Tuscan Villa

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The Tuscan Villa, completed 2002-4, the last of the six new villas in Regent's Park, was influenced by the bold classicism of Inigo Jones and Sir Robert Taylor's Asgill House, Richmond (1761-4).

In contrast with the Corinthian Villa, the Tuscan Villa is an essay in restraint with its plain and unarticulated facade. Its simplicity is reminiscent of Inigo Jones, particularly St. Pauls, Covent Garden and The Queen's House at Greenwich.

The Tuscan Villa also echoes the form of Asgill House with its three-bay canted centre flanked by two-storeyed wings, balustrades below the first floor windows, and a rusticated ground floor. The Tuscan theme which appears in the projecting eaves of Asgill House is paralleled in the Tuscan Villa by the prominent entrance door flanked by Tuscan columns.

Both buildings are inspired by the pediment within a pediment motif of Palladio's Venetian churches which was also used on a small scale at the Essex Summerhouse.