Lowther Lodge
Coordinates: 51°30′05″N 0°10′31″W / 51.5013°N 0.1754°W
Lowther Lodge is a house in South Kensington, London, England, immediately south of Hyde Park, which has housed the Royal Geographic Society since 1912.
History
Lowther Lodge was designed by Richard Norman Shaw and built between approximately 1872 and 1875. The client was William Lowther, an MP who was a nephew of the Earl of Lonsdale, the head of the Lowther landowning family of Westmorland and Cumberland.
After Lowther died in 1912 his son sold the house[1] to the Royal Geographical Society, which converted it into its headquarters, commissioning extensions from G. L. Kennedy and F. B. Nightingale in 1928 to 1930, which included the Society's lecture theatre. A further extension, including a new exhibition space, reading room and storage area for the Society's collections, was completed in 2004.
Architecture
It is an important example of Victorian Queen Anne architecture, with gothic influences.
The building is also notable for having one of the first passenger lifts in a private house. It is a Grade II* listed building.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ "Royal Geographical Society". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
- ↑ Historic England. "Grade II* (412995)". Images of England.
External links
- Survey of London entry (one quarter of the way down the page)
- History of Lowther Lodge (pdf file from Royal Geographical Society website)
- Albertopolis: Lowther Lodge Architecture and history of the building