In 1747 Horace Walpole was under pressure from his family to establish a country seat, especially a family castle, which was a fashionable practice during the period. He discovered “Chopp’d Straw Hall” which was actually a small 17th century house set in 5 acres, one of the last remaining available sites on the banks of the Thames in fashionable Twickenham. He detested the name, but upon discovering an old lease which named the land as “Strawberry Hill Shot” he had the name for his castle. Walpole set about transforming what was in essence a cottage into his vision of a ‘little Gothic castle’ with pinnacles, battlements and a round tower.
Over the next 30 years Walpole rebuilt the house to his own specifications, giving it a Gothic style and expanding the property to 46 acres. The building evolved similarly to how a medieval cathedral often evolved over time, with no fixed plan from the beginning. Once complete it drew visitors from far and wide to marvel at the architecture and gardens. Walpole did tours for the important visitors, but left his housekeeper to show the more common types around.
Strawberry Hill House is regarded as one of the most influential buildings of its time and a key contributing factor in the emergence of Gothic Revival architecture that grew throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries.
More recently in 2004, Strawberry Hill featured in the TV series Restoration. In 2007, it was leased to the Strawberry Hill Trust for restoration and eventual after a £10 million, two-year-long restoration, Strawberry Hill House reopened to the public on Saturday 2 October 2010..
In 2013, Strawberry Hill House won the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage in the Europa Nostra Awards. The Walpole Trust re-opened Strawberry Hill to the public on 1 March 2015.