Lowther Hotel recognised by English Heritage

With work to restore Goole’s Lowther Hotel at an advanced stage, the team behind the project has received a major boost after learning that English Heritage has upped the building’s status to Grade II* listed.

The decision reflects the hotel’s historical importance as the first permanent building to be constructed in Goole, as well as the fact that it was the town’s principal municipal building for much of the 19th Century and the operational base for the Aire & Calder Navigation Company into the 20th Century. English Heritage also noted the ‘rare survival’ of a complete set of early 19th Century murals in a suite of rooms on the first floor and concluded that the architecture of the building is a ‘good and well executed example of late Georgian design’. Just 5.5 per cent of the nation’s listed buildings are Grade II*, which is a status reserved for buildings that are deemed ‘particularly important’ and ‘of more than special interest’.

The Lowther Hotel was previously a Grade II listed building. Its status was reconsidered after The Julie Howard Partnership - the York-based property developers who are breathing new life into the once derelict building - approached English Heritage with information about their restoration project. They recently received news of the decision to re-designate it as Grade II* listed.

Howard and Julie Duckworth, the husband and wife team who own the building and are working to bring it back into use, are delighted that their efforts to convince English Heritage that the Lowther Hotel is of greater historical and architectural significance than first thought have paid off. They are also grateful for the support shown by a number of key figures within the local community, including Goole MP Ian Cawsey; local ward councillors on East Riding of Yorkshire Council; Goole Town Council; Bob Watson, director of The Sobriety Project at The Yorkshire Waterways Museum; and Helen Hoult, manager of Goole Renaissance.

Julie Duckworth said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who recognised just how historically important the Lowther Hotel is and wrote letters to English Heritage in support of our bid to get it re-designated. The history of the building is inextricably linked with the history of the Port of Goole, and it was the first permanent building to be erected as the port was being developed.”

Julie is thrilled that the discovery and subsequent preservation of the rare and unique murals proved to be a key factor in the decision by English Heritage. The paintings depict scenes of the docks and are though to have been created by a shipping agent, master mariner and mural painter from Selby by the name of Mr Bromley. They had been boarded up for decades and were only re-discovered when Julie and Howard set about restoring the hotel almost two years ago. The couple hired Hirst Conservation, a Lincolnshire firm specialising in the restoration of wall paintings and limestone sculpture, to carefully strip away the layers of artex and wallpaper that covered large sections of the murals so that the paintings could be cleaned and restored.

Julie added: “We think the paintings were put on the wall as an illustration of what the dock would look like when it was finished. The Lowther Hotel, or the Banks Arms as it was originally known, was first built in 1824 but the murals were added later, probably sometime between 1826 and 1830.”

Julie and Howard’s ultimate goal of bringing the Lowther Hotel back into use is now within their grasp and they hope to open it up for business later this summer as a restaurant, and wedding, meeting and conference venue. They eventually hope to complete the restoration of rooms on the first and second floors to provide overnight accommodation.

The Julie Howard Partnership specialises in the restoration of historic buildings and has already brought a number of derelict properties in Goole back into use, having invested in the region of £4 million in the town during the last six years.

Visit our Lowther Hotel picture gallery at www.lowtherhotel.co.uk to view the progerss of this exciting restoration project.

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