Description: The Duke of Newcastle's building had remained in a severe state of disrepair since the reform riot had destroyed the interior by fire in the 1830's. By the 1870's the Town Council resolved that the Castle and its grounds would be an ideal site for a Museum of Fine Art and the Duke of Newcastle granted a lease of the Castle and its grounds for a term of 500 years. The Right Honourable W.E. Gladstone, as one of the Trustees of the Duke of Newcastle, gave his personal attention to the whole scheme. On 3 July 1878 the Prince and Princess of Wales opened the first provincial Museum of Fine Art at Nottingham Castle as the Midland Counties Museum. The print of an engraving seen here was taken after the castle was restored as a Museum and Art Gallery. Print taken from 'Nottingham Castle' by T C Hine. Thomas Chambers Hine was born in London in 1813, the eldest son of hosiery manufacturer Jonathan Hine. In 1834, Hine completed his architecture training in London and moved to Nottingham. In 1848, he won a national competition to design a pair of agricultural workers' cottages and published a monograph (MS 575/3) containing a specification and designs for them. Important commissions followed including the Nottingham Corn Exchange (1849-1850) in Thurland Street, a factory for Hine and Mundella Ltd (1851) in Station Street, and the rebuilding of Ogston Hall, Derbyshire (1851-1864) and Flintham Hall, Nottinghamshire (1851-1857). Hine was as versatile as he was prolific and applied a variety of styles to the many houses, hospitals, schools, churches and railway stations that he designed in the East Midlands. Hine's later projects included the rebuilding and renovation of the castle, shire hall, and courts in Nottingham. He was in partnerships with William Patterson in the 1830s and 1840s, Robert Evans until 1867, and finally, his son George Thomas Hine. T.C. Hine was also an enthusiastic building conservationist, lecturer on archaeology and architecture, and was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1876. He died in Nottingham in 1899.