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| Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester home to get £2.5m restoration | Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester home to get £2.5m restoration |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| The Manchester home of Elizabeth Gaskell, the Victorian novelist and short story writer, is to be restored thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.85m. The house, which dates from the 1830s, had stood empty for several years and was on English Heritage's register of buildings at risk. | The Manchester home of Elizabeth Gaskell, the Victorian novelist and short story writer, is to be restored thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.85m. The house, which dates from the 1830s, had stood empty for several years and was on English Heritage's register of buildings at risk. |
| Two years ago the theft of lead from the roof of the villa, at 84 Plymouth Grove, made restoration urgent. Work on phase one finished this week, with most of the external work now done and the building water-tight. Contractors for the rest of the £2.5m project are expected to be appointed imminently. | Two years ago the theft of lead from the roof of the villa, at 84 Plymouth Grove, made restoration urgent. Work on phase one finished this week, with most of the external work now done and the building water-tight. Contractors for the rest of the £2.5m project are expected to be appointed imminently. |
| Janet Allan, who chairs the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust and is a member of the Gaskell Society, hopes the house would be fully restored and open to the public in the summer of 2014. | Janet Allan, who chairs the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust and is a member of the Gaskell Society, hopes the house would be fully restored and open to the public in the summer of 2014. |
| "We're really proud," said Allan. "It's very important to Manchester not only because it's the home to Manchester's greatest writer and is the home to one of the three houses devoted to 19th century female writers in the UK but is also important for tourism." | "We're really proud," said Allan. "It's very important to Manchester not only because it's the home to Manchester's greatest writer and is the home to one of the three houses devoted to 19th century female writers in the UK but is also important for tourism." |
| The Italianate double-fronted stucco house is Grade II* listed. It was built in the late 1830s and is one of the few important residential buildings near the centre of town to have survived – the Gaskells' two previous Manchester houses have both been demolished. | The Italianate double-fronted stucco house is Grade II* listed. It was built in the late 1830s and is one of the few important residential buildings near the centre of town to have survived – the Gaskells' two previous Manchester houses have both been demolished. |
| Also unusually, its interior is largely undamaged since the Gaskells lived there. It has a handsome portico with the columns' capitals decorated with an acanthus and palm leaf motif taken from the Temple of the Winds in Athens. | Also unusually, its interior is largely undamaged since the Gaskells lived there. It has a handsome portico with the columns' capitals decorated with an acanthus and palm leaf motif taken from the Temple of the Winds in Athens. |
| In 1850, in a letter to her friend Eliza Fox, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote: | In 1850, in a letter to her friend Eliza Fox, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote: |
| We've got a house. Yes! We really have. And if I had neither conscience nor prudence I should be delighted, for it certainly is a beauty... You must come and see us in it, dearest Tottie, and make me see 'the wrong the better cause' and that it is right to spend so much ourselves on so purely a selfish thing as a house is, while so many are wanting. | We've got a house. Yes! We really have. And if I had neither conscience nor prudence I should be delighted, for it certainly is a beauty... You must come and see us in it, dearest Tottie, and make me see 'the wrong the better cause' and that it is right to spend so much ourselves on so purely a selfish thing as a house is, while so many are wanting. |
| The house's seven bedrooms may have explained the relatively high rent of £150 a year – at the time her husband William Gaskell's income as a priest was £300 a year. Elizabeth joked that the expense of the house would bankrupt them: | The house's seven bedrooms may have explained the relatively high rent of £150 a year – at the time her husband William Gaskell's income as a priest was £300 a year. Elizabeth joked that the expense of the house would bankrupt them: |
| My dear! It's £150 a year, and I dare say we shall be ruined; and I've already asked after the ventilation of the new Borough Gaol. | My dear! It's £150 a year, and I dare say we shall be ruined; and I've already asked after the ventilation of the new Borough Gaol. |
| Fortunately, the increasing popularity of her books brought in a lot of money over the next few years – she was paid £1,000 for her life of Charlotte Brontë, and £2,000 from the Cornhill magazine for the serialisation of Wives and Daughters. | Fortunately, the increasing popularity of her books brought in a lot of money over the next few years – she was paid £1,000 for her life of Charlotte Brontë, and £2,000 from the Cornhill magazine for the serialisation of Wives and Daughters. |
| As well as bringing the house back into full working order, the lottery grant will also help restore the garden, where the Gaskells kept pigs, poultry and a cow, so the family was largely self-sufficient in milk, bacon and eggs – even though the man in charge of the animals was, according to one of Gaskell's letters, "so drunken, poor fellow". | As well as bringing the house back into full working order, the lottery grant will also help restore the garden, where the Gaskells kept pigs, poultry and a cow, so the family was largely self-sufficient in milk, bacon and eggs – even though the man in charge of the animals was, according to one of Gaskell's letters, "so drunken, poor fellow". |
| Charles Hallé lived nearby and gave piano lessons to Marianne, one of the family's four daughters. Other visitors to Plymouth Grove included Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dickens, John Ruskin and, at least three times, Mrs Gaskell's friend Charlotte Brontë, who famously hid behind the curtains in order not to meet another visitor to the house. Later in the century Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters moved into the neighbourhood. | Charles Hallé lived nearby and gave piano lessons to Marianne, one of the family's four daughters. Other visitors to Plymouth Grove included Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dickens, John Ruskin and, at least three times, Mrs Gaskell's friend Charlotte Brontë, who famously hid behind the curtains in order not to meet another visitor to the house. Later in the century Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters moved into the neighbourhood. |
| Although little original furniture belonging to the Gaskells remains, the Gaskell Society has carried out extensive research into what the family owned, and will be filling the house with appropriate Victorian pieces, and authentic wallpaper and decorations. As well as being open to the public, the building will also be used for concerts, and available for corporate hospitality to help pay for the running costs. | Although little original furniture belonging to the Gaskells remains, the Gaskell Society has carried out extensive research into what the family owned, and will be filling the house with appropriate Victorian pieces, and authentic wallpaper and decorations. As well as being open to the public, the building will also be used for concerts, and available for corporate hospitality to help pay for the running costs. |
| The house was occupied by the Gaskell family from 1850 until the death of Meta Gaskell, Elizabeth's second daughter, in 1913. Dame Judi Dench, who played Miss Mattie in the BBC adaptation of Cranford, is a patron of the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust. | The house was occupied by the Gaskell family from 1850 until the death of Meta Gaskell, Elizabeth's second daughter, in 1913. Dame Judi Dench, who played Miss Mattie in the BBC adaptation of Cranford, is a patron of the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust. |
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