In its varied history, Basildon Park has served 150 years as a grand family home, a period as a convalescent hospital in World War 1, an army barracks in World War 2, and even survived an attempt to be dismantled and rebuilt brick-by-brick in America. Fortunately, in the 1950s it came into the philanthropic hands of Lord and Lady Iliffe who endowed upon it a passion for renaissance interiors. This warm neutral paint colour was used on the walls of the Staircase Hall, designed to feel more like a sitting room than a cold corridor.