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| Wightwick Manor | |
|---|---|
 Wightwick Manor, 2016 | |
| Location | Wightwick Bank |
| Coordinates | 52°35′00″N2°11′40″W / 52.5834°N 2.1944°W /52.5834; -2.1944 |
| OS grid reference | SO 86946 98441 |
| Area | Wolverhampton |
| Built | 1887–1893 |
| Architect | Edward Ould |
| Architectural styles | "Old English" Tudor Revival Arts and Crafts |
| Owner | National Trust |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Reference no. | 1201902 |
| Reference no. | 1001421 |
  Location of Wightwick Manor in West Midlands county | |
Wightwick Manor (/ˈwɪtɪk/WIT-ik[1]) is aVictorian house inWightwick Bank, a suburb ofWolverhampton,West Midlands, England. It was commissioned in 1887 from the architectEdward Ould by TheodoreMander ofMander Brothers, a Wolverhampton paint and varnish manufacturer. It stands adjacent to the Old Manor, a late sixteenth or early seventeenth-century building that was the original residence on the site.[2]
The house is significant as an example of a domestic building constructed, decorated, and furnished under the influence of theAesthetic movement andArts and Crafts movement.[3] It contains many examples of the works ofWilliam Morris and his firmMorris & Co., including wall hangings,wallpapers, and upholstery; tiles designed byWilliam De Morgan; and stained glass designed byCharles Kempe. It also containsPre-Raphaelite works of art, including works byDante Gabriel Rossetti,Evelyn De Morgan,Edward Burne-Jones,Ford Madox Brown,John Everett Millais,Elizabeth Siddal, andLeonard Shuffrey.[3]
Much of the collection in the house was assembled bySir Geoffrey andLady Rosalind Mander, who inherited it in 1900. They gave the house and grounds to theNational Trust in 1937, but continued adding to the contents until their deaths in 1962 and 1988 respectively. The property is open to the public, although the Mander family retain the use of an apartment. The Old Manor houses the De Morgan Gallery, an exhibition of the works of Evelyn and William De Morgan.[4]
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The oldest building on the site is the Old Manor, which incorporates elements of a medieval house and which was built in two stages around the turn of the seventeenth century by Francis Wightwick and his son, Alexander. The Wightwick family took their name from the estate and owned it from at least the thirteenth century until 1815, when it was sold to the Hinkes family. In 1887 it was sold again to (Samuel) Theodore Mander.[5]
TheMander family became established in Wolverhampton in the mid-eighteenth century, when Thomas Mander moved to the town from Warwickshire. His son, Benjamin Mander, established ajapanning andtinplate works in 1773, which becameMander Brothers and expanded into the manufacture of paints under his grandsons, Charles and Samuel Mander. Their sons, Charles and Theodore respectively, became company directors in 1879.[5][6] In the same year, Theodore married Flora, the daughter ofHenry Nicholas Paint, a merchant and member of theParliament of Canada.[7]
After purchasing Wightwick, Theodore commissionedEdward Ould ofLiverpool to design a new house. This was completed in 1887, and consisted of the western half of the present house and a single-storey west wing containing abilliard room. Notes taken by Theodore Mander at a lecture given in Wolverhampton in 1884 byOscar Wilde on the 'House Beautiful' inspired Wightwick's interiors. Taking inspiration from this lecture, Theodore and his wife Flora decorated its interiors with the designs of William Morris and his Arts and Crafts contemporaries. However, the Pre-Raphaelite collection was mostly assembled after the house was donated to the National Trust, particularly by Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, who was an art historian.
The house had no guest bedrooms and proved too small by 1893, when the billiard room was demolished and a new east wing built. This approximately doubled the size of the building, and, as well as five guest bedrooms, contained a living-room called the 'great parlour', a dining room, and a replacement billiard room.[5][3] The elaborate pendant imitation Jacobean plaster ceiling in the dining room was designed byLeonard Shuffrey.[8]
In 1937,Geoffrey Mander, a radical Liberal MP and local paint manufacturer who had been left the timber-framed house by his father Theodore, persuaded the National Trust to accept a house that was just 50 years old, under the Country Houses Scheme Act.
This house of the Aesthetic Movement was, by 1937, a relic of an out of fashion era. Yet, so complete was the design that it was worthy of preservation. Having given the house to the Trust, Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, became its live-in curators, opening the house to the public and adding to its contents. In particular, they added a notable collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and their followers. Descendants of the family retain a private apartment in the manor.
The Manor has the work of 13 professional female artists on permanent public display, more than any other in the National Trust, including notable examples of works by Lizzie Siddal,Lucy Madox Brown,Marie Spartali Stillman, andMay Morris. Most of these artworks were collected by the Manders. The malthouse gallery now houses a group of works byEvelyn De Morgan and her husbandWilliam, on loan from theDe Morgan Foundation.
The house has 17 acres of woodland and gardens, and the outbuildings include parts of an earlierJacobean manor house, stables (now a tea room), a gallery in the old malt house, gift shop, and a second-handbookshop.
It is situated just off the mainA454Wolverhampton toBridgnorth road, approximately three miles to the west of the city centre.
The manor has beenGrade I listed on theNational Heritage List for England since July 1950, and its gardens are Grade II listed on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[9][10][11]
