Houses in literature: imagining the interiors of Pemberley in Pride & Prejudice
"Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!"
Jane Austen’s preoccupation in her novels is with character and society; not the mania for landscape and atmospheric houses that took hold of some of her contemporaries (and which she parodied in Northanger Abbey). Nonetheless, the houses in her books stand for something; at their simplest, they are an indication of social standing, but when they are developed, they become a way to understand character. The most pleasant houses in Austen are the ones where the most pleasant characters live.
In Pride & Prejudice, the house with the biggest role to play is Pemberley, the ancestral home of Mr Darcy. It is the sight of Pemberley that first makes Elizabeth Bennet think favourably of him. The approach to the house is full of “natural beauty”, and on a tour of the interiors, the Darcy family’s style – above all proportionate and graceful – impresses itself on her.
"The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings. 'And of this place,' thought she, 'I might have been mistress!'"
When the man himself unexpectedly appears there, he is more gracious and agreeable on his own ground than he has been elsewhere. Now that Elizabeth has finally seen him at home, the connection between the house and the man finally makes sense. "Never in her life had she seen his manners so little dignified, never had he spoken with such gentleness as on this unexpected meeting."
Although Austen did not go into any particular detail about the interiors of Pemberley, it has provided plenty of food for the imagination in adaptations. The fictional estate is thought to be based on Chatsworth, the grand country seat of the Duke of Devonshire, both because of its location in Derbyshire and similarities between the book’s description and the house’s appearance. Chatsworth itself was used as a filming location for Pemberley in the 2005 film, where the a bust of Mr Darcy practically reduces Keira Knightley to tears. In the 1995 classic BBC adaptation, Lyme Park in Cheshire served as the backdrop for Darcy’s iconic entrance via the pond.
The harmony and proportion that Elizabeth reacts to in the novel were the hallmarks of late eighteenth-century design. In our imaginations, Pemberley is of course the epitome of a Georgian country house, full of the best that period had to offer. Pride and Prejudice was written a couple of decades after the deaths of Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite, whose furniture Mr Darcy would surely have bought. It was also a time of elegant, pale colours, rich velvet and damask fabrics, and classical detailing. A man of wealth and taste like Darcy might also have taken an interest in the fabrics and furniture that were being imported from abroad–this was the golden age of chinoiserie, and the custom of the Grand Tour brought the richness of European interiors to England. Scroll down to see our dream picks for decorating Pemberley.
MAY WE SUGGEST: A neo-classical idyll in the Sussex countryside with elegant interiors by Edward Bulmer
Paul Massey1/15The hall at Pitshill, a house contemporary with Jane Austen, is painted in ‘Tea Green’ paint by Edward Bulmer.
5/15A Georgian country house would be nothing without some elaborate mouldings - here are some of our favourite ceiling roses. Clockwise from top left: 'CC17', 53.3cm diameter, from £59. Locker & Riley; 'Finsbury', 37.5cm diameter, £72. George Jackson; 'Georgian Fan Ceiling Rose', 51cm diameter, £54. Hayles and Howe.; 'Small Ornate Ceiling Rose', 30.5cm diameter. Stevensons of Norwich.
Paul Massey6/15The drawing room at Bradwell Lodge has a Bennison sofa in 'Tatting Stripe' to complement the eleborate ceiling, inset with monochrome grisaille panels.
7/15Regency mahogany writing table, £2,850 from The Kairos Collective. Perfect for writing letters explaining your conduct to your paramour.
9/15Little Greene's "Celestial Blue" is part of their Regency collection, and was found on a rare colour card from 1807, just two years after Pride & Prejudice was published. From £33/litre.
Andrew Montgomery10/15This scene from a Regency-inspired decoration scheme features 'Linden' wooden armchairs, £1,362 each, from William Yeoward, and a nineteenth-century ebonised table, £1,350, from Lorfords Antiques.
12/15The dining room at Inchyra, a country estate in Scotland, is decorated in a delicate floral wallpaper, 'The India Paper' by Cole & Son, along with a collection of antique furniture.
