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Talk:Algernon Percy, 6th Duke of Northumberland

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The 6th Duke of Northumberland

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In Wikipedia it states that Algernon George Percy employed the famous Anthony Salvin to considerably change the interior to a neo-gothic design. The 1st Duke (nee Hugh Smithson) and Elizabeth Percy, employed Robert Adams to change the castle into a neo-gothic style home from what was then a castle in ruins in the 1750s. The 4th Duke restyled it again in the 1850s to look like a neo-Classic Italian Renaissance palace. Salvin had designs on both the inside and outside of the castle in a more neo-gothic style as the 1st Duchess Elizabeth had previously done, which preserved the earlier Robert Adams work. However, the Duke instead employed italian designers/craftsmen to do the interior work. Most of Adams earlier work was dismantled/destroyed/covered over. They set up the Alnwick School of Carving in the castle. Over 20 carpenters were taken from the Clyde and Tyne shipbuilders to train. Their work can still be seen today in the castle State Rooms which has changed little from that period to the present. Salvin's outside structural changes were completed and his kitchen can still be seen today and is used as a refectory by St. Cloud's University, Minnesota, who study at the castle. Other staff and family accomodation was completed at the time. A new large stable was build and the 1750s one changed it's use. Salvin was not happy that his internal designs were not used, saying the Italian influence was not appropriate for a gothic castle and Robert Adams work should have remained intact. Anthony Salvin was getting elderly when the 6th Duke inherited the castle from his father, the 5th Duke, who only held the title for about 2 years as a gentleman in his very late 80's. I am not sure what the 6th duke had changed by Anthony Salvin (who would be getting elderly by then) as the large State Rooms have altered so little from the 1850s/60s unless it's some of the office/working rooms and staff and private room accomodations. It would be useful to find out. 2A00:23C8:471D:F001:E107:D623:B83D:3165 (talk) 11:55, 25 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]