The great imagination of John Vanbrugh

Guy Stagg | Engelsberg Ideas | 26th April 2026

Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace, two of Europe’s grandest country houses, were both designed by Vanbrugh. Castle Howard, built around 1702, introduced a flamboyance and cheerful disregard for classical proportions that set the style for English baroque architecture. These buildings employ a “careful choreography of visual effects”, giving them a “messy vitality” admired by modern architects. Above all, they demonstrate that ‘buildings can be theatre’.