The house is basically a rectangle around a central courtyard called the Inner Court. Lord Burghley began building the house from the East front in the mid Sixteenth century, and had the four fronts erected by the end of the 1580s.

The oldest parts of the house that survive today are of a classical influence. This can be appreciated in the arches, obelisks, interior details of lions' heads, and mouldings, at the roofline. The designs of the chimneypiece in the Great Hall, and the Roman Staircase, are also of classical inspiration.

The old kitchen at Burghley has an original tiled floor, a fan-vaulted roof, and a smoke lantern in the centre. The ceilings were vaulted so that condensation dripped down to the walls instead of onto the food and servants. There was no sink because all the washing-up and vegetable preparation was done in the scullery.

The hearth is set in a reinforced wall, contrary to the previous centuries when they were at the centre of the room. Hearths were used for both the house industries such as dyeing cloth or forging, and cooking.

The family lived on the ground and second floors, leaving the first floor for ceremonial purposes or important visitors, who were hosted in private suites. Their size varied between two and five rooms depending on the importance of the visitor.

There were also two long galleries on the first and second floor of the West front, and on the first floor of the South front. Long galleries, from Tudor origins, were usually used for exercising in bad weather, and to hang portraits of the family and important people of the day.

In furniture, the Elizabethan fashion was marked by heavy and elaborate oak chairs and tables, carved chests, Turkish carpets and canopied four-poster beds.