News Article

Architectural historians now widely acknowledge that his Gothic house, Strawberry Hill, or “the castle,” near Twickenham on the banks of the Thames, led to countless other edifices in a similar style, from the Houses of Parliament in London and Victoria Station in Mumbai, to the Town Hall in Vienna, the Parliament building in Budapest and innumerable public buildings and school campuses around the globe.

Yet in 2004 Strawberry Hill was in a sorry state and listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of the world’s 100 most endangered heritage sites. From the small beginnings of a local neighborhood group, the Friends of Strawberry Hill, the rescue effort blossomed into the Strawberry Hill Trust and raised £9 million, or about $14.4 million, to restore the building, which is scheduled to officially reopen to the public on April 2.