Please note: this event is in the past
Meet one of our board members or volunteers for a fascinating tour of the House and its history:
- Discover the secret trompe l’oeil behind the stair case panels.
- Hear about Lord Lauderdale’s collection of books which nearly brought the House down.
- Understand the history of the ‘moving front door’.
- Find out what really went on at the archeological parties in the 1800’s.
- And why the workmen in in 1582 bricked in chickens, candlesticks and shows behind the fireplace.
Peter Barber - 11am - Lauderdale house from the garden ‘Why the house was built . . and what happened afterwards!’
Meet at the statue of Sir Sydney Waterlow in Waterlow Park.
Peter Barber has known, loved and been intrigued by Lauderdale House since the early 1950s and has been a Board member since the 1970s. Following retirement as Head of Maps at the British Library he continued to research the history of the House discovering stories of the people who lived here. His tour starts outside and, as you might expect from a map expert, will give you an insight into the setting of the House in the Park as well the building itself.
Nick Peacey - 12pm - Lauderdale House: a multi-layered survivor with a four hundred year life story?
Meet at the front desk in the The Entrance Hall.
Board member Nick Peacey will take you on a tour of the House that, while explaining how its owners' contributions to the building have created a unique record of architectural styles and fashions, will spotlight moments when famous and less famous residents were making their own kind of history. Expect a famous diarist, a heroic dog, toads on the ceiling, sacrificed chickens, a bankrupt property developer and a king and his favourite....
Jo Roll - 2pm - Can a building tell a story?
Meet at the front desk in the The Entrance Hall.
Jo Roll, Sunday volunteer at Lauderdale House, will take you on a tour that will show you that all is not as it seems behind the classical pillars of this mysterious house. Jo is our Sunday receptionist in the gallery here at Lauderdale House, which in practice has included answering people's questions about the history of the house: why is it called Lauderdale House? If Lord Lauderdale didn't build it, who did? Was the front door always where it is now? Were the windows always like that? Piecing together this tour has fitted in well with her interest in the history of architecture, gardens and landscape. Among other things, she obtained a PGCert in History of Architecture at the Oxford Department of Continuing Education.