Earlier this month, Strawberry Hill House undertook a detailed conservation clean of two of its most spectacular rooms: the Long Gallery and the Great North Bedchamber.
This work, carried out by the specialist team at Virtu Conservation Housekeeping, was generously funded by the Stern Family Charitable Trust and helps us continue to safeguard Strawberry Hill’s spectacular interiors for the future.
Why deep clean?
Historic houses like Strawberry Hill are particularly vulnerable to dust and pests. Dust can abrade delicate gilding, attract insects, and damage fragile textiles such as the red damask wall coverings found in both rooms. A deep clean is an essential part of our preventive conservation strategy, ensuring that surfaces, textiles, and collections remain protected for years to come.
The Long Gallery, for example, is celebrated for its fan-vaulted ceiling and gilded enrichments — created with over 2,000 books of 23.5-carat gold leaf. Regular conservation care helps preserve these extraordinary details.
What happened during the September clean?
The Virtu team carried out a meticulous, top-down clean from using specialist conservation techniques, including:
Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our warm thanks to Martin Stern, whose generous support made this conservation work possible.
“This project was funded by the Stern Family Charitable Trust, Martin & Lone Stern and Family, in memory of our grandparents Markus and Lena Kohn, who miraculously survived the Holocaust on the last boat out of Europe in May 1940, and Mor and Regina Stern, who tragically did not and perished in Auschwitz.”
