fine provenance, particularly those belonging to French royalty of the Ancien Régime. One of the highlights of the collection is the extraordinary musical automaton elephant, dating from 1774 and made by the French clockmaker H Martinet.^[32]

Of the ten surviving examples of the Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship from the 1760s, three are at Waddesdon, including one with a very rare scene of a battle connected to the Seven Years' War.^[33]

In the 1890s, Baron Ferdinand focused on the Renaissance collection for his small museum in the New Smoking Room.^[34] This collection was bequeathed to the British Museum and is now known as the Waddesdon Bequest.^[35]

The interior of Waddesdon Manor was photographed in 1897 for Baron Ferdinand's privately published The Red Book.^[36]

Subsequent members of the family added noted collections of paintings, Limoges enamel, arms and armour, maiolica, medieval manuscripts, prints and drawings.

Waddesdon’s internationally famous collection has thus been formed principally by four members of the Rothschild family: Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898), his sister Alice de Rothschild (1847-1922), their cousin Edmond James de Rothschild (1845-1934) and the present Lord Jacob Rothschild (b. 1936).^[37]

To create the gardens, extensive landscaping of the hill was carried out, including leveling the top of the hill. The gardens and landscape park were laid out by the French landscape architect Elie Lainé. An attempt was made to transplant full-grown trees by chloroforming their roots, to limit the shock. While this novel idea was unsuccessful, many very large trees were successfully transplanted. Elaborate flower beds were created, centred on the south Parterre. Several artificial rock formations were also created by James Pulham.^[38]

The gardens were enhanced with statuary and fountains. The Proserpina fountain was brought to the Manor at the end of the 19th century from the Palace of the Dukes of Parma in northern Italy: the Ducal Palace of Colorno. The gardens are listed Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.^[39]

Alice de Rothschild was a keen gardener with a good understanding of flowers and plants, she would often walk around and weed the paths. With her head gardener, George Frederick Johnson who worked at Waddesdon from 1905 to 1954, Alice grew flowers for competition.^[40] Alice was responsible for introducing three-dimensional bedding in the shape of a bird, recreated