North Hall Restoration Continues
11 October 2018
This morning, the paintings in North Hall were taken down and moved into safe storage in advance of the restoration work re-commencing next week. In 2014/15, William Kent’s beautiful ceiling in the North Hall was restored by Bush and Berry and, considering its date - 1733 - its quality and condition were remarkable. The next task is to restore the floor and walls to a scheme dating to around 1830.
Stowe House Preservation Trust were originally aiming to restore the room to round about 1820 after the staircase was put in during the creation of the Egyptian Hall below North Hall (1803) and after the fireplace was removed (around 1815 and rather strangely, never replaced). However, the discovery last year of one of the original statues that adorned North Hall, The Laocoön, that we are able to copy, moved the date to about 1830.
The Laocoön had been bought from the sale of William Beckford’s Fonthill, a house built so large that it eventually collapsed in on itself. The statue was then subsequently sold in the great Stowe sale of 1848 - the sales catalogue lists it as a much sought- after piece (an early 19th century copy of a Roman antiquity).
The challenge was to find the wall and floor decoration that fitted in with this date - the current terrazzo floor dates from the 1960s. After a great deal of consultation a suitable floor has been found and this will be laid over the coming months. The bronze copy of the Laocoön will arrive Spring 2019. As a result, North Hall will be closed for restoration until Spring 2019. We feel sure the results will be spectacular.