Seaton Delaval Hall was designed by the noted English Baroque architect Sir John Vanburgh (1664-1726), and constructed between 1720-28. He said he wanted his architecture to be 'masculine' and to have 'something of the 'Castle Air', and it is generally agreed that nowhere did this desire manifest itself more imposingly than Delaval Hall. The hall was devastated by fire on the 3rd of January 1822.