Stowe House is best known today as the home of Stowe School. The Prince of Wales says "It is certainly one of Britain's finest 18th century houses." Jane Kennedy, one of our principals at Purcell Miller Tritton, is lead architect on a six phase major restoration programme.
The first phase won the RICS Building Conservation Award 2005, known as the "Oscars" of the built and natural environment. Phase two, an £8 million project, has just been completed.
Restoration of the spectacular oval Marble Saloon, which has one of the most breathtaking ceilings in the country, has been just part of the work in the second phase.
The opportunity was taken to re-present the whole room, re-polishing the scagliola columns, redecorating, providing new lighting, and repairing the marble floor, which gives the room its name. Intricate repairs were made to the domed ceiling, with its spectacular Roman triumphal frieze. Nearly all of the 160 coffers of the elliptical dome have individual plasterwork designs.
The stunning central pavilion of the south front was also repaired, as were the roofs. A twentieth century temporary flat roof was stripped away and 64 cast iron water tanks were removed. Altogether seven and a half miles of softwood boarding, 80 tonnes of sand cast lead, 30 tonnes of Westmoreland green slate and 2 tonnes of copper sheet were used during phase two.
Work has started on the preparation of details for phase three. The next area to be tackled is the link block to the right of the central Mansion in the picture below.
