More funds needed for Pippbrook House restoration

Restoration work is ongoing on the Grade II listed building

Councillors are to be asked to release a further £200,000 for ongoing repairs to one of Surrey's most important historic buildings.

Built between 1856 and 1858, Pippbrook House near Dorking has been Grade II listed by English Heritage.

Parts of the building require extensive repairs, and in November 2023 Mole Valley District Council allocated £1.4m for the work.

Councillors are now being asked to release the latest money for what the authority said are "critical" repairs to the first floor and ground floor west wing window lintels, which have been damaged by water.

Water damage to the property is badly in need of repair

A report is due before the authority's scrutiny and cabinet committees on 3 and 17 June respectively.

The report states that the repairs could lead to two of the house's rooms being brought back into use. But if they are not carried out now, future restoration would be even more expensive.

The council had initially been hoping to spend £3.1m on the building, but had to scale back the budget when it was unable to find any grant funding.

Work to weatherproof the roof has been ongoing since 2024.

Pippbrook House was designed by prolific Victorian gothic architect Sir George Gilbert Scott

Pippbrook House was designed by prolific Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, a leader of the Gothic revival movement.

His other buildings include the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras station, the Albert Memorial in London and the University of Glasgow's main building.

Built for the iron industry millionaire William Henry Forman, it passed into the hands of the then-local authority Dorking Urban District Council in 1930, having narrowly escaped demolition.

It was used as council offices, as Dorking's library until 2012, and then as a police dog training school.

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