was built at the northern end and the north-eastern wall was filled with plate glass, This false wall was removed (1975–80). 1970 Hooper closed the service station and opened a second hand car yard, renting out the rest of the house to a succession of tenants. 1974 the house was bought by Ryde Council and progressively restored - work was completed in 1980. 1974: essential repairs and maintenance to protect from vandals and weather. Elementary maintenance had been neglected, although tenants occupied part of the main house while work was waiting to begin. A taxi radio station mast had been installed in the roof gulley, and water came through and caused extensive damage to ceilings. The top windows had deteriorated badly as the upstairs shutters had been removed by a previous owner and rain from the south and north east has caused rot in the broad cedar sills and architraves. There were very few roof slates missing or misplaced, but there was some damage to ceilings under the openings. It did not take long to seal the roof, but the guttering, although not old, was mutilated, chiefly because of poor installation. This had to be replaced and fixed to barge boards. One of the hardest jobs was to ensure that downpipes, when replaced, did not carry water under the house. This had happened over a period of years and there was rising damp to head height on inside walls. Another big job was to suspend the inside walls and damp-proof-course them. This was so well done that only three millimetres in height was lost. A Canadian-type drain was run under the floor to carry away any water. 1975-80: restoration: Where the floors suffered from rot, the bearers from larger rooms were cut down to size for smaller rooms: floor boards could be used in the same way and this ensured minimal replacement timber. Boards were not sawn to identical thickness in the 1840s and they were notched on the underside over the joists. Sanding smoothed over what little unevenness there was and some boards were replaced where rot was extensive. The downstairs floors were of blackbutt- still preserved in the main - and the upstairs floors of North American Pine. Restoration of top floor windows and surrounds was in cedar, but little lighter in shade than the original. Windows, architraves and sills were removed where necessary to make inlays and