Triumphal Arch, Garendon Park, Loughborough, Leicestershire
The site of Garendon Hall was formerly occupied by a Cistercian abbey, known as Garendon Abbey. Following World War II, the ever-increasing cost of running and maintaining the estate, failing finances and crippling inheritance taxes, and threats to the house's parkland from the urban sprawl of Loughborough and the construction of the M1 motorway, which would cut directly through the park, all contributed to the decision to demolish Garendon. In June 1964 the house was deliberately set on fire to provide practice and training for the local fire brigade. It was then reduced to rubble which was used in the construction of the M1 motorway.
Ambrose Phillipps (1707–1737) had been on the Grand Tour and would have seen the examples of Roman architecture extant in Rome during the 18th century. His Triumphal Arch at Garendon is modelled on the Arch of Titus, located on the Via Sacra and dating from the 1st century. Historic England suggest it is "perhaps the earliest example of an English building inspired directly from an Ancient Roman source." The Temple of Venus, like the arch, is based on a Roman example, in this case the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli. The building, constructed in ashlar, is circular with a peristyle of Ionic columns supported a domed roof. The roof is now of copper, the original lead covering having been stolen. The temple contained a statue of Venus but this is no longer in situ. Both the Grade I listed Arch and the Grade II* listed Temple are on the Heritage at Risk Register.
Triumphal Arch, Garendon Park, Loughborough, Leicestershire
The site of Garendon Hall was formerly occupied by a Cistercian abbey, known as Garendon Abbey. Following World War II, the ever-increasing cost of running and maintaining the estate, failing finances and crippling inheritance taxes, and threats to the house's parkland from the urban sprawl of Loughborough and the construction of the M1 motorway, which would cut directly through the park, all contributed to the decision to demolish Garendon. In June 1964 the house was deliberately set on fire to provide practice and training for the local fire brigade. It was then reduced to rubble which was used in the construction of the M1 motorway.
Ambrose Phillipps (1707–1737) had been on the Grand Tour and would have seen the examples of Roman architecture extant in Rome during the 18th century. His Triumphal Arch at Garendon is modelled on the Arch of Titus, located on the Via Sacra and dating from the 1st century. Historic England suggest it is "perhaps the earliest example of an English building inspired directly from an Ancient Roman source." The Temple of Venus, like the arch, is based on a Roman example, in this case the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli. The building, constructed in ashlar, is circular with a peristyle of Ionic columns supported a domed roof. The roof is now of copper, the original lead covering having been stolen. The temple contained a statue of Venus but this is no longer in situ. Both the Grade I listed Arch and the Grade II* listed Temple are on the Heritage at Risk Register.