Long gallery
Encyclopedia
Long gallery is an architectural term given to a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In British architecture, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...

 houses. They were often located on the upper floor of the great houses of the time, and stretched across the entire frontage of the building. They served several purposes: among others, they were used for entertaining guests, for taking exercise in the form of walking when the weather was inclement, and for displaying art collections.

A long gallery has the appearance of a spacious corridor, but it was designed as a room to be used in its own right, not as a means of passing from one room to another. In the 16th century, the seemingly obvious concept of the corridor had not been introduced to British domestic architecture: rooms were entered from outside, or by passing from one room to another.

Later long galleries were built in Victorian houses such as Nottingham Castle
Nottingham Castle
Nottingham Castle is a castle in Nottingham, England. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "'Castle Rock'", with cliffs high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence...

.

Notable long galleries in the UK can be seen at:
  • Apethorpe Hall
    Apethorpe Hall
    Apethorpe Hall in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England is a Grade I listed country house, dating back to the 15th century.The house is built around three courtyards lying on an east-west axis and is approximately by in area...

     Conservation by English Heritage under way
  • Aston Hall
    Aston Hall
    Aston Hall is a municipally owned Jacobean-style mansion in Aston, Birmingham, England. Washington Irving used it as the model for Bracebridge Hall in his stories in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon.-History:...

     http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=2653&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=1762
  • Blickling Hall
    Blickling Hall
    Blickling Hall is a stately home in the village of Blickling north of Aylsham in Norfolk, England, that has been in the care of the National Trust since 1940.-History:...

  • Burghley House
    Burghley House
    Burghley House is a grand 16th-century country house near the town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England...

  • Burton Agnes Hall
    Burton Agnes Hall
    Burton Agnes Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in the village of Burton Agnes, near Driffield in Yorkshire. It was built by Sir Henry Griffith in 1601–10 to designs attributed to Robert Smythson...

     http://www.burton-agnes.co.uk/index2.htm
  • Burton Constable Hall
    Burton Constable Hall
    Burton Constable Hall is a large Elizabethan country house with 18th and 19th century interiors, and a fine 18th century cabinet of curiosities. The hall, a Grade I listed building, is set in a park designed by Capability Brown with an area of...

     http://www.burtonconstable.com/LongGallery.htm
  • Haddon Hall
    Haddon Hall
    Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye at Bakewell, Derbyshire, one of the seats of the Duke of Rutland, occupied by Lord Edward Manners and his family. In form a medieval manor house, it has been described as "the most complete and most interesting house of [its]...

     http://www.places-to-go.org.uk/haddon_hall_longgallery.htm
  • Ham House, compact and running from front to rear.
  • Hardwick Hall
    Hardwick Hall
    Hardwick Hall , in Derbyshire, is one of the most significant Elizabethan country houses in England. In common with its architect Robert Smythson's other works at both Longleat House and Wollaton Hall, Hardwick Hall is one of the earliest examples of the English interpretation of the Renaissance...

    , one of the largest.
  • Hatfield House
    Hatfield House
    Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil...

     http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/house.asp?s=3&v=1&p=18
  • Little Moreton Hall
    Little Moreton Hall
    Little Moreton Hall is a moated 15th and 16th-century half-timbered manor house southwest of Congleton, Cheshire. It is one of the finest examples of timber-framed domestic architecture in England. The house is today owned by the National Trust. It has been designated by English Heritage as a...

  • Longleat House (The long gallery is now called the Saloon)
  • Montacute House
    Montacute House
    Montacute House is a late Elizabethan country house situated in the South Somerset village of Montacute. This house is a textbook example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical; this has resulted in Montacute being regarded as...

     http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-montacute/w-montacute-collections.htm
  • Osterley Park
    Osterley Park
    Osterley Park is a mansion set in a large park of the same name. It is in the London Borough of Hounslow, part of the western suburbs of London. When the house was built it was surrounded by rural countryside. It was one of a group of large houses close to London which served as country retreats...

     http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-osterleypark/w-osterley-house/w-osterley-house-gallery.htm
  • Scone Palace
    Scone Palace
    Scone Palace is a Category A listed historic house at Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. It was constructed in 1808 for the Earls of Mansfield by William Atkinson...

     http://www.scone-palace.net/palace/palacerooms.cfm?Room=LongGallery
  • Syon House
    Syon House
    Syon House, with its 200-acre park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence...

     http://www.syonpark.co.uk/tour_long-gallery.asp
  • Temple Newsam House http://www.leeds.gov.uk/templenewsamhouse (Jacobean long gallery, later modified and now called the "Picture Gallery")


Further reading

  • The 'Long Gallery': Its Origins, Development, Use and Decoration by Rosalys Coope in Architectural History, Vol. 29, 1986 (1986), pp. 43-72+74-84
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