Rangemore Hall
Rangemore Hall was rebuilt in the late 1850s, around an earlier 1822 core, for Michael Bass, head of the brewery Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton, and was first occupied in 1860. His son Lord Burton reconstructed and extended the house (adding the Edward VII south wing), in Italianate style in 1898-1901 for a visit of King Edward VII in 1902 (with a second visit on 5 January 1907, including Queen Alexandra and Mrs Alice Keppel, the King's mistress).
The grounds, which include a 2½ acre lake, were landscaped by Sir Joseph Paxton and later by Edward Milner. Nellie Lisa Bass sold the Hall to Staffordshire County Council in 1949 for £40,000. Rangemore Hall operated as Needwood School for the Partially Deaf from 1954 to 1985. The Hall was then converted into 8 wings and apartments, the main one being the Edward VII Wing, with others including the Ewing Wing, the Keppel Suite and the Paxton Suite; with other homes being converted from the remaining estate buildings, such as the Orangery. In March 2006 the Edward VII Wing was purchased by Hilary Devey for £2m. In 2013, it was put on the market for £1.95M.
Read more about this topic: Rangemore
Famous quotes containing the word hall:
“Having children can smooth the relationship, too. Mother and daughter are now equals. That is hard to imagine, even harder to accept, for among other things, it means realizing that your own mother felt this way, too—unsure of herself, weak in the knees, terrified about what in the world to do with you. It means accepting that she was tired, inept, sometimes stupid; that she, too, sat in the dark at 2:00 A.M. with a child shrieking across the hall and no clue to the child’s trouble.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)