Iliffes found great bargains, obtaining 18th-century mahogany doors and marble fireplaces, at other times their luck was less favourable; Lady Iliffe recalled attending the Mentmore Towers auction of 1975 with the intention of buying marble topped console tables for Basildon, but through economic necessity returned with only a coal-scuttle. Architectural appraisal Basildon Park was begun in 1772; the architect, John Carr of York, was one of the leading architects in northern England. His work was initially influenced by the Palladian architects, the Earl of Burlington and William Kent and later by the neoclassicism of Robert Adam. At Basildon, Carr's most southerly commission, both these architectural influences can be discerned. It has been speculated that the principal facade, the West Front, was inspired by Palladio's Villa Emo. Whatever the inspiration, it was one Carr relied on heavily in his work, and it can be seen again most evidently in his designs for Newark Town Hall. The mansion consists of the three quite separate blocks, but indistinctly so. The three floored corps de logis contains the principal rooms, and two flanking pavilions of two floors each; the north designed to contain the Kitchen, Scullery and Housekeeper's Room and the south to contain the Laundry and Dairy. The upper floor of each pavilion contained accommodation for servants. This arrangement, of a central block flanked by pavilions, is original to Palladio's concept; however, in England Palladianism (a form of architecture based only loosely on Palladio's concepts) had evolved to a point that where Palladio had filled the distance between corps de logis and the flanking blocks with a void space or colonnade. The evolved 18th-century Palladianism usually filled the space with long wings containing enfilades of rooms. At Basildon, the architect used windowed walls to create service courts in the void. This had the double advantage of not only unifying the facade, but also (in a comparatively small mansion) of creating a discrete space for utilitarian stores, lavatories and the drying of clothes. Exterior The principal facade is the long West facade of the corps de logis and its flanking pavilions. Built of Bath stone, the three-storied rectangular corps de logis has a rusticated ground floor, with a piano nobile above and a bedroom floor above this. This block is of seven bays; the central three bays are behind a recessed Ionic portico. Entrance to the mansion is by three segmented arches under the