Maurice Rider, Martin Bocking & Councillor Stuart Parker. Source: Grosvenor Museum
CHESTER’S Grosvenor Museum has been given the original presentation drawing for the building’s façade made by the architect Thomas Meakin Lockwood in 1884.
The museum was designed by Lockwood and built in 1885-6 to house the collections of the Chester Archaeological Society and the Chester Society of Natural Science, Literature and Art, together with Schools of Science and Art.
The museum is named after Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, who donated a portion of the site and part of the construction costs. Built of red brick and sandstone dressing in a free Renaissance style, it is crowned with Dutch gables carved with peacocks and flanked by Talbots, the dogs which support the Grosvenor arms.
The drawing has been presented to the museum by the Chester-based architectural practice Lovelock Mitchell.
Martin Bocking, director of Lovelock Mitchell, said: “Thomas Meakin Lockwood founded our firm in 1862. He was one of the leading architects of Victorian Chester, making a huge contribution to the city’s unique townscape, most notably in the black-and-white buildings he designed for the corners of Bridge Street at The Cross.
“Lovelock Mitchell – as the firm has been known since the 1970s – continues to design high quality buildings in the north-west and beyond, and remains deeply committed to Chester, so we are delighted to support the city’s museum with this donation.”
The drawing required considerable conservation work before it could be displayed, which has been funded by the Grosvenor Museum Society.
The Society’s Chairman, Maurice Rider, said: “We were happy to fund the conservation work the drawing needed. The drawing is executed in ink and watercolour with many pencil additions.
“The Grosvenor Museum Society provides vital support for the museum across a range of activities such as funding acquisitions for the collection, conservation and publications, and education and events. The Society is passionately committed to supporting the Grosvenor Museum and its mission.”
Councillor Stuart Parker, Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Executive Member for Culture and Economy, said: “I am most grateful to Lovelock Mitchell and to the Grosvenor Museum Society for their very generous support. The drawing is now on display in our major winter exhibition, ‘Picturesque Chester: The City in Art’, which runs until 22 February. The exhibition explores this most picturesque of cities, charting Chester’s architectural development and celebrating her unique visual identity.”
The Grosvenor Museum is open Monday – Saturday 10.30-5 and Sunday 1-4, admission free.
Chester Record 