Georgian architecture is characterized by its proportion and balance; simple mathematical ratios were used to determine the height of a window in relation to its width or the shape of a room as a double cube. Houses were increasingly placed in grand landscaped settings, and large houses were generally made wide and relatively shallow, largely to look more impressive from a distance. Here is a list of the most beautiful Georgian style mansions, both historic and modern:

1. MALPLAQUET HOUSE

Malplaquet House, one of London’s ‘secret’ Georgian mansions, was hidden for decades behind a façade of weathered shop fronts and stout iron railings. The four-storey house was built as one of three 1742 by Thomas Andrews; only two of the houses survive to the present day. Built for a wealthy merchant, the 20 plus room mansion survived the Blitz and being chopped up into various shop spaces before being rescued by the Spitalfields Trust from demolition. Malplaquet House, exude a mysterious grandeur that would make anyone do a double-take as they strolled past its wrought iron gates. Most of the restoration work, however, was done by subsequent owners Tim Knox, director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and landscape architect Todd Longstaffe-Gowan. Malplaquet House – as it stands today – is spread over 4,460 sq ft and has seven reception rooms and five bedrooms. Many of its original details have been restored, including plaster moulded ceilings dating back to 1795, and a mahogany handrail staircase from the same period.

2. STOWE HOUSE

Stowe House is a grade I listed country house in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England If you had power and riches, how would you use them? In the eighteenth century, the powerful Temple-Grenville family chose to create an idyllic landscape filled with temples. Amidst these large gardens, they built the most lavish temple of all, Stowe House. This was so grand that even Queen Victoria was bewildered by its interiors. The whole is visually balanced (achieved through symmetry). Multiple famed British architects and landscape designers including John Vanbrugh, James Gibbs, Robert Adam, John Soane, William Kent and Capability Brown helped transform Stowe into a site admired and imitated by many.

3. WESTOVER PLANTATION

Westover Plantation is a historic colonial tidewater plantation located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. The plantation has been designated as a National Historic Landmark in the United States, cited for the architectural quality of its early Georgian mansion house and the history of its influential family. The house is noteworthy for its symmetry and balance of proportions, secret passages, magnificent gardens, front door, and its Georgian style (which was inspired by the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia). Long considered a premier example of Georgian architecture in America, the house’s special charm lies in its elegant yet extremely simple form and perfect proportions. Of special interest are the steepness of the roof, the tall chimneys in pairs at both ends of the main house, and the elaborate doorway, which continues to be recognized as “the Westover doorway”

4. SYON HOUSE

Syon House, and its 200-acre (80 hectare) park, Syon Park, is in west London, historically within the parish of Isleworth. The eclectic interior of Syon House was designed by the architect Robert Adam in the 1760s. The final plan of Syon House includes an entrance hall, ante-room, State Dining Room, State Drawing Room, Long Gallery, study, sitting room, Print Room, Family Drawing Room, Family Dining Room, private apartments on the top floor for the family to live in and a grand staircase One of London’s last great houses, Syon House is set in glorious ‘Capability’ Brown landscape and holds a wealth of art within its grand classical Robert Adam interiors. Its verdant tranquillity makes visitors feel they are deep in the countryside, yet it lies only nine miles from Charing Cross.

5. DITCHLEY HOUSE

Ditchley Park is a country house and estate near Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. The House is set in 300 acres of Grade II-listed parkland owned by the Ditchley Foundation. It is one of the United Kingdom’s finest houses, having a rich history as an idyllic retreat for royalty and power since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Churchill famously used Ditchley as a secret base during the early years of World War II, meeting presidential envoy Harry Hopkins here in his efforts to win American support. When not being used by the Ditchley Foundation, Ditchley Park hosts private events for selected institutions and companies “A triumphant pairing of pastoral simplicity (woolly sheep graze drowsily near the entry gate) and formal Georgian architecture, the estate is worth a lingering look.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES

6. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR’S MANSION

It is located at 410 E. Jackson Street in the state capital, Springfield, Illinois. The 16-room manor was completed in 1855 and was first occupied by governor Joel Matteson, who held the official grand opening on January 10, 1856. Governor’s mansion was extraordinary—the finest building in town. It was the work of architect John Mills Van Odsel, Chicago’s first professional architect and designer of Chicago’s City Hall, the Chicago mayor’s house and Cook County Courthouse. Its design reflected the southern influence of the town’s population, with a modified Georgian style that complemented the Greco-Roman style of other government buildings.

7. BUCKLAND NEWTON PLACE

Georgian mansion that inspired Thomas Hardy. Beautiful sprawling mansion, called Buckland Newton Place, is located on the edge of Buckland Newton, Dorset. The Grade II listed home has a church next to it which is mentioned in Hardy’s 1887 novel The Woodlanders  The red-brick house was built in the early 18th century and includes seven bedrooms and five bathrooms and has nine acres of sloping lawns, a small lake and paddocks, with spectacular views of the rolling countryside. The warm red brick façade displays pleasing symmetry.

