Over 300 years after its creation by British architectural titan Sir John Vanbrugh, whose life and work is being celebrated throughout this year, Castle Howard remains one of the most theatrical expressions of English Baroque. Its iconic dome and imposing silhouette impress themselves on the Yorkshire skyline with what historian Charles Saumarez Smith aptly describes as the ‘Drama of Architecture.’ But what is it like to live in and be responsible for such an important piece of British history?
‘There are two things you notice about Castle Howard, I suppose, when you first see it,' says Nick Howard, current custodian of the castle along with his wife Vicky, and scion of the Carlisle branch of one of the country’s oldest aristocratic families. 'One is the scale – it is enormous – but the other one is the eclectic nature of it. It isn't any one thing. It's effectively a work of art in its own right.’
Commissioned in 1699 by the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, Vanbrugh worked with Nicholas Hawksmoor, the giant of English Baroque, to create Castle Howard. Though he would come to be called ‘the Shakespeare of architects’ by John Soane, Vanbrugh was an unlikely architect. A successful playwright and a former soldier, he came to building relatively late and armed with less formal training, making up for it with unending charm, curiosity and a powerful imagination. For years he was cast as the junior partner to Hawksmoor, but these days he is given is due. ‘Up until the last 10 years or so the thought has been that Vanbrugh is very much the pupil of Hawksmoor, that Hawksmoor had to be the one who was the leader in terms of being able to get the house built,’ says Nick.
‘It has become more and more apparent that Vanbrugh was much more able, in his own right, to actually get on with the business of building a huge house like this. He comes out of Hawksmoor’s shadow.’
For Nick, who grew up attending his father’s lectures on Castle Howard and Vanbrugh and regained a deep interest as a young man, taking part in the Vanbrugh 300 events has been thrilling. Coordinated by heritage charity the Georgian Group, the celebrations run throughout 2026, spotlighting the architect’s life, work and legacy. At Castle Howard, alongside lectures, tours and exhibitions, the famous Temple of the Four Winds with its greek mythological statues will be transformed by artist Es Devlin into a space to read. It is events and collaborations like these that help further cement Vanbrugh houses Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace in the collective imagination as spaces of wonder still imbued with the same imaginative spirit they were built with.
When Nick and I speak, the Easter weekend has just passed, and the doors have been open to thousands of visitors. Castle Howard is not a museum but a working home and a business, one that relies on sharing its beauty. ‘We are a visitor attraction,’ Nick says, ‘so we’re always thinking about how we present that.’
The house is also deeply personal, shaped continuously by the family who have lived here since its beginnings. ‘The way we live now is different to the way my parents lived,’ he says. ‘And the way they lived was different to the generation before.’ Adaptation has always been part of the building’s story. Nick’s parents had an extra floor built in the kitchen to compensate for its soaring ceilings. When he and Vicky moved in, they consulted interior designer Remy Renzullo and artist and interiors expert Alec Cobbe as well as an impressive roster of artisans skilled in traditional crafts. While each generation has its own needs, Vanbrugh haunts the narrative not in an oppressive manner, but as a treasured reference, with Nick and Vicky looking to capture the spirit of Vanbrugh.
Watching those craftspeople at work, Nick recalls, was one of the great pleasures of the process. It is a reminder that buildings like Castle Howard are not static masterpieces but accumulations of human skill, effort and decision. In that sense, Vanbrugh’s legacy is not just the physical house but an approach to design. What, then, might Vanbrugh make of it all today?
Nick suspects he might initially be startled — particularly by elements not built to his designs, such as the Palladian west wing — but ultimately reassured. ‘I think he’d be pleasantly surprised that the place is still standing!’ he laughs. More than that, he imagines he would recognise beyond the modern adaptations and lack of servants something essential: the spirit of the building. ‘There’s a warmth to it,’ Nick says, ‘inside and out. And I think that comes from its designer.’
That spirit is central to this year’s 300th anniversary celebrations of Vanbrugh’s life and work, which place Castle Howard within a broader national story. Across the country, from Blenheim Palace to Seaton Delaval Hall, his buildings continue to stand not as relics but as living environments — testaments to architecture that was built not just to impress but to be truly lived in and enjoyed.
For Nick, the anniversary has also been an opportunity to return to Vanbrugh as a character: someone who was charming, audacious, and driven by a desire to delight. ‘He made things to make your head spin, really. And he succeeded,’ says Nick. ‘But above everything, there's a joy that's there, and I want [visitors to the Vanbrugh 300 events] to recognise that, because that's what came from the man himself.’
Because if custodianship carries weight, it also carries reward. There is, in Nick’s account, a quiet but persistent pleasure in living within a work of art. He doesn’t speak of it as a burden despite the fact that taking care of the place must at times feel like a Sisyphean task, ‘If all you thought was, “I’ve got to preserve this place because it’s important" it would become very difficult,’ Nick says. Instead, the gratitude and joy is apparent when he speaks about his family home.‘I have to confess, sometimes in those long passages, I do sit down on the floor because I love the perspective you get of really distortedly long converging lines,’ he says. ‘It’s gorgeous.’
As for what future generations of custodians may have in store for the house, it's up to them. ‘I think the house is probably stronger than any one person who ever lives in it,’ says Nick. It captures both the humility and the ambition of custodianship. Castle Howard, and its fellow Vanbrugh-designed estates, endures not because it has been frozen in time, but because it has been allowed to change – carefully, thoughtfully, and always in conversation with the vision that first brought it into being.
