The architectural historian J. Mordaunt Crook considers Cragside to be one of the very few country houses built by the Victorian commercial plutocracy that was truly "avant-garde or trend-setting". In his study, "The Rise of the Nouveaux Riches", Crook contends that many new-monied owners were too domineering, and generally chose second-rate architects, as these tended to be more "pliant", allowing the clients to get their own way, rather than those of the first rank such as Shaw. The Rhenish flavour of the house makes a notable contrast with a country house that was almost contemporaneous with Cragside: the Villa Hügel constructed by Armstrong's greatest rival, Alfred Krupp. While Armstrong's Northumbrian fastness drew on Teutonic inspirations, his German competitor designed and built a house that was an exercise in neoclassicism.