A West Cumbrian Victorian villa was among 284 places to be protected by Historic England this year.
Ingleberg, in Beckermet, was given Grade II listed status alongside a 1930s police box, mud walls and a former cinema across England.
Ingleberg is a detached Victorian villa, with interiors and decoration that have survived virtually intact since they were created in 1900.
Ingleberg was built for the Robley family in 1900.
In its 120-year history, it has only been occupied by the Robleys and one other family, the Tuohys.
Today, it is something of a time capsule. The house was designed by architect Joseph Smithson Moffat of Whitehaven.
Its exterior and footprint are large unaltered, but it is the interiors that are most striking.
Thanks to the care of the Robley and Tuohy families, Ingleberg retains almost all its original fixtures and fittings including its geometric tiled floor, plaster cornices, and joinery, from four panel doors to picture rails, and skirting boards.
Many original and unusual fittings remain, including fixed drawing room seating with Art Nouveau glass panels; original light fittings and light switches; carved chimney pieces in the drawing room and dining room, and servant bell pushes.
Even more remarkable is the survival of original decorative schemes: wall coverings, ‘anaglypta’ and other friezes, and stencilling to halls and stairs.
Notable resident Thomas Tuohy CBE (1917-2008) worked in the nuclear industry at nearby Windscale nuclear site and is recognised for bravely taking charge of efforts to extinguish the fire at Windscale in 1957 – averting nuclear disaster.
His son, Dr Thomas Tuohy FSA, took over the house from 2005 and managed a restoration project which employed skilled local builders, joiners and carpenters and craftspeople to sensitively restore many of the original period features, some of which had be stored in a nearby barn since the 1950s.
The London-based artist Francis Martin restored the house’s distinctive stencilling.
There are three types of listed building – Grade I, Grade II* and Grade II. Anypne can nominate a building to be listed and the final decision is made by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
- Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest – only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I
- Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest – 5.8% of listed buildings are Grade II*
- Grade II buildings are of special interest – 91.7% of all listed buildings are in this class and it is the most likely grade of listing for a home owner.
Listing is not a preservation order, preventing change. Historic England said: “It does not freeze a building in time, it simply means that listed building consent must be applied for in order to make any changes to that building which might affect its special interest.”
