Our Projects: The Story of Emily Museum
The Story of Emily Museum celebrates the life of humanitarian Emily Hobhouse, who campaigned against the UK’s use of concentration camps in the Boer War.
Located in her birthplace, the east Cornish village of St Ive, the museum site encompasses the restored rectory where she grew up in addition to a collection of new build and rebuilt elements.
The museum site is a cohesive representation of two different phases of Emily’s Life. Years in her hometown are reflected in the contemporary take on Cornish Vernacular architecture and contrast with the zinc cladded exhibition building that reflects her later experiences during war.
Parts of the Victorian Grade II listed rectory where Hobhouse grew up have been rebuilt and restored to their historic character to give an insight into her early life. Surrounding gardens have been sensitively landscaped to recreate the setting of the time.
On the footprint of a former house and cart shed, Blackthorn Grange has been largely rebuilt with original stone to form the museum’s entrance and a double height open plan shop.
Continuing through a glazed link, visitors travel from Blackthorn Grange into a new screening room where an introductory film plays.
To the far south of the site sits the unobtrusive presence of the War Rooms, with a scalloped facade and inward folding entrance. The exhibition building honours the impact Emily had on events in the Anglo-Boer War. Visitors are transported on a sensory journey via installations, animations, films, virtual reality, historical photography, and original artefacts. A hotter temperature of 26 degrees helps to re-create the challenging climate of war in South Africa.
Visitors can explore South African cuisine in a large restaurant and café that boasts a 20m long single pane of glass that connects diners to the kitchen garden beyond.
- Client: Emily Estate Ltd
- Sector: Culture and CommunityHeritage
- Services: Contract AdministrationCost Consultancy
- Contract: Confidential
