Place-making for the Imagination: Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill

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The book explores the intricate relationship between landscape, architecture, and literature through the lens of Strawberry Hill, an iconic Gothic villa created by Horace Walpole. It highlights how the villa and its garden reflect the aesthetic theories of the eighteenth century, particularly those articulated by Joseph Addison in his essays on imagination. The narrative argues that Walpole's designs were influenced more by contemporary aesthetics and antiquarianism than by traditional architectural precedents, offering a unique perspective on the interplay of art and taste in that era.