A Grade I listed museum and its artefacts are at “significant risk” of water damage because of the building’s leaking roof, a report has said.
The Yorkshire Museum in York’s Museum Gardens, which was completed in 1830, has applied for planning permission to repair its rainwater management system and slates.
The building has “substantial internal leaks” and cannot cope with current and projected weather conditions, the survey found.
A consultation on the plans will be heard on 26 July, City of York Council said.
The Yorkshire Museum was one of the earliest purpose-built museums in the country.
It opened as the new home for the collections of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.
The full extent of the deterioration to its roof was uncovered after owner, the York Museums Trust, commissioned a survey.
It confirmed that the roof was failing due to “an inadequate rainwater management arrangement that has developed through historic alterations of the building”.
‘Visitor experience’
The leaks “affect both the visitor experience and therefore numbers”, the Trust said.
The repairs could take several months with some reconfiguration to the roof arrangement to “better manage rainwater disposal”, it added.
Architects admitted that the changes to the roof would have a visual impact to the building which has stood for almost two centuries.
The trust has applied for a grant from the Museum Estate and Development Fund to pay for the work.
