Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Orangery may be the work of the architect John James but other names
have been suggested. The Orangery is a handsome baroque building with
impressive architectural features. The main South elevation is faced with fine
red gauged brickwork. The centre piece of the elevation is a niche with a scal-
lop shell carved in gauged brickwork. The rear elevation and the flank walls, are
constructed with eighteenth and nineteenth-century stock brickwork, although
the gauged red brickwork pilasters also appear on either side of the East and
West elevations.
The building had lain derelict since Eltham House was demolished in the
1930s. In the 1970s it was taken over by the local authority, and there had been
several unsuccessful attempts to find a use for it. The building is listed grade
II*. It had suffered from vandalism and neglect with increasingly dire conse-
quences. A fire in 1978 burned the roof down. Despite security measures taken
and a supporting scaffold and temporary roof being erected, vandalism damage
continued, to the point where the West wall suffered a collapse in 2000.
In the same year, the building passed from local authority ownership to
Freeman Historic Properties, who appointed Caroe & Partners to assist with its
repair and restoration. Work started on site in January 2002 and was completed
in March 2003 with an English Heritage grant of 93.75%.
The brickwork of the central niche was repaired by Emma Simpson
and Gary Carter of Nimbus Conservation with guidance and advice from
Mr Gerard Lynch.
The Craftperson's Perspective
By Emma Simpson, Simpson Brickwork Conservation
The brickwork of the pediment area comprises a gauged brick semi-circular
niche, spandrels and abutments. It is constructed mainly out of red rubbers, with
contrasting use of yellow cutters in the abutments. This brickwork, framed by the
solidity of the Portland stone pediment, entablature, capitals and string, was in a
far poorer condition than the rest of the gauged brickwork on the building.
The red rubbers, in happier circumstances, would survive for centuries, but
had suffered extreme decay. In the main body of the niche, it appeared that up
to 70% of the brickwork had shattered. In some locations, dramatic erosion of
approximately 40mm from the face had occurred. The ingress of water, able
to course through the structure from open joints in the pediment, must have
contributed significantly to this devastation. A chemical reaction between the
limestone, water and atmospheric pollution may have accelerated decay, and
frost action will also have played its part. With the erosion, came a weakening
of the brickwork structure and two large cracks opened up, particularly severely
on the right-hand side.
