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Conservation group slams stately home renovation
12/03/2025
Stuart Maisner
BBC News, South East
A conservation group has called for a public inquiry into renovation plans for a Grade I listed stately home in Surrey.
The Georgian Group, which has a statutory role in the planning process, has written to the government objecting to what it calls the “harmful” plans for the interior of Clandon Park, near Guildford, which was badly damaged by a fire in 2015.
The Georgian Group, which has a statutory role in the planning process, has written to the government objecting to what it calls the “harmful” plans for the interior of Clandon Park, near Guildford, which was badly damaged by a fire in 2015.
How can the National Trust claim that reconstructing Clandon is impossible as Mosul's landmarks rise again?
The BBC reports, Mosul’s landmarks rise again after IS destruction’. In other parts of the world there is the will to repair and reconstruct damaged and destroyed historic buildings. The National Trust’s approach to Clandon Park is outdated and will deprive the nation of a special place, even as people in other countries show their affection for their built heritage.
Obituary: Julian Prideaux, National Trust manager who steered the organisation through turbulent times
The Daily Telegraph looks back at the life of a senior figure in the National Trust who led the triumphant restoration of Uppark in Sussex after the fire of 1989.
Julian Prideaux, who has died aged 82, spent nearly all his career at the National Trust, rising to be Deputy Director-General and Secretary from 1997 until his retirement in 2002.
National Trust will regret modernist Clandon Park restoration
25/12/2024
By Nicholas Boys Smith
As well as heartbreak, all tragedies create opportunities — if we dare to seize them. From the 2019 Notre Dame fire came the opportunity for the French nation to reconsecrate itself, pour balm upon troubled relations between the Catholic Church and secular state, and give the world a moving example of energy and endeavour. Likewise, the National Trust has an opportunity to do something similar, albeit on a much smaller scale, with Clandon Park.
Allies and Morrison’s plans for fire-hit Clandon House branded ‘barbaric’
09/01/2025
By Anna Highfield
The heritage preservation charity dropped a competition-winning Allies and Morrison proposal to rebuild and restore Clandon Park following a major U-turn in 2022, opting instead for a pared-back approach which would preserve its fire-damaged ‘shell’.
Harry Mount says the NT's refusal to restore Clandon Park is 'a tragic dereliction of duty'.
22/12/2024
Published in The Times
One person commenting on the National Trust’s proposal said, ‘This application to try and make it a funky, fun, dumbed down play space is kitsch.’
Architect Francis Terry labels Clandon proposal "an act of barbarism"
12/12/2024
Published in BBC News
The planned restoration of Clandon Park, a Grade I listed home gutted by fire, will show it as a “country house laid bare” as proposals move forward.
An accidental fire at the 18th Century home near Guildford in 2015 burned through floors and ceilings, destroying much of the historical collection.
An accidental fire at the 18th Century home near Guildford in 2015 burned through floors and ceilings, destroying much of the historical collection.
Clandon Park and National Trust battle
06/10/2023
First Published in the Daily Mail
Clandon House has suddenly become a fresh battlefield in a struggle for the very soul of the National Trust. On one side is the management, with plans to spend tens of millions installing suspended walkways and a viewing platform to reinterpret the charred remains. On the other is a band of traditionalist members who want the trust to use its insurance payout from the fire — estimated to be more than £60 million — to rebuild Clandon as it was.
Clandon Park’s fate
25/09/2023
The Daily Telegraph
SIR – Constance Watson (Comment, September 23) writes eloquently in condemnation of the National Trust’s joyless plans for Clandon Park in Surrey. As the person who will propose the Restore Trust motion on Clandon at the forthcoming National Trust AGM, I’d like to comment further.
Future of fire-wrecked mansion fans flames of National Trust rebellion
25/09/2023
Ben Ellery, Ali Mitib | The Times
When Clandon Park House was built more than 200 years ago, it was an extraordinary project that resulted in what is considered by many to be an architectural masterpiece.
Now, after a fire ripped through its stunning marble hall and magnificent plasterwork ceilings in 2015, the mansion, near Guildford, Surrey, has become the latest front in a battle over the future of the National Trust.
The National Trust has betrayed my family’s gift
25/09/2023
The Daily Telegraph
As the National Trust’s AGM approaches, the organisation has questions to answer about the future of Clandon Park, the 18th-century Palladian mansion ravaged by fire in 2015. At the time, the National Trust described the fire as “the most devastating in the Trust’s history”. Helen Ghosh, then directorgeneral, promised that “despite the uncertainty, we would like to reassure all those people who love Clandon as much as we do that it will continue”. But that is not what is now planned.
Rebuild or repair?
25/09/2023
Country Life
LUCY DENTON’S article on the vexed question of rebuilding or reinstating historic buildings after fires is full of contentious statements that deserve to be challenged (‘ Cinders, you shall go to the wrecking ball’ September 6).
SPAB and the modernists have returned to the fray over Clandon in Surrey.
A lesson in how not to restore a historic home
25/09/2023
Cornelia van der Poll | The Telegraph
SIR – In making the case against rebuilding the Crooked House pub, Clive Aslet (Comment, August 16) says that he has “sympathy” with the National Trust’s decision not to reinstate the superb stucco interiors at Clandon Park in Surrey, and instead leave the house as a fire-blackened brick shell with a glass roof and steel walkways.
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