June 1997

Redlands Foundation Restores C.S. Lewis Oxford Home

By Nicole Coscarelli

REDLANDS - Four miles from the towering spires of Oxford, England, lies a modest red brick home. A single glance would lead one to believe that the resident family had decided to do a little remodeling on the 72 year-old house. They would be right about the remodeling, but the family..... well, that's a bit more complex.

Within these walls lies the story of a man who sought truth above all else. A man who encouraged young people from around the world to imagine and believe through tales of a mystic land called Narnia. A man who wrote of his pilgrimage from atheism to faith in ways that earned him the title "Twentieth Century Apostle to the Skeptics. " A man who found undying love within the rough exterior of an American poet, communist turned Christian, Joy Davidman Gresham, as recounted recently in the award-winning film "Shadowlands." The man? C.S. Lewis.

In 1930, "Jack," as Lewis was known among friends, along with Mrs. Janie King Moore and his brother, Major Warren Lewis, purchased the twelve-room home at the end of a small cul-de-sac. The home, more commonly known as The Kilns, was named after two large brick kilns on the property that were removed in 1964. The home was set upon eight acres of woodland with a small pond, a place frequented by Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings, as they discussed the worlds of Narnia and Middle Earth.

After Lewis' death on November 22, 1963, brother "Warnie" continued to live on at The Kilns until his passing in 1974. The Kilns was then sold to a private party in May of the same year for use as a personal residence. It was not long before the new owners decided to modernize the home by eliminating nine of the ten fireplaces, demolishing two chimneys and replacing almost all of the small paned windows with modem single paned glass; They also added on a large two car garage and updated the kitchen, bathroom, and garden areas.

Ten years later, the house was again on the market, barely resembling the home where Lewis once lived. In 1984, The Kilns was purchased by a membership organization, which later became the C.S. Lewis Foundation of Redlands, California. The idea of the Foundation was to restore The Kilns to its original 1930's appearance with the intention of establishing it as a Christian study center in Oxford.

The Foundation knew it would require help from many quarters to restore The Kilns. In 1993 they put out an international call for volunteers to participate in "a vacation with a purpose.. The "vacation" would offer a unique experience abroad consisting of six weeks of intense restoration work intertwined with tours of the English countryside while using The Kilns as home base.

Jack Nydam and his family of five from Redlands were among those who answered the call. "It was a great experience," said Jack. "The work was very rewarding, and I was happy to be a part of it."

The experience was not only rewarding for Jack but also for his son, John, who developed a new-found interest in the history of English royalty from his journey abroad. "We had fun, " said John. "I realize that not many people get the chance to travel like I did."

During the summers of 1993,'94, and '96, more than 200 volunteers journeyed to Oxford to help. The volunteers successfully restored the kitchen to its original appearance, using photographs from the period. They stripped wallpaper throughout the entire house, repainted each room after painstakingly restoring its original colors. They restored six fireplaces and two chimneys and retiled the roof. They also restored the original small paned windows and converted the large garage into a lovely reading room and library. All that remains for the crew of 1997 is to recreate "the house of books held together by cobwebs," the place where Lewis felt comfortable spending endless hours reading, writing and visiting with friends.

Fully restored, The Kilns is intended to serve as a residence for visiting Christian scholars, containing memorabilia from Lewis and his circle of friends and colleagues, 'The Inklings." The Foundation also hopes to raise sufficient funds to endow an international grant program that would enable Christian scholars and artists to reside at The Kilns for short term residencies of up to one year while pursuing independent studies in Oxford.

The Foundation has no wish to create a shrine to C.S. Lewis. Rather, it intends to honor his memory by establishing an intellectually and spiritually nourishing environment that reflects something of Lewis' own lively Christian faith expressed through the life of the mind and imaginative experience.

The Kilns will be dedicated during the international centennial celebration of Lewis' birth (1898-1998) to be held in Oxford and Cambridge, England, from July 19 through August 1, 1998. Oxbridge'98, as it will be called, will center upon the theme "Loose in the Fire," based upon chapter 3 of the book of Daniel.

Oxbridge '98 will be the fourth in an ongoing series of two-week summer programs that have been conducted by the C.S. Lewis Foundation Summer Institute in Oxford and/or Cambridge, England every three years since 1988. The topics addressed will range from poetry to politics, from theology to physics, with all disciplines being explored from the vantage point of a biblically grounded Christian perspective operating within a world class university setting. Lectures and small group discussions will be fully integrated with a rich array of visual and performing arts, the underlying objective being to challenge and equip Christians to become positive change agents within the mainstream of contemporary Kilns culture. One thousand registrants are expected for this historic occasion, which is certain to prove life changing for many.

The mission of the Foundation is to advance the renewal of Christian thought and academic freedom within the halls of our nation's colleges and universities. With help from a growing number of supporters from around the world, the Foundation appears to be moving steadily towards achieving its goal.

To obtain more information about the Foundation and its many activities, and/or to learn how you might take part in the "Vacation with a Purpose" project at The Kilns this summer, you may contact the Foundation at (909) 793-0949 or contact the Foundation via their e-mail address: info@cslewis.org. If a website is more to your liking, do check out the Foundation's new website page: cslewis.org.

[Nicole Coscarelli is a student at the University of Redlands and an intern at the C.S. Lewis Foundation.]