Victorian columns restored at York Art Gallery

A team of expert, traditional plasterers working at York Art Gallery have restored two ornate Victorian columns back to their former glory as part of the ongoing refurbishment project at the venue.

The previously hidden columns, which date back to the building’s construction in 1879, have been given a new lease of life by craftsmen from Pudsey-based Ornate Interiors.

Ornate Interiors MD Ronnie Clifford explained: “The two columns were obscured by cladding applied during a previous refurbishment of the venue and each originally featured four scroll effects and four ladies’ faces.

“These features, carved from sandstone, had been chiselled off to make the cladding process easier however we used the services of a modeller, renowned master carver Dick Reid employed by York Museum Trust who we have worked with many times, to make a clay mould in-situ at the gallery. We then made a rubber mould at our workshop and used plaster cast to recreate to the original design.

“We sent this back to the modeller at his workshop to get rid of any blemishes and imperfections. These then came back to us which we once again re cast and then we dressed the original stone back to enable us to re fit the new 8 scrolls and 8 faces to return it to its original look,” added Ronnie whose company has worked on many of the UK’s most iconic architectural landmarks.

Designed by York architect Edward Taylor, York Art Gallery opened its doors in 1879 to host the Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition. It is set to open in the summer after an extensive £8 million internal and external restoration lasting two and a half years.
A new mezzanine level is being incorporated to become a new first floor above the main gallery within the original roof space of the building and will form part of the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA).

Almost half (£3.5 million) of the funding came from the Arts Council through the National Lottery. Other significant tranches of finance for the works were provided by private legacy (£2 million), the City of York Council (£500,000) and the Anthony Shaw Trust (£400,000).

Ornate Interiors' work at the venue, on behalf of contractor Simpson of York, involves the reinstatement and restoration of mouldings using both fibrous and in situ moulds. Additional traditional lime plastering placed upon brickwork & laths and some restoration of existing plasterwork also formed part of their workload.

For more details visit www.ornateinteriors.co.uk and www.yorkartgallery.co.uk