Held at:	Baker University Collection
Reference:	RS
Source:	Original documents
Title:	Urishay Castle : INDEX to Baker University Collection
Place name:	Michaelchurch Escley, Golden Valley
Date:	1900s

Description:

 

Urishay Castle and Estate in the Golden Valley were put up for sale in 1913 and the unsold parts offered again in 1919, but in the absence of a buyer the Castle/ Manor House was largely dismantled and sold piecemeal for architectural salvage between 1913 and 1921. Two of the rooms - the Dining Room and the Drawing Room - featured particularly fine Jacobean oak panelling with carved pilasters and finials, while the drawing room also featured some historically important stained glass window panes featuring heraldic arms. The rooms were removed whole and sold by auction through a dealer who specialised in rooms from English stately homes, Charles Roberson of Knightsbridge Halls, London .

The Drawing Room featured in this collection had a particularly chequered history. It was first sold to Marshall Fields Limited in Chicago , USA , then said to be the world's largest department store, for use as a display setting for their antique furniture department. It was subsequently bought by Chicago industrialist Charles Buckingham who donated it to the Chicago Art Institute. They displayed it as a key exhibit until the 1930s, when it was dismantled and put into storage. In the 1960s the room was acquired by wealthy philanthropist Helen Spencer of Kansas City and gifted to Baker University . There it has been carefully reconstructed as the Urishay Room and now features as part of their library buildings, where it contains a collection of rare bibles.

The Faculty and Staff of Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas , USA have kindly made available their collection of material concerning the Urishay Room and its history.

 

Pictures and documents in this Baker University Collection are indexed below with links to the relevant items in our database. Links to other related documents elsewhere on the Ewyas Lacy website are also included for completeness.

 

Photographs of the Urishay Room at Baker University

 

Description of the history and present use of the Urishay Room

 

Auction catalogue for the original sale of one of the Urishay Rooms

 

Review of the Arms depicted in the stained glass windows of the Urishay Room

 

Bulletin of the Chicago Art Institute concerning the Urishay Room

 

Urishay Room: The Buckingham family and the Chicago Art Institute

 

Urishay Room: The Spencer family and Baker University

 

Research paper by R. Delahay on the history of the Urishay Room

Sale particulars of the Urishay Estate, 1913

 

Sale details and description of Urishay Castle and Chapel, 1913

 

Hereford Times: Report of the 1913 Urishay Estate sale

 

Sale particulars of Urishay Castle 1919

 

Manorial papers of the Delahays of Urishay

 

 

Observations:

None