Strawberry Hill

The fancifully "Gothick" villa of Horace Walpole in Twickenham, which he purchased in 1748 and rebuilt in stages to his own specifications over a thirty-year period. Strawberry Hill became a showplace because of its pseudo-Gothic architecture, its fine library, and its collections of art and curios. It was a formative influence on the development of the Gothic revival in architecture and the decorative arts.