Thanks to the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), we’ve repaired and refurbished the Palace’s West Wing.
From our friends at the Architectural Heritage Fund.
Fulham Palace is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a site with an incredibly long history, from evidence of Neolithic, Iron Age and Roman settlements to the archaeological remains of the original Bishop of London residences from the 8th century onwards. Construction of the current Palace buildings began in the 13th century as a country home for the Bishop and remained in that use until the 1970s. The Palace was an official residence of the Bishop and served as a country retreat where visitors including Queen Elizabeth I and King George III were entertained. More recently, during the First World War, the house was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers and the gardens as allotments, and during the Blitz became a temporary shelter for those who had been bombed out of their homes.
Fulham Palace Trust was established in 2011 to run the site and open the house and garden to the public. Over the last thirteen years, Fulham Palace Trust have been hugely successful in fundraising and delivering major conservation and enhancement projects across the site, and opening up the house and gardens to the widest possible audiences with an annual programme of popular visitor activities and public events, including seasonal trails and tours, family fun days, an on-site Young Archaeologist Club, theatre productions and art workshops.
The AHF has been pleased to support the Fulham Palace Trust over this time with grant and loan funds, including most recently £400,000 of loan investment to support the conservation and refurbishment of the West Wing offices within the Tudor Quadrangle. These works were part of a much wider National Lottery Heritage Fund £1.8million grant-funded project to repair and open up new areas of the Grade I listed buildings and Grade II* listed park and garden, including repair of the Tudor Quadrangle and renovation of the ground floor of the north wing to provide a new visitor centre and exhibition space.
Works to the West Wing offices included repair of internal spaces, such as damaged plasterwork, and provided improved heating, lighting and office facilities to ensure the space had a viable future as an office let. Providing these much-improved facilities in the West Wing Offices will ensure a long-term income for the Trust and support the sustainability of the wider site. We’re really pleased that the Trust has now repaid this most recent loan investment and the fully refurbished West Wing offices are back in permanent use.
Today, the refurbished spaces are now home to Vizage Facial Aesthetics & Skin Clinic.