Facing page bottom left: South shaft of Drawing Room bays being carved. Facing page bottom right: Porte Cochere resroration. This page: Fixing new guilloche moulding ro the soffit. areas where the fabric is still being dried out are still visible around the Pavilion. A great advantage of environmental control of dry rot over cutting out areas of dry rot is that when the latter method is used spores can be spread in what is termed a stress reaction. This in turn leads tO outbreaks of rot elsewhere. Since it was impossible to guarantee eradication of all outbreaks of current dry rot, the control and containment of the rot has been the obvious answer in this case. Internal restoration This has been a virtually non-stop process since the 1940s when a series of loan exhibitions of furniture renewed the public interest in the Pavilion as a showpiece of considerable historical value. The interior decorations designed by the firm of Crace are some of the most lavish and outstanding anywhere in the world. Much CONTEXT 29 of the original scheme was removed, with fixtures and fittings, to various Royal residences when the Pavilion was sold to the corporation in 1850, so much of the restoration has been to replicate these pieces. Other resroration is required to make good wear and tear on the fabric. On the staff of the Pavilion are carvers and guilders, grainers and marblers, wallpaper painters and picture restorers. In many cases the restorers are restoring restorations. For instance, no wood on view in the Pavilion (other than furniture) is natural; all the doors are 'grained', and this wears as visitors' clothing brushes on the paint finishes. A showpiece for these skills is the Music Room, an apparently fated room which suffered fire damage by arson in 1975, scorching silver and gilt carvings, and fabric and glass - all repaired in-house. Even the 26,000 heavily undercut oil gilt scollop shells had to be scraped, re-sized, and gilded by hand - a process taking six months. The dragon and serpent drapery hangers had to be recovered and silver gilded and painted. Soon after the arrival of the carpet on completion of works, the hurricane of 1987 dropped a minaret finial through the ceiling! The Prince Regent was never an easily pleased client, and in several cases the restorers have had to reconstruct the likely 'final' scheme from several remnants. The entrance hall appears to have had several schemes all carried out within a short period of time (marbling, colour washing etc) which suggests that the Prince may have 'tried out' schemes and then discarded them. Authenticity Many of the problems of restoration of the Pavilion are unusual, and one would not expect to find them all in one building. Constant insistence on historical authenticity has been the guiding principle and this search for authenticity has often brought to light Nash's unusual methods of construction including some of his failures! The work has been continuous for ten years. Residents of Brighton have become used to the massive blue plastics tenting in place of their familiar domes and minarets. The cost of the external restoration is around £10 million with about £1 million being a contribution from English Heritage. A restoration of the grounds to a planting scheme prepared, but never carried out, by Nash may also be underway at the time of your visit. ROYAL PAVILION, BRIGHTON Consultant archirect: Mrs Corinne Bennett, Purcell Miller Tritton and Partners. Consultant structural engineers: The Lawrence Hewitt Partnership. Consultant guantity surveyors: The Wilson Colbeck Partnership. Consultant m & e engineers: John Bradley Associates. Dry rot specialists: Ridout Associates. REFERENCES l Farman,]: The Very Bloody Hisrory of Britain, - Piccadilly Press, 1990. 2 Royal Pavilion Official Guide 1987. Royal Pavilion Art Gallery and Museum. 3 'Restoring the Royal Pavilion' - Srone Indusrries pp 23-27, April 1984. 4 RJBA Journal, April 1984, pp 60-62; May 1984, pp 183-4; July 1984, article 'Ceilings'. 5 'Slash and burn in the dry ror jungle', New Scientist, April 1984, pp 12-15. 6 Advisory notes, Royal Pavilion Art Gallery and Museum, Brighton. Rob Fraser is Conservation Officer with Brighton Borough Council. 11
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