Having spent the morning struggling with the very complex building history of Chiswick, I have realised that the building of most of the temples in the garden actually preceded the construction of the villa, beginning with a bagnio designed by Burlington himself in 1717 and illustrated in Vitruvius Britannicus as ‘the first essay of his Lordship’s happy invention’. The bagnio and other small-scale garden buildings at the end of the vistas of the patte d’oie were followed not long afterwards by the building of the small Ionic temple which happily survives and which, from my reading of an article by Cinzia Sicca in the Journal of Garden History (Spring 1982, pp.36-69), was designed by Colen Campbell, who was at least responsible for overseeing work on it while Burlington was travelling in Italy in September and October 1719. But I’m happy to be corrected on this by my correspondents.
Meanwhile, I’m posting an atmospheric view of it which I took after eating breakfast:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
What a wonderful photo, made me say “Oh wow”! I’ll definitely keep that one, thank you. Happy New Year to you, as I’m writing something. Jane.
Happy New Year to you too ! Charles
Colvin indeed still takes some beating both on Burlington (he dates the Bagnio design to 1717) and Marble Hill, which as i re-Marked is more Morris than Campbell, if indeed done in collaboration with Burlington’s fellow ‘Architect-Earl’ Lord Pembroke (when still Lord Herbert). Walpole’s snootiness could account for his attribution of Marble Hill to the posher of the two though Morris was listed as a ‘gentleman’ by 1730 and perhaps significantly rewarded by Herbert with a large silver cup four years later… I seem to remember that not long before submitting his 1989 DPhil at Oxford, at the seminar now run by Otto at Lincoln College, one Steve Parissien gave a learned paper on Roger as well as kinsman Robert Morris, some thinking the latter may also have contributed to Marble Hill…
Wonderful photograph. Reminds one of a watercolour wash.