HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds from the Heritage Lottery Fund will help restore part of the Old Royal Naval College’s Painted Hall in Greenwich.
A grant of £335,000 has been contributed to to the conservation project on the west wall of the Grade-I listed hall, designed by Sir James Thornhill.
The work, which comes sixty years after the last major restoration project in the Painted Hall, is expected to last for four months when work begins in earnest in January.
The hall is expected to remain open throughout although it will close for two weeks from November 19th while scaffolding is erected inside. Special guided tours with access on the scaffolding to see the wall up close will be offered during the project, say the ORNC.
Greenwich Foundation CEO Brendan McCarthy commented: “The support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with that of all those who have given to our continuing appeal, is enabling us to carry out long overdue work on this very important interior.
The grant also means that we can run a programme of events and activities during the conservation work to enable visitors and our local community alike to enjoy what is going to be a fascinating project – including getting up close and high on our specially designed scaffolding. That’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!”
I love the painted hall and clearly it needs regular upkeep. That said the Naval College site must be raking it in with the number of films that use the location. Shouldn’t that money be used for this? That way lottery funding could be directed at projects that are less able to generate their own income?