Damien Hirst Buys Toddington Manor

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 1st 2005 at 7:02PM

The business of exhibiting sliced sharks in formaldehyde has served Damien Hirst well. The sometimes controversial artist recently plunked down over $5.4 million for Toddington Manor, a 300-room mansion in the Cotswolds. The run-down but still impressive estate will be used to house his personal art collection. The manor was built in 1820 and has been vacant for 20 years. Hirst will restore the house in cooperation with English Heritage and plans to make it a museum to house his own works and those of other artists. The villagers of Toddington fought against a plan to turn the manor into a hotel. The home has three main stories and a main tower. Rooms include a cloister area kitchen, servery and house and estate offices, a Music Room, Drawing Room, Library, Dining Room, Morning Room, Billiards Room, and Dining Hall. There are 19 bedrooms on the second floor alone. It sounds like there will be plenty of room for Hirst's often-massive installations.

[Thanks, David]

Filed under: Estates

Source

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Janice Drake Dec 18th 2005 6:02PM

Thu, 7 Jul 2005 00:32:29 -0400 (Eastern Standard Time)
From: "Carol S Chapman" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
To: news@gloscitizen.co.uk
CC: jkhdrake@yahoo.com
Subject: Toddington's two American cousins seek to save the Manor

I hope I have your full attention. I just finished doing some research through your online site and realized that the Toddington Manor is in great need of help. My name is Carol Chapman, and my cousin is Janice Drake. We are direct descendants of Nehemiah Tracy a nephew of the Richard Tracy you mentioned in your 19.04.05 article on Stanway House. Myself and Ms. Drake are very interested in securing a few American investors to help the Toddington Manor return to its former beauty. I live in Rochester, New York, the upstate home of Kodak and Xerox. I hold a Masters of Science Degree in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Rochester Ms. Drake lives In W. Palm Beach Florida and works as a quality engineer for Honeywell, a US defense contractor. She has many wealthy friends who should be willing to help in this effort.

She would like to fly to see the Manor as soon as next week and meet with Dr. Sarah Lewis, conservation officer from the Tewkesbury Borough Council. We would like to investigate the property and more fully understand the restorations necessary to save the Manor. Please help us by supplying us with a contact number for her, as well as someone in your new organization that might be interested in helping us. If you would be more comfortable, I can scan some pages of our ancestral documentation and email it to your offices.
I'll be waiting to hear from you at your earliest convenience. Feel free to call me at my home regardless of the time.

My phone number is US? 585-723-0477

Janice Drake's number is US? 561-697-2200

Very sincerely,

Carol S. Chapman
3 Bly Street
Rochester, NY 14620-2030

Janice Drake Dec 18th 2005 6:02PM

For your information only is an email sent prior detailing a historical connection to our family's former home. The original owner and builder of Toddington Manor and myself have the same birthday coincidentally.
Thank you. I thought that this might be of interest to Mr. Hirst. Perhaps he will allow us to visit it one day. Sincerely, Janice Drake, West Palm Beach, Florida USA