A landmark building in the market town of Sherborne in Dorset, on the road from London to Penzance, has found a new lease of life as an exciting admission-free arts centre thanks to local architects Spase. A legacy project by the late West Country beer and pub entrepreneur Michael Cannon, The Sherborne is the new home of not-for-profit organisation Dorset Visual Arts, and will host a programme of events designed to put the spotlight on the local creative scene.
‘This building is of such historical significance and has been a landmark in Sherborne for centuries – it even played host to Charles Dickens, who was a regular visitor in the 19th century,’ says Pitman, whose work spans everything from retrofitted period sites to biodiverse farms. Spase’s plans for the site included the meticulous renovation of the Georgian mansion and its medieval wing, as well as the construction of a striking new pavilion.
Contrasting with these historical layers is the new, 6.7m-high, purpose-built pavilion, complete with air source heat pumps and rainwater recycling systems – a testament to Spase’s commitment to innovative and sustainable design.
London-based fine art and design studio Adam Ellis was tasked with creating bespoke wallpapers, while Sands & Randall undertook the painstaking restoration of the house’s most spectacular artwork, a staircase mural depicting a boar hunt scene from Greek mythology painted in the 1700s by Sir James Thornhill – a Dorset-born artist best known for painting the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Painted Hall at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
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