8. ANDREW CARNEGIE MANSION

The Andrew Carnegie Mansion is a historic house located at the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Andrew Carnegie moved into his newly completed mansion in late 1902 and lived there until his death in 1919. He asked architects Babb, Cook & Willard for the “most modest, plainest, and most roomy house in New York”. However, it was also the first American residence to have a steel frame and among the first to have a private Otis Elevator and central heating. The building is now the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution. The mansion was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966 The mansion stands on 1.2 acres, finished in brick and stone. It is stylistically an eclectic variation of the Georgian Revival, with stone ashlar corner quoining, windows with heavy stone trim, and a dentilated cornice topped by a turned balustrade.

9.  EDINBURGH TOWNHOUSE

The Georgian House is an 18th-century townhouse situated at No. 7 Charlotte Square in the heart of the historic New Town of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This townhouse is a seven-bedroom home The Georgian era produced some of Scotland’s most distinctive architecture. In the late 1700s, this grand townhouse was at the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town development. The house was designed by acclaimed architect Robert Adam and was a true statement of luxury in an era of enlightenment, for those who could afford it.

10. CHASE LLOYD’S MANSION

The Chase–Lloyd House is a historic house at 22 Maryland Avenue in Annapolis, Maryland. Built in 1769-1774, it is one of the first brick three-story Georgian mansions to be built in the Thirteen Colonies, and is one of the finest examples of the style. Its interiors were designed by William Buckland. Its construction was started for Samuel Chase Buckland echoed the perfect Georgian symmetry of the outside of the home on the inside, even installing false doors to ensure the same symmetrical aesthetic on the first floor. The contrast of the austere elegance of the exterior and elaborately decorative mouldings and plaster ceilings of the interior are also indicative of the Georgian style. The house’s plan is of the four room, centre hall type, but on a very large scale. The entrance hall contains a screen of free-standing Ionic columns, beyond which a central stair rises to the large Palladian window at the landing.  With its elegant Georgian façade, the Chase-Lloyd House is rightly considered one of Annapolis’—indeed, one of the country’s—significant architectural treasures.

11. FLORHAM (HENNESSY HALL)

Florham is a former Vanderbilt estate that is located in Madison and Florham Park, New Jersey. It was built for Hamilton McKown Twombly and his wife, Florence Adele Vanderbilt, a member of the Vanderbilt family. Now part of the Florham Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the mansion is one of the ten largest houses in the United States of America. This 100-room Georgian-style masterpiece was designed in the 1890s and replicates a wing in Henry VIII’s Hampton Court. Most of its interior decorations (such as staircases and fireplaces) are in Italian marble, worked by Italian craftsmen. Hennessy also holds the chestnut-panelled Hartman Lounge (the former billiard room) and Lenfell Hall, then a ballroom and drawing room, now used for meetings and special events. Today, Hennessy contains classrooms and administrative offices

12. DuPont-Guest Estate

The DuPont-Guest Estate, now known as the NYIT de Seversky Mansion, is a historic estate located at Brookville in Nassau County, New York. Since 1972, it has been part of the Old Westbury campus of the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). The estate consists of the residence, surrounding landscaping, and garage. It was originally built for Alfred I. du Pont between 1916 and 1918, and the property was called “White Eagle”. It was designed by the architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings in the Georgian Revival style. The residence is two stories plus a basement level, with a red brick façade, white marble and limestone embellishments, and a gabled, slate roof.

13. 7-STOREY GEORGIAN MANSION

Located at Chester Square, a grand garden square in London’s Belgravia, is a classic white stucco Georgian-era Grade II listed house. With its green covered windows and a wrought iron balcony, it epitomizes the grandeur of the neighbourhood. Recently refurbished and renovated, this house is both new and old. It has grand rooms in modern style and at the same time features of the authentic Georgian style architecture. There is a lighting control system, air conditioning, an elevator and underfloor heating. The lower ground floor contains a yoga studio and treatment room. The interior of the house was created by Wilben.

14. GEORGIAN STYLE MANSION, CHAPPAQUA

The 86-acre estate is one of the largest properties in Chappaqua, New York, where Hillary Clinton also has a home. Designed by architect Boris Baranovich, this house maybe a modern one but it displays the charm and elegance of the old times. It features approximately 19,306 square feet of living space with 6 bedrooms, 7 full and 3 half bathrooms, 2-story foyer with curved floating staircase, formal living & dining rooms, gourmet kitchen with hearth room, breakfast room, family room with vaulted ceilings, 2-story panelled library, panelled home theatre/billiards room with wet bar, gym, indoor basketball court, wine cellar, 4-car garage and more.

15. RICHMOND, VIRGINIA HOUSE

Decorator Bunny Williams worked closely with architectural firm 3north to design a Richmond, Virginia, house that references the Georgian period. The mansion has generously sized rooms with a capacious entrance hall with a floating staircase at one end which displays aesthetically satisfying proportion. The foyer opens onto both the formal dining room and the living room, the latter served by an abundance of windows and doorways. Interiors of the house give an old-world ambience with traditional details

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