{"id":516273,"date":"2026-07-08T19:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/516273\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:15:10","slug":"a-english-country-house-built-for-an-italian-aristocrat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/516273\/","title":{"rendered":"A English Country House Built for an Italian Aristocrat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBuilt in the late 1600s for a homesick Italian aristocrat, Newington House brought a taste of Italy to the Oxfordshire<\/a> countryside. The Grade II-listed residence was commissioned by Henry Dunch, who is said to have modeled its limestone facade after the Palazzo Pallavicini in Genoa, where his wife, Maria \u201cMary\u201d Pallavicini, grew up.<\/p>\n

\n\tSet on 43 acres overlooking the River Thame between Wallingford and Oxford, the estate is asking 14.25 million pounds (about $19 million<\/a>) through Savills Private Office. The property is also available in three separate lots, with the main residence offered for 9.95 million pounds ($13.3 million), the Grade II-listed Manor House for 2.45 million pounds ($3.2 million), and the Coach House for 1.95 million pounds ($2.6 million), the latter two suitable for guests, staff, or extended family, with their own vehicular access and gardens.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: A Historic Arts and Crafts Home in the English Countryside Lists for $4.8 Million<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Newington<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Grade II-listed country house was built in the 17th century for an Italian princess.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Eastwick-Field; Savills<\/p>\n

\n\tThe house has evolved over more than three centuries. A major expansion in the late 18th century added another floor and the Corinthian-columned entrance porch, along with many of the marble fireplaces and decorative plasterwork that still define the formal reception rooms today.<\/p>\n

\n\tNewington House also has a notable cultural pedigree. In the early 1900s it was owned by American-born artist Ethel Sands, whose guests included Henry James, Arnold Bennett, Walter Sickert, and members of the Bloomsbury Group, including Virginia Woolf. Sickert completed several paintings at the estate, among them\u00a0Ethel Sands Descending the Staircase at Newington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Newington<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe formal dining room is one of the home\u2019s principal entertaining spaces.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Eastwick-Field; Savills<\/p>\n

\n\tThe current owners, the Nettleton family, bought Newington House in 1991 for 1.58 million pounds ($2.1 million), according to records. Over the past three decades, they have carried out an extensive restoration while raising their family, preserving many of the home\u2019s original architectural features and enhancing the grounds with additions including a lake, swimming pool, tennis court, and woodland.<\/p>\n

\n\tOriginal timber beams, paneled walls, parquet floors, French wallpaper murals, and towering sash windows remain throughout the more than 13,000-square-foot residence, which includes seven bedrooms, along with a lower level finished with a gym, games room, and additional entertaining spaces.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: This $12 Million Baronial Castle Comes With 3,700 Rugged Acres in the Scottish Highlands<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Newington<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe gardens include a swimming pool alongside an open-air cabana.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Eastwick-Field; Savills<\/p>\n

\n\tThe grounds incorporate formal gardens, a greenhouse, a swimming pool and cabana, a tennis court, and a croquet lawn. Farther afield are a stabling block, paddocks, a boating lake, and unspoiled woodland.\u00a0\u201cThe limestone masterpiece is greatly admired for its elegant scale and symmetry, while its history tells a beguiling story of romance and a passion for Italian architecture,\u201d says Crispin Holborow, country director of Savills Private Office, who calls it \u201ca once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase one of Oxfordshire\u2019s most admired country houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOwner James Nettleton says the estate never felt like a museum despite its history. \u201cTo most people, it\u2019s a historic country house with centuries of history behind it, but to me it has always been home,\u201d he says. \u201cThe house felt loved rather than preserved, lived in rather than displayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tClick here<\/a> to see more photos of the Oxfordshire residence.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Newington<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Eastwick-Field; Savills<\/p>\n

\tAuthors<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Abby<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAbby Montanez\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, entertainment, dining, travel to\u2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead More\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Built in the late 1600s for a homesick Italian aristocrat, Newington House brought a taste of Italy to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,1634,156,111,43,139,69,60882,13081,2025],"class_list":["post-516273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-england","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oxfordshire","tag-real-estate","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}