HISTORIC OLD HOUSE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22412, 7 May 1936, Page 20

HISTORIC OLD HOUSE

RESTORATION AT GREENWICH FINEST NAVAL MUSEUM One of the most delicate works of restoration over carried out by the Office of Works will he completed in a few months, when the Queen's House at Greenwich will become the National Maritime Museum. For more than a year artists, architects and expert craftsmen have been engaged in restoring the Queen's House to its original form. The public will bo able to see Lnigo Jones' historic building ulmost as it appeared in 1617, when it was built. One of the most interesting renovations is the reopening of the road which used to run beneath the house. When King James 1 commissioned lnigo Jones to build a house "fit for a Queen," he stipulated that the building should straddle the Woolwich Hoad like an arch. One sido of tho house was built in Greenwich Park, and the other in tho Hoy a I Gardens. The road between was spanned by a "bridge room." The road, which is supposed to be the sito where Sir Walter Raleigh filing his cloak down for- Queen Elizabeth to walk on, was closed. It has now been made into a footway for a short distance to reproduce tlie original design. As soon as the work has been completed, the £500,000 worth of naval relics will be moved in from their temporary home in the Hoyal Naval College opposite. Queen's House will become tho world's finest naval museum. Queen Mary has recently added to the large number of Nelson relics she presented to the museum last year. She has taken great interest in the work of renovation and has made frequent visits to Greenwich.