Stately home tea room restoration recognised

The building has gone from 18th Century grandeur to ruin and back again

The restoration of a Georgian camellia house in the grounds of a stately home has won a national architectural award.

The Grade II listed building at Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, has been transformed into a tea room and opened in April.

The project has won the Re-use of a Georgian building category of the Georgian Group's 2024 Architectural Awards.

Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the largest houses in Europe and is managed by a preservation trust who are working to turn it into a leading visitor attraction.

The restoration of the camellia house has created more than 20 jobs

The Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust acquired the 365-room stately home in 2017 for £7m.

The regeneration of the Grade I listed house will take up to 20 years and will cost over £130m.

Sarah McLeod OBE, from the trust, said the award from Georgian Group meant a great deal.

"Saving the Camellia House, removing it from the Heritage At Risk Register and giving it a new life is a huge achievement.

“We have future-proofed our beautiful Georgian Camellia House and enabled it to become a tea house - the very thing it was originally created for."

The building was derelict for 50 years and had originally been built as a tea room in 1738 for Lady Mary Finch, the wife of the 1st Marquess of Rockingham.

An orangery was added in the 19th Century, becoming home to a collection of camellias imported from China.

Dilapidation had left the camellia house exposed to the elements

The restoration work was paid for through a grant of over £4 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, a further £614,000 from Historic England and more than £450,000 from other donors.

It saw the reinstatement of the glazed, opening roof, large windows remade in wood to the original pattern, strengthened by the addition of stainless steel and underfloor heating, a ground source heat pump and rainwater harvesting were also introduced.

The majority of the contracting firms were from Yorkshire and 22 new local jobs were created.

Historic England architect Giles Proctor said the work done on the estate had helped heritage trainees to learn their craft.

"This beautiful Grade II listed building had been on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register for many years but has now been saved, and we are delighted by its success in the Georgian Group Awards.”

The Georgian Group is a charity which works to conserve historic buildings and planned landscapes.

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