During 2012/13 I helped to write Wilton's Music Hall's application to Heritage Lottery Fund. The grant was awarded in June 2013 and I spent the next three and a half years helping to manage this remarkable, historic project. My work included documenting the repair and conservation of this much-loved, photographed and filmed arts and heritage venue, as well as the programme of schools and community activities that ran alongside the capital works. Here are some highlights from that blog. For more information about my role on the Wilton's Saved, Revealed & Alive project, please see my CV.

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Magnificent Music Hall Characters!

Last week, we unveiled a fantastic new display as part of our Heritage Lottery Fund schools project. If you've been to see a show or popped into the bar since the end of last week, you will have spotted the fun, lively and colourful characters dotted around the building. If you scroll through this post, you can see all 30 of these works of art, which were created by neighbouring Shapla and St Paul's schools with artist Daniel Lehan
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Celebration Time!

We're cock-a-hoop today because, last night, our building conservation project won not one, not even two but (drum roll) THREE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS AWARDS! Yes, we feel that deserves upper case all the way. Most important of all, we captured this initial reaction to the news from Site Mascot, Bailey. The awards in question are: RIBA London Award 2016;  RIBA London Conservation Award 2016; RIBA London Building of the Year 2016. You can find out more and see lots of Hélène
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A Day to Remember

Yesterday we were visited by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall who officially re-opened the building to mark the completion of our repair and conservation project supported by Heritage Lottery Fund and other donors. The day began with an early start to make sure every last detail was in order. We thoroughly enjoyed working with members of the Clarence House and associated teams as we eagerly awaited their arrival. The Prince and The Duchess arrived sh
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The John Wilton Room

As previewed a few weeks ago, our dedicated history and heritage room has now been launched. The room is currently open to the public from 2pm to 6pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and we aim to increase these opening hours gradually during the course of next year. You will also visit the John Wilton room as part of our regular Monday evening History Tour or if you book a private tour for 15 people or more. As well as our lovely history banners, the room is now home to a fascinating sel
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Sixty One Remarkable Weeks

As The Sting continues in full swing and we take the greatest of pleasure in seeing Wilton's Saved, Revealed and very much Alive, it's time for a quick visual reminder of what's been achieved  over the last fourteen months. Here are some before, during and after shots to browse... The new, which occupies a previously inaccessible area and now benefits from the luxury of something solid underfoot.. No longer just one room, but three, as you can see from this floor plan:We now have the bar ro
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Through the Eyes of a Child - Part Three

Welcome to Part Three of our schools project in which the children tell the story, in their own words, drawings and photos, of our building conservation work. In this final round of tours and workshops, St Paul’s Year Five and Shapla Year Six interviewed architects, builders and Wilton's staff to create  their very own podcasts …The children will hear their podcasts for the first time, along with their teachers and families, at a special event on 15th July to mark the end of this schools' Conser
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News Round-up!

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, that really is Wilton's auditorium decked out with bricklaying stations and fairy lights. Not a sight you see every day but, if it was going to happen anywhere, it was bound to be here. Over the weekend of 16 and 17 May, we held our Heritage Lottery Fund supported Heritage Building Skills courses in association with the Society for Preservation of Ancient Buildings. Participants enjoyed a tour of the building to see the work carried out so far, followed by lunc
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Conservation in Action

Spring is almost in the air and our thoughts are turning to feathering our nests - old as well as new.Not surprisingly, this crumbling edifice was often home to our feathered friends, who could easily squeeze in through the gaps and recognised a cosy nesting site when they spotted one. We grew very fond of a couple of abandoned nests that perched in little recesses and on ledges in our second-floor office walls. Our architect promised conservation rather than restoration and, boy, did he mean it
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Spot the Difference - Stair 6

This minor loss has, in fact, turned out to be a massive gain thanks to Architect Adam Goodfellow’s sympathetic design for what was christened ‘stair 6’ on the drawings and W Anelay’s perfect execution - we’re sure you’ll agree as you follow the story of the new staircase in pictures… This was the far western corner of the building, en route to the ladies WC (through the arch to the left), in what is known as House No 4. The remains of this stone staircase led up to the first floor but it w
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Read All About It

If you read volunteer Harriet’s guest post a few weeks ago, you’ll know that pupils from two of our neighbouring schools are documenting our building project as part of our HLF-funded activities programme. David has cast them all as news hounds and set them to work reporting on the goings on here at Wilton’s - a task to which they’ve taken with enormous enthusiasm. We thought their front pages were too good not to share and where better to give them an airing than the builder’s hoardings in Grac
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Spot the Difference - The Library

The second in our series of shots capturing the changes to specific rooms and spaces over the last six months. This time, the room previously known as the Library, always popular for party hire and overflow seating from the Mahogany Bar. Tucked behind the Box Office desk, this cosy, multi-purpose front parlour has been through a variety of incarnations and earned its most recent name from the collection of flyers, leaflets and books that were stored in the racks, bookcases and cabinets that line
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Spot the Difference - The Cocktail Bar

Hello. Long time no post.  We have, however, been taking lots of photographs behind the scenes and would love to share some of these with you. Even those of us who are on familiar (nay, intimate) terms with this building sometimes struggle to recognise isolated images of a corner here, a doorway there or the intersection of two walls somewhere else. Bricks, beams, nooks and crannies, disused and broken windows and staircases that we have walked past twenty times a day and looked at countless
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Time for a Scene in Time

Ah, Autumn! (to be uttered with a wistful sigh). Season of mists and mellow wotsitness and all that. Also season of cracking London-centric events such as the glorious Thames Festival and, nosy parkers’ favourite, London Open House. As the latter is now behind us and the former draws to a close at the end of September, we’re looking forward to keeping everyone in the mood with a river-themed open house event of our own: Wilton’s & the River. As well as making it possible for us to rescue and re
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Another peek behind the scenes

It’s a pleasure to share all this with you - hope you’re enjoying it. Back with more again soon. Impressive, huh? Atmospheric, too. We realise it simply wouldn’t do for the building to carry on in this state but we’re really enjoying seeing the phase that it’s currently passing through. The Mistress of the Blog breaks out in goosebumps as she does her weekly rounds and counts herself mighty privileged indeed to be able to witness all this at first hand. After all, it’s not every day that yo
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Anyone for cocktails?

No bar. No booze. No ceiling. There is a fireplace half way up the wall, though, which is fun. That white door to the left of it leads to the second floor dressing room, which is currently being used as an office so it’s a good job it’s been fixed shut or anyone forgetting themselves and walking through it would be in for a surprise. It’s hard to imagine this room packed to the rafters with revellers as it was during Great Gatsby runs, private parties and just about any Friday or Saturday n
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Ready for the off

We asked Deputy Bar Manager, Nicola, how the cocktail bar’s closing night went on Saturday. “There was limbo dancing” she replied. Says it all. Since then, we’ve had a busy few days. Nicola and Bar Manager, Rebecca, dismantled the cocktail bar and carefully packed it away for safekeeping until it’s time to re-open… How splendid is that? We’ve told our Architect, Adam, that his drawings are a work of art but we doubt he expected to find them plastered all over the lavatory walls. Our new con
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They’ve arrived!

Yes, we can officially report that William Anelay Ltd  are in the building. Just the two of them, so far. Plus the dog. But it’s a start. Ladies and Gentlement, please give a warm welcome to Michael (Mick) Feather (Site Supervisor, on the right) and Tim Robinson (Site Foreman, on the left):They were hoping to set up their site office portakabins by the end of this week or early next but there’s been a run on them and they’ll have to wait an extra week. Who’d have thought? In the meantime, they’
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