OCTOBER 1981, the re-decoration of the rarely seen Assembly Rooms in Blake Street was causing a bit of a stir.
According to the York Georgian Society, painting work carried out in British Standard colours had unfortunately not been mixed on the spot as required.
Many members of the society still remembered the painstaking restoration work undertaken in 1951. The use of British Standard colours had limited their ability to recreate the Assembly Rooms original colour.
Writing in the society’s annual report, Dr Patrick Nuttgens stated that the use of British Standard colours had “taken away a lot of the subtlety of the building.”
There was only one way to redecorate the Assembly Rooms and that was to mix the colours “on the spot,” said Dr Nuttgens.
In his report, Dr. Nuttgens also referred to the harsh scrubbing of old stonework and plasterwork in York during this time.
Odele Ayres
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