Pearson Park, Hull: Derelict entrance lodge to Victorian park in Yorkshire is restored and occupied for the first time since it was a gardener's cottage over 40 years ago

The West Lodge was a gardener’s cottage for much of Pearson Park’s history after mayor Zachariah Pearson donated land to the city of Hull for public recreation in 1860.

It has been derelict since the 1980s, and is thought to have been empty and disused for even longer.

It was built in the 1890s, around 30 years after the construction of its Grade II-listed ‘sibling’, East Lodge, which was the gatekeeper’s residence and is now a community space.

Pearson Park was an ambitious project for the city, and also formed a part of Pearson’s vision to keep Hull’s wealthy merchants living within its boundaries. Land surrounding the park was sold for the development of large villas.

Local construction and maintenance firm KWL completed the restoration on behalf of Pearson Park Trust and Hull City Council. Original features have been preserved, including the chimney, ornate ridge tiles, roof finials, Elizabethan-inspired timbering with ornately carved supports and tile-hung gable wall to the north.

A large clock on the park-facing side of the house is on the jetted gable. This original clock has also been replaced with an identical face, and the mechanism that took up space inside one of the bedrooms was removed to increase the room's size.

The lodge fell into disrepair due to subsidence, as it was built on marshy ground which caused cracks to appear in the brickwork and roof. Local councillors and the Pearson Park Trust were keen for it to remain in public ownership. It has now been rented to an IT consultant who lived in the neighbouring streets in the 1980s. The property now has three bedrooms and its own large garden.

Its new tenant remembered it being dilapidated in 1989, when he lived nearby, and could not recall anyone ever living there.

KWL chief operations officer Roger Grannon said: “It was essential that West Entrance Lodge should retain its period property charm, and because the damage was extensive, this has been an ambitious task. The team stripped it back to an outer shell, piling deep into the ground to improve the foundations and repair all of the brickwork and roofs. The internals have all been replaced, along with windows and doors. The walls are well-insulated to keep the occupants warm and energy bills as low as possible.

“38 Pearson Park is set on a large plot of land. Old sheds were removed, creating a vast south-west facing space in the garden, ready for someone's green fingers to make the most of it.

“Everyone who has worked at West Entrance Lodge is exceptionally proud that the development remains sympathetic to its surroundings, another refurbished property adding to the improvement of this fantastic park."