Two months of restoration work at Number 7 Curzon Street, a Grade-II listed building in Calne which dates back to the 18th century, has been completed to close the latest chapter in the building’s long history.
Now known as St Cecilia’s House, the building is one of St Mary’s School Boarding Houses and was built in the 1740s when it was called Northfield House.
One of the earliest recorded residents was Dr George Shadforth Ogilvie, originally from the Isle of Man, who bought the property from his mother-in-law in 1829.
Dr Ogilvie developed the building as a house and a surgery, registering the address in 1833 as an Asylum for Lunaticks. Dr Ogilvie’s institution was consistently praised by the official board of visitors who inspected it.
St Mary’s School purchased half of the building in 1943 from a Mr Redman and seven girls began boarding there.
The second half of the substantial house was bought by the independent school four years later at which time it was renamed St Cecilia’s to be in keeping with the other school buildings.
It now houses 49 of the almost 300 girls who board at the school.
After a restoration in 2003, the building has recently been cleaned and the front stone steps repaired.
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