Harlaxton Manor, Lincolnshire, was built from 1837 onwards by Gregory Gregory . It is currently the home of the University of Evansville's British campus. The house combines "Jacobethan" details with symmetrical Baroque massing to create a house more exuberant than any surviving Elizabethan or Jacobean mansion. The original architech was Anthony Salvin, who was replaced by architect William Burn, who is responsible for Harlaxton's interior detailing.

Students from schools throughout the US reside at Harlaxton while spending a semester studying abroad.

The manor was also used in all the exterior shots for the 1999 remake of "The Haunting" as well as interior and exterior shots in the films "The Ruling Class," "The Lady and the Highwayman," and "The Last Days of Patton."

History

The current manor house is the second Harlaxton Manor. The first was built on a different site during the fourteenth century and was used as a hunting lodge by John of Gaunt. By 1475, the de Ligne family purchased the manor. The origial manor house was deserted after 1780 and after it was inherited by Gregory, was torn down in 1857.

The current house was built by Gregory from 1837-1845 and helped usher in a renaissance of Elizabethan architecture. Upon Gregory's death, the manor passed to his cousin, George Gregory and then, in 1860 to a distant relative, John Sherwin . Upon the death of Sherwin's wife in 1892, it passed to his godson, Thomas Sherwin Pearson , who owned the house but allowed it to fall into disrepair. Abandoned by 1935, the manor was purchased in 1937 by Violet van der Elst , the widow of a painter and a business woman who developed the first brushless shaving cream. She restored the manor and arranged for it to be wired for electricity.

In 1943, the British air force used the manor to house a company of the 1st Battalion of the British Airborne Division. Five years later, Lady van der Elst was forced to sell the manor and it was purchased by The Society of Jesus. They sold the manor, while retaining rights to some of the lands, to the Stanford University in 1965. The University of Evansville acquired the manor in 1971.

External link

• Harlaxton College website