Royal court place. One of the criteria of Norbert Elias' concept of a court society is that it existed in space.. The German word "Hof", meaning an enclosed courtyard, can also apply to a rural farmstead with outbuildings and walls forming the perimeter. It has also been used for the palatial seat where the court was held. Thus "Hof" or "court" can become transferred to the building itself. For example, the grand residence Hampton Court Palace on the River Thames above London was where Thomas Wolsey held court as Catholic cardinal (built after the Italian ideal for a cardinal's palace) until his
Hampton Court Palace as Florham, in Madison, New Jersey, after Hampton Court's English-baroque style. Florham was commissioned by Florence Adele Vanderbilt and Hamilton McKown Twombly from the McKim, Mead & White firm, which also built the Old Penn Station and the Rhode Island State House among many other monuments, in 1893. Hampton Court can be seen very clearly in Florham's classical columns, and mix of stone and red brick. Now home to Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham, at 110 rooms, remains the 8th largest house in the United States. The palace served as the location for the film "A Man for All Seasons" (1966),