Blenheim Palace — If You Only Have Time For One - Beyond Downton Abbey: A Guide to 25 Great Houses - page 8

The Churchill name brings many visitors to Blenheim. The palace tour includes the room
where Winston Churchill was born in 1874, and Churchill memorabilia and photographs
are also on display. Churchill's mother was an American and Winston Churchill was one
of only a handful of people to be granted honorary US citizenship. Churchill is buried in
the nearby Oxfordshire town of Blanton.
The 2,100 acres of gardens and park that surround the palace are as impressive as the
building itself. The green spaces were designed by Capability Brown, the architect of
England's finest gardens. Blenheim Lake and the surrounding gardens are among Brown's
finest examples of landscape magic.
Blenheim is no relic; the palace is home to the current Duke of Marlborough and his fam-
ily. Upkeep on the palace and the surrounding park is not cheap, so the Duke opened part
of the palace to tourists and added some modern attractions to entice visitors. The latter
may seem unnecessary to those who are interested in seeing the landscape artistry of Cap-
ability Brown or visiting the birthplace of Winston Churchill.
Who built it…who owns it
The site was once a royal deer park and manor belonging to Kings Henry I and Henry II.
Queen Elizabeth I was briefly imprisoned here in 1554 by her sister Queen Mary. The
manor house was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's army during the English Civil War and
the ruins of the manor were demolished during the construction of Blenheim Palace.
Architect Sir John Vanbrugh designed Blenheim in the rare English Baroque style. Work
started in 1705, but the Palace was not completed until after 1735.
Some of its contents were sold to pay debts in the 1870s. Facing financial ruin in the
1870s, the 9 th Duke sold off some of Blenheim's treasures. The 9 th Duke conveniently
married American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt in 1896 and Blenheim Palace was
restocked with artwork and fine furnishings. Today Blenheim is home to John George
Vanderbilt Spencer-Churchill, 11 th Duke of Marlborough, and family members.
Style notes
English Baroque