2-854-325 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Somerset House, Halifax, Calderdale, 1942. A detailed view of a plasterwork panel depicting a scene from Aesop's Fables, in the reception room of Somerset House. Somerset House is a collection of two warehouses and a town house, arranged around a forecourt in the south, since a bank, commercial and residencial premises. The house dates to 1766, and the warehouses to c1780. The architect is believed to be John Carr of York, and the plasterwork in the reception room, or grand salon, is by Giuseppe Cortese. The rococo plasterwork is believed to have taken ten years to complete, and cost £2,000. The grand salon has oval panels with foliate frames, with scenes depicting Aesop's Fables. This scene shows part of the "Fox and the Stork".