Winslow Hall
Winslow Hall is a country house, now in the centre of the small town of Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, built in 1700; it was sited in the centre of the town, with a public front facing the highway and a garden front that still commanded 22 acres (89,000 m2) in 2007, due to William Lowndes' gradual purchase of a block of adjacent houses and gardens from 1693 onwards. The architect of the mansion has been a matter of prolonged architectural debate: the present candidates are Sir Christopher Wren or a draughtsman, whether in the Board of Works, which Wren oversaw, or a talented provincial architect.
"Winslow Hall was built in 1700 by Secretary Lowndes" claims Kip and Knyff's Britannia Illustrata, 1708, with no mention of an architect. Winslow Hall was probably designed by Sir Christopher Wren, according to Howard Colvin, who found the case not proved. George Lipscomb was less cautious: he notes the "commodious plain brick edifice with a flight of several steps to the door over which is the date of its erection 1700 and the name of William Lowndes" and adds confidently, "for whom it was designed by Inigo Jones". Inigo Jones died in 1652, and so is unlikely to have designed Winslow. Pevsner too feels the house was in "all probability" designed by Wren.
Sir Christopher Wren is thoroughly plausible: In a ledger book discovered in the early twentieth century detailing work on the house, scattered among the payments made to stonemasons and bricklayers, and for the carpentry to Matthew Banckes, are alterations in payments to craftsmen, authorised by 'St. Critophr Wren Surveior Gen' [sic] The account book is complete and detailed and yet records no payment to Sir Christopher Wren himself. William Lowndes (the owner) and Wren knew each other, they served on a committee together in 1704. Was Wren the architect, or was he merely looking through a friend's building accounts as a favour? All Souls College, Oxford owned a three-volume collection of architectural drawings by Wren, although most pertain to the plans for St Paul's cathedral there are also sketches and plans for his domestic buildings - there is nothing resembling Winslow Hall or anything there to suggest that Wren was the architect.
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