THE restoration of an iconic house in Lyme Regis has won a national architecture award.

The Landmark Trust claimed the 2015 Restoration of a Georgian Building in an Urban Setting award for the restoration of Belmont.

The Duke of Wellington presented the award to the Landmark Trust at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Anna Keay, director of the Landmark Trust, attended the event to collect the accolade.

She said: “We’re thrilled that Belmont in Lyme Regis has been chosen as the best restoration of a Georgian building in an urban setting at the Georgian Group awards. 

“The scheme was a bold one in which a series of degraded later additions were demolished to reveal Mrs Coade’s Georgian gem. 

"We believed firmly that this was the right approach and we are absolutely delighted the distinguished judges of the Georgian Group awards agreed. 

“The award will give Belmont extra magic for the thousands whose donations made the project possible and the tens of thousands who will stay or visit on open days over the coming years.”

The awards hosted by the Georgian Group are in their 14th year. They recognise quality conservation and restoration projects in the United Kingdom and reward those who have shown the vision and commitment to restore Georgian buildings and landscapes. 

Awards are also given for high-quality new buildings in Georgian contexts and in the Classical tradition.

The Landmark Trust fought off competition from 31 Great James Street in London and 76 Dean Street in Soho to take the award.

A statement from the Georgian Group charity praised the Landmark Trust for its "brave and controversial" decision to restore Belmont.

The statement said: “Belmont House is a 1785 maritime villa looking out over the Cobb. 

“John Fowles wrote The French Lieutenant’s Woman in 1969 here. By the time he died it was in a bad state, the gardens overgrown and the structural condition of the building poor. 

“The Landmark Trust acquired it and took the decision, at once brave and controversial, to restore it to the form known by Mrs Coade, creator of the artificial stone that bears her name.

"That involved demolishing what was left of the substantial Victorian and later extensions in order to make it a villa in the round. 

"The project has been informed by meticulous building analysis and documentary research and the building is now again a thing of real beauty, a delightful monument to one of the great female entrepreneurs of the Georgian period.”