Decline and Restoration
The property was leased out during the 20th century and in the early 1960s became an hotel. It was largely destroyed by fire in 1978 and thereafter the ruins stood neglected and deteriorating. Much effort to find a use for the shell that would justify the substantial cost of renovation came to nothing. In the early 2000s the owners together with English Heritage, the local authority and the Landmark Trust planned for restorations that were finished in 2012. They sought to create a "Landmark for the 21st Century" that introduced modern accommodations while maintaining the ruins. The renovations were designed by Witherford Watson Mann Architects.
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Famous quotes containing the words decline and, decline and/or restoration:
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I claim that in losing the spinning wheel we lost our left lung. We are, therefore, suffering from galloping consumption. The restoration of the wheel arrests the progress of the fell disease.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)