Ever since the day building work began in 1699, Castle Howard has never stood still. The house has been continually changing as generations of the Howard family have introduced new fashions and tastes—from 18th-century Chinese decoration to the Arts & Crafts style of William Morris in the late 19th century, and, most recently, the recovery of interiors lost in the calamitous fire of 1940. April 2025 saw the culmination of a five-year project across five rooms, most spectacularly with the creation of the Tapestry Drawing Room and the reinstallation of the Four Seasons tapestries, which had been specially woven for the room in 1706. Here was a unique opportunity to return them to their original location, alongside newly built paneling, plasterwork, and a Baroque fireplace designed by architect Francis Terry. Join Curator of Castle Howard Dr. Christopher Ridgway to learn how this project marks another milestone in the never-ending story of a house that is a living work of art itself.

 

Dr. Christopher Ridgway has been Curator at Castle Howard since 1985. He has lectured on the estate and its history and collections all over the world and has published extensively. He is the chair of the Yorkshire Country House Partnership, a collaborative research project among the houses of the region; adjunct professor at the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at Maynooth University; and sits on the board of the Irish Heritage Trust. In 2019 Ridgway was awarded a UK Heritage Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award. His recent publications include Castle Howard and Brideshead, Fact, Fiction and In-Between (2011); The Morpeth Roll, Ireland Identified in 1841 (2013); George Howard, Lord Howard of Henderskelfe, A Life in Yorkshire and Beyond (2019); and "New Walls for Old Pictures," in Country House Collections: Their Past, Present, and Future (2021), jointly edited with Terence Dooley. Learn more about Castle Howard.