 The finest architects of the day submitted plans to transform the older family house into a modern architectural extravaganza . Among them was Robert Adam , who submitted a plan for the west portico , but his idea was dropped . The architect Nicholas Revett was consulted and created the west portico . Today , the first sight of the house as approached from the drive is this west end of the house , which appears as a Grecian temple . The eight @-@ columned portico , inspired by the Temple of Bacchus in Teos was completed by 1770 , and is considered to be the earliest example of Greek revival architecture in Britain . The opposite ( east ) end of the house , designed by John Donowell and completed c . 1755 , appears equally temple @-@ like , but this time the muse was the Villa Rotunda in Vicenza . Thus the two opposing porticos , east and west , illustrate two architectural styles of the late @-@ 18th century : the earlier Roman inspired Palladian architecture and the more Greek inspired Neoclassicism . 
