Development
In the early 1990s, Royal Holloway College looked seriously into the possibility of converting the Sanatorium into a major new hall of residence. The plans would have given the College two of England's greatest Victorian buildings, but building regulations made this too costly.
In 1994, under the guidance of English Heritage, a scheme by Octagon Developments to salvage this Grade I architectural wonder for the nation was accepted. Octagon spent six years in a punctilious art restoration and conversion project. Craftspeople in various disciplines returned the buildings to very near to the original. The Grand Hall was restored and the main building converted into 23 three- and four-storey town houses. The site became “Virginia Park”, a gated and walled development including 190 new houses and apartments, a spa complex, gymnasium, multi-purpose sports hall and an all-weather tennis court. It was described by English Heritage as one of the largest art-conservation projects in Europe. The entrance hall, now fully restored, is a riot of brilliant colours, patterns and grotesque imaginary creatures, and the Dining Room is now a recreation hall housing a swimming pool beneath its hammerbeam roof.
Read more about this topic: Holloway Sanatorium
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“The proper aim of education is to promote significant learning. Significant learning entails development. Development means successively asking broader and deeper questions of the relationship between oneself and the world. This is as true for first graders as graduate students, for fledging artists as graying accountants.”
—Laurent A. Daloz (20th century)
“As a final instance of the force of limitations in the development of concentration, I must mention that beautiful creature, Helen Keller, whom I have known for these many years. I am filled with wonder of her knowledge, acquired because shut out from all distraction. If I could have been deaf, dumb, and blind I also might have arrived at something.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)