Lotherton Hall is a favourite location for many people to visit, and with the ability to “get up close”, to the furnishings and fittings, is perhaps unique in Britains’ Country Houses. However like all old buildings some of the fabric of the house especially the interior décor, is showing signs of age. The Drawing Room is now the subject of a plan to restore it to its former glory, and you may be able to help!
The following is an explanation of the plan by the curator of Lotherton, Dr. Adam White.
Lotherton’s Drawing Room is its finest historic interior. Created in 1903 for Colonel and Mrs Gascoigne, it hints at the comfort, elegance and sense of security enjoyed by the English upper classes in the halcyon days before the First World War. Alas, however, it is now a shadow of its former self. Magnificently furnished with paintings, sculpture and two grand pianos, the fabric of the room is sadly degraded. The plaster ceiling is cracked, the silk on the walls has faded and shredded and the curtains have disappeared.
We have an ambitious plan to restore the Drawing Room to its former glory. The plasterwork is to be repaired and the original paint scheme reinstated on the dado and ceiling. The bright green silk is to be re-woven and hung on the walls and the highly elaborate and luxurious treatment of the windows will be recreated with thickly padded curtain drapes and voile blinds.
Music will be professionally recorded on the two pianos and played in the room to enhance the mood. An learning programme for schools and colleges will form a major part of the project.
The project is estimated to cost £65,000. We already have £15,000 and an application will be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund in due course. The more matching money we can provide, the greater our chance of success. Can you help us? Please contact Adam White the curator on 0113 281 3259 or email Adam
A close-up of the silk wallpaper in the Drawing Room
Photographs ©Leeds City Council, photographer Norman Taylor.