Lowther Lodge
{{Other uses|Lowther (disambiguation)}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2017}}
{{coord|51.5013|-0.1754|display=title|region:GB_scale:2000}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
{{Short description|Historic house in London, and headquarters of Royal Geographical Society}}
File:The Royal Geographical Society, Kensington.jpg.]]
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.{{fact|date=January 2017}} 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.
File:Royal_Geographical_Society_building_in_London.jpeg]]
After Lowther died in 1912, his son sold the house{{cite web|url=http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStoryOf/RoyalGeographicalSociety/RoyalGeographicalSociety.aspx |title=Royal Geographical Society |publisher=Royal Institute of British Architects |accessdate=15 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118181210/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStoryOf/RoyalGeographicalSociety/RoyalGeographicalSociety.aspx |archivedate=18 January 2012 }} 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
The building 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.{{fact|date=January 2017}} It is a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE |num=1217774 |desc=Grade II* |accessdate=13 May 2009}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47539#s3 Survey of London entry] (one quarter of the way down the page)
- [http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/6727EBCF-2896-4D6E-A668-743EFA7796DC/0/HistoryofLowtherLodge.pdf History of Lowther Lodge] (pdf file from Royal Geographical Society website)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204165300/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStoryOf/RoyalGeographicalSociety/LowtherLodge.aspx Albertopolis: Lowther Lodge] Architecture and history of the building
Category:1872 establishments in England
Category:Residential buildings completed in 1875
Category:Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Category:Grade II* listed houses in London
Category:Houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea