Horatio Walter Lonsdale (Mexico 1844-1919 London)

Horatio Walter Lonsdale studied architecture at the Royal Academy Schools before entering the office of William Burges in the late 1860s as a draughtsman. He remained with Burges as a close collaborator, designing stained glass and mural decorations, until becoming a freelance designer in the 1880s. As well as decorations for Crowe Hall, Lonsdale also made designs for decorating Cardiff Castle, Castell Coch, South Wales, and Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, all buildings which were designed by Burges for the third Marquess of Bute. Crowe Hall was remodelled in the neo-classical style in the early 19th Century for the banker George Tugwell, before being rebuilt after a fire in 1926. The contents of Crowe Hall were sold in these Rooms, 16 December 2010.