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Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years.

The first recorded building on the site of Wilton House was of a priory founded by King Egbert circa 871. This priory later due to the munificence of King Alfred was granted lands and manors until it became a powerful and wealthy abbey. However, by the time Wilton Abbey was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII of England, its prosperity was already on the wane — following the seizure of the abbey King Henry then presented it and the estates to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (in the 1551 creation) in c.1544.

William Herbert

The East front of Wilton, photographed by Queen Alexandra circa 1907. The central tower is all that remains of the Tudor house.William Herbert, the scion of a distinguished family in the Welsh marches, was a favourite of the King. Following a recommendation to King Henry by King Francis I of France, whom Herbert had served as a soldier of fortune, Herbert was granted arms after only two years. Returning to England circa 1543, Herbert married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and sister of King Henry's last Queen, Catherine Parr. The granting of an estate such as the Abbey of Wilton to Herbert was an accolade and evidence of his position at court.

Herbert immediately began to transform the deserted abbey into a fine house and symbol of his wealth. It had been thought that the old abbey had been completely demolished; however, following renovations after World War II traces of the old abbey were found at lower levels of the existing walls.


[edit] Hans Holbein
It has long been claimed, without proof, that Hans Holbein the Younger re-designed the abbey into the rectangular house around a central courtyard, which is the core of the present house. Holbein died in 1543, so his designs for the new house would have to have been very speedily executed indeed. However, the great entrance porch to the new mansion, removed from the house and later transformed into a garden pavilion in the 19th century to this day is known as the "Holbein Porch" — a perfect example of the blending of the older Gothic and the brand-new Renaissance style. If not by Holbein, it is certainly by the hand of a great master.

Whoever the architect, nevertheless a great mansion arose. Today only one other part of the Tudor mansion survives: the great tower in the centre of the east facade. With its central arch (once giving access to the court beyond) and three floors of oriel windows above, the tower is slightly reminiscent of the entrance at Hampton Court. Flanked today by two wings in a loose Georgian style — each topped by an Italianate pavilion tower, this Tudor centrepiece of the facade appears not in the least incongruous, merely displaying the accepted appearance of a great English country house, which has evolved over the centuries.

Inigo Jones

Engraving of Wilton HouseThe Tudor house built by William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke in 1551 was to last but eighty years. On the succession of the 4th Earl in 1630, he decided to pull down the southern wing and erect a new complex of staterooms in its place. It is now the second great name associated with Wilton appears: that of Inigo Jones.

The architecture of the south front is in severe Palladian style, described at the time as in the 'Italian Style'; built of the local stone, softened by climbing shrubs, it is quintessentially English to our eyes today. While the remainder of the house is on three floors of equal value in the English style, the South Front has a low rusticated ground floor, almost suggesting a semi-basement. Three small porches project at this level only, one at the centre, and one at each end of the facade, providing small balconies to the windows above. The next floor is the piano nobile, at its centre the great double height Venetian window, ornamented at second floor level by the Pembroke arms in stone relief. This central window is flanked by four tall sash windows on each side. These windows have low flat pediments. Each end of the facade is defined by 'corner stone' decoration giving a suggestion that the single-bay wings project forward. The single windows here are topped by a true pointed pediment. Above this floor is a further almost mezzanine floor, its small, unpedimented, windows aligning with the larger below, serve to emphasise the importance of the piano nobile. The roofline is hidden by a balustrade. Each of the terminating 'wings' is crowned by a one storey, pedimented tower resembling a Palladian pavilion. One must remember this style was a revolution in England at the time, a mere thirty years previously Montacute House had been in an amazing new style; and only a century earlier the juxtaposing mass of unplanned wings that is Compton Wynyates was just being completed.

Attributing the various architec

The Philcade Building is significant for its interior art work, its architectural design, and its association with the developing oil industry. The interior ground floor arcades of the building are surprisingly lavish. Pilasters of fluted and polished St. Genevieve marble support an ornamental plaster frieze covered with gold leaf at the mezzanine level. From this plaster frieze, arches form a ceiling that is also covered with gold leaf and hand painted with geometric designs executed in muted tones of red, blue, green, purple, and brown, the favored colors of the Art Deco period. These designs display the Zigzag Art Deco style of this era. An elaborate, bronze-filigreed chandelier is suspended from the center of each design. The ceiling treatment is complemented by the mahogany, glass, and bronze detailed store front units and the tan and black terrazzo floor.

The ground floor, mezzanine, and the second floors were originally arcades supporting commercial activities. This area of the facade is covered with a richly carved terra cotta and cast iron veneer. The terra cotta detail at the second level and at each corner reveals a passion for stylized flora and fauna. Each entrance to the building is flanked by fluted Egyptian Revival columns which terminate at a papyrus-reed inspired terra cotta beam. The large, ground-level showcase windows and entrances are very formal. The veneer for the office areas of this building, starting at the third-floor level and ending at the roof line, is a very rhythmic treatment of brick and large steel double-hung windows. The building is a prime example of the Art Deco movement in Tulsa which ended, for the most part, with the start of the Great Depression. Its durability is now unquestioned, and its excesses continue to delight the eye.

Waite Phillips, the building’s first owner, played a very important role in the history of Oklahoma oil. The building also served as headquarters for many developing oil companies and individuals connected with the oil industry. Many of these companies and their descendants are still active in the Oklahoma oil industry today.

The Philcade Building was listed in the National Register on September 18, 1986. It was listed under National Register Criterion C, and its NRIS number is 86002196.