Blenheim Palace in the context of "John Vanbrugh"

A court of honor (French: cour d'honneur [kuʁ dɔnœʁ] ; German: Ehrenhof [ˈeːʁənhoːf]) is the principal and formal approach and forecourt of a large building. It is usually defined by two secondary wings projecting forward from the main central block (corps de logis), sometimes with a fourth side, consisting of a low wing or a railing. The Palace of Versailles (illustration) and Blenheim Palace (plan) both feature such entrance courts.

Nicholas Hawksmoor (c. 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects of the time, Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh, and contributed to the design of some of the most notable buildings of the period, including St Paul's Cathedral, Wren's City of London churches, Greenwich Hospital, Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. Part of his work has been correctly attributed to him only relatively recently, and his influence has reached several poets and authors of the twentieth century.

'The Marlborough Family' is a 1778 large portrait painting by the British artist Joshua Reynolds. It is a group portrait of Fourth Duke of Marlborough, his wife the Duchess of Marlborough and their children including George, later the fifth Duke.

Reynolds was the president of the Royal Academy and leading British portrait painter of the era. With eight sitters, it was the most ambitious group painting he had so far attempted. He travelled to Blenheim Palace between 13 August and 4 September 1777, where he spent much of his time with sittings of the children. According to the young artist William Beechey the Duchesses mother the Duchess of Bedford was not impressed with the depiction of her daughter but Reynolds pretended not to hear because of his well-known deafness.

In architecture, a corps de logis (French pronunciation: [kɔʁ də lɔʒi]) is the principal or main block, or central building of a mansion, country or manor house, castle, or palace. It contains the rooms of principal business, the state apartments and the ceremonial or formal entry.

The grandest and finest rooms within the corps de logis are often found not at grade level, but on the first or even the second floor above. This floor is often referred to as the Italian piano nobile, the French bel étage, or the German beletage.

A belvedere (/ˈbɛlvəˌdɪər/ BEL-və-deer; Italian for 'beautiful view') or belvidere is an architectural structure sited to take advantage of a fine or scenic view. The term has been used both for rooms in the upper part of a building or structures on the roof, or a separate pavilion in a garden or park. The actual structure can be of any form or style, including a turret, a cupola or an open gallery. The term may be also used for a paved terrace or just a place with a good viewpoint, but no actual building.

It has also been used as a name for a whole building, as in the Belvedere, Vienna, a huge palace, or Belvedere Castle, a folly in Central Park in New York.

A state room or stateroom in a large European mansion is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed for use when entertaining royalty. The term was most widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were the most lavishly decorated in the house and contained the finest works of art. State rooms were usually only found in the houses of the upper echelons of the aristocracy, those who were likely to entertain a head of state. They were generally to accommodate and entertain distinguished guests, especially a monarch and/or a royal consort, or other high-ranking aristocrats and state officials, hence the name. In their original form a set of state rooms made up a state apartment, which always included a bedroom.

A courtyard house is a type of house—often a large house—where the main part of the building is disposed around a central courtyard. Many houses that have courtyards are not courtyard houses of the type covered by this article. For example, large houses often have small courtyards surrounded by service rooms or corridors, but the main rooms are not disposed around a courtyard. Blenheim Palace in England is an example of such a house.

The main rooms of a courtyard house often open onto the courtyard, and the exterior walls may be windowless and/or semi-fortified and/or surrounded by a moat. Courtyard houses of this type occupy an intermediate position between a castle or fortress, where defence is the primary design consideration, and more modern plans in which defence is not a consideration at all. In England the courtyard house was a popular design for large houses in the sixteenth century, after noblemen had stopped building themselves castles, but before thoughts of defence were altogether forgotten in the planning of country houses.