| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Why is the Chiswick House Conservatory being at risk a good thing? | |
| Posted by: | Kathleen Healy | |
| Date/Time: | 09/11/25 17:50:00 |
| I worked in the Foundation at Kew years ago when it started fundraising to restore the Temperate House. Looking back I found that the last major restoration was only 20 years before. It had become unsafe and had to be closed. How can it need another massive, expensive restoration so soon, I wondered? They're made of thin slats of wood holding glass on the slope, so water sits on the wood. They were originally built by very wealthy people or institutions. They are now the responsibility of cash strapped Charities and Local Authorities. It's like being left a Super Yacht or Racing Car and being expected to keep it in running condition. To make things worse, warmer, wetter weather and traditional preservatives being banned in favour of more environmentally friendly but less effective ones means wood rots faster. Its also harder now and very expensive to get properly seasoned wood. When the sixth Duke of Devonshire built the conservatory labour was cheap. Painters come expensive these days and painting a glass house is slow, painstaking work. Lots of scaffolding required now due to pesky H&S regs. For cash strapped inheritors of these very expensive to maintain luxury items there is a pattern of ignoring the annual bi annual maintenance needed, as there is no money, until the situation becomes critical when grants are sought. Being listed, there would be an expectation re re build in wood or steel. Aluminium would last longer. |