Restoration
Once the Committee (Trust) had acquired the building, restoration work was able to proceed. Originally the Birthplace formed part of a terrace with later houses built either side, and the first stage in its conservation was their destruction, thought necessary to avoid the risk of any fire spreading from them to the Birthplace.
Old photographs reveal that early in the 19th century, part of the front of the Birthplace was faced with brick. This was an economical alternative to the common practice of replacing timber-framed buildings and rebuilding in brick in 18th century England. Referring to an engraving of 1769 as well as taking into account surviving architectural evidence, a reconstruction carried out by the Trust between 1857 and 1864 has restored the outside of the building to its 16th century state.
Read more about this topic: Shakespeare's Birthplace, History
Famous quotes containing the word restoration:
“The King [Charles II] after the Restoration accused the poet, Edmund Waller, of having made finer verses in praise of Oliver Cromwell than of himself; to which he agreed, saying, that Fiction was the soul of Poetry.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The 1990s, after the reign of terror of academic vandalism, will be a decade of restoration: restoration of meaning, value, beauty, pleasure, and emotion to art and restoration of art to its audience.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“In comparison to the French Revolution, the American Revolution has come to seem a parochial and rather dull event. This, despite the fact that the American Revolution was successful—realizing the purposes of the revolutionaries and establishing a durable political regime—while the French Revolution was a resounding failure, devouring its own children and leading to an imperial despotism, followed by an eventual restoration of the monarchy.”
—Irving Kristol (b. 1920)