Conservation in action: What it takes to repair a lantern
Published on Monday 28 July 2025
Perched proudly atop the 1870s stables at Rouse Hill Estate is a beautiful timber lantern. Crowning the building designed by prominent colonial architect John Horbury Hunt, the lantern provides light and airflow to the stalls below and holds an important (and rather cute) horse-shaped weathervane and lightning rod.
As the lantern is exposed to rain, sunlight and high winds, the cladding had lost most of its paint, and the old timber had begun to decay. The lantern was inspected and critical repair works undertaken as part of the current conservation works at the estate. As the structure sits approximately 9 metres above the ground, two complex scaffolds were built internally (within the stalls) and externally (around the roof) to safely complete the works. Experienced joiners built a temporary timber structure to hold the top section of the lantern while it was safely jacked up around 30 centimetres, exposing the rotted timber framework below and providing just enough space for complex repairs and the installation of new leadwork. Once the works were completed, the lantern was carefully repositioned back in place and painted.
These intricate works have protected and returned the structural integrity of this much-loved element of the site.
Heritage architect: Long Blackledge Architects Pty Ltd
Conservation joiner: G&C Waller Builders Pty Ltd
Related
Rouse Hill conservation works 2024–25
After detailed condition inspections of the state heritage–listed Rouse Hill Estate, MHNSW’s Capital Works and Heritage teams have begun a large-scale conservation project that will sensitively address a range of identified issues at the site
Maria Elena Ruggeri
Heritage Project Manager – Capital Works
Maria Elena is the Heritage Project Manager, Capital Works at MHNSW. While studying, Maria Elena developed a great interest in the history and evolution of architecture, as well as the complexity of caring for built heritage: ‘Conservation became my focus. As a young professional I worked in the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, a government institution that promotes, guides and fosters cultural heritage in Venezuela. I worked as an assistant architect on the adaptive re-use of an 18th-century villa to become the institution’s headquarters. I’m an advocate for the re-use of heritage architecture when it prolongs a building’s life’.