Lowther Lodge
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 Geographical 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. The Society converted the building into its headquarters and commissioned extensions, including the Society's lecture theatre, from G. L. Kennedy and F. B. Nightingale in 1928 to 1930. 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
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