The Handel House Trust has announced The Hallelujah Project, a 5-year plan to help raise more than £3 million to complete Handel’s House at 25 Brook Street so that future generations will be able to enjoy it in perpetuity.
Twenty years ago, the Handel House Trust first set about restoring Handel’s original home. Four rooms on the upper floors were carefully recreated as they would have been in the 1800s, and in 2001 these rooms were opened to the public as the Handel Museum, part of London attraction Handel & Hendrix. The Handel House Trust is now ready to embark on the final stage of the restoration, with the Prince of Wales as patron of the project.
The Hallelujah Project will enable the charity to repossess the ground floor and basement, which to date has been leased as a retail unit, to complete the house. Handel’s home will be put back as closely as possible including the original Georgian facade, the entire ground floor, and full functioning 18th century kitchen.
The project will be completed and the full house open to the public in 2023, to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Handel moving into the house in 1723.
Many of Handel’s musical masterpieces were composed under the patronage of Prince Charles’ ancestors King George I and King George II. Handel’s magnificent anthem Zadok the Priest has been played at the coronation of every British monarch since George II, for whom it was written. Other great works by Handel have also been chosen for numerous royal weddings and celebrations.
In addition to this long-standing family link to 25 Brook Street’s most famous resident, Prince Charles will bring to the project his well-known passion and expertise in the authentic restoration of beautiful and significant historic buildings.
Handel House Trust Chairman Simon Weil said, “It is wonderful to be finally on the brink of completing this great mission. The next few years promise to be exciting ones and I hope you will be inspired to join us, by supporting the Hallelujah Project and helping us to make Handel’s House happen.”
