Wingerworth Hall, demolished 1927, was the ancestral home of the Hunloke family

Hunloke Baronets

The Hunloke Baronetcy, of Wingerworth in the County of Derby, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 28 February 1643 by King Charles I for Sir Henry Hunloke, of Wingerworth, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Hunloke was a loyal royalist who had been knighted by the King on the...

 in the village of Wingerworth

Wingerworth

Wingerworth is a relatively large village and parish near to Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is one of the largest and most populous villages in the district of North East Derbyshire. Wingerworth is only two miles south west of the town of Chesterfield, 12 miles south of Sheffield and 120...

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was built on an elevated site and completed in 1724 by an unknown architect. The house was in the rare style of understated Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 peculiar to England. The rectangular building was on three floors raised above a semi-basement

Semi-basement

Semi-basement is architectural term for a floor of a building that is half below ground, rather than entirely such as a true basement or cellar....

, thus causing to the principal rooms to be on a piano nobile

Piano nobile

The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...

 reached from a broad straight external staircase.

The principal façade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

 was of three bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

s with the central entrance bay projecting. The ornament was chaste, alleviated by only by the architrave

Architrave

An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...

 of the central entrance which supported a broken pediment, quoin

Quoin (architecture)

Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...

ing at the extremities of the building and massive key stones above each window. The roof was hidden by a balustrade decorated by urns alternating with stone sphere

Sphere

A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...

s.

This format of design was typical of the rare late English Baroque, and can be seen in a less sophisticated form at Sherborne House in Dorset and in its full fruition at Chatsworth

Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...

 and Easton Neston

Easton Neston

Easton Neston is a country house near Towcester, Northamptonshire, England, and is part of the Easton Neston Parish. It was designed in the Baroque style by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. Easton Neston is thought to be the only mansion which was solely the work of Hawksmoor...

. The interior of Wingerworth was arranged around a central double height hall described as "a model of English Baroque"

By the end of the 19th century the Hunloke's fortune was severely depleted and the house was let to tenants. In 1920 it was offered for sale. Failing to find a purchaser wishing to reside in the house, the Hunloke family sold it to a demolition contractor, and its interiors were stripped and sold. One of the rooms is, today, displayed in the Saint Louis Art Museum

Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the principal U.S. art museums, visited by up to a half million people every year. Admission is free through a subsidy from the cultural tax district for St. Louis City and County.Located in Forest Park in St...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

. The two servants' buildings remain as private dwellings.

External links

• Lost Heritage: Wingerworth Hall - longer history with additional images