BORN in Sunderland Bridge, Co Durham, and educated at Durham School, the architect Anthony Salvin was apprenticed to the Scottish architect John Paterson, before moving in 1821 to London, where he entered the office of John Nash. Elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1824, his reputation as an expert on medieval buildings helped to further his career both as a restorer of castles and country houses and as a builder of new houses and churches.
In 1838, Salvin was commissioned by Lucius Cary, 10th Viscount Falkland, to build him a new house called Leven Grove in the Italianvilla style on the site of an earlier mansion of that name at the heart of his North Yorkshire estate. Later known as