Building The Ladder… in Miniature

Hello! I’m Ellie, and I joined The Ladder team in March 2025 as their Heritage Projects Officer, thanks to a successful National Lottery Heritage Fund bid.

For the past six months, I’ve been getting stuck into two exciting projects: We Are Redruth and The Window in the Shape of the Cloud. And now… I need your help.

The Ladder is a beautiful building. Its striking turret and unique Gothic style are all thanks to the genius of local architect James Hicks. From what I’ve found (with a bit of help from online—so please do correct me if you know more!), it’s one of around five of his buildings still standing in the town.

When Josh and Felix (our directors) took on the building in 2022, it was in desperate need of some TLC. There were a few holes, definitely some draughts… and for a short time, even an accidental indoor swimming pool! The amazing team at Jewell Construction have been working hard ever since, and now we’re nearly ready to open, and we can’t wait.

I’m sure lots of you are itching to have a look around. I’ll admit I’d never been in when it was still the library, but the lovely Sarah Bolton has shown me some old photos, and it’s surprisingly tricky to work out where everything used to be!

We’re hoping to open to the public in October, with our current residents: The Writers’ Block, Natural Learning Nursery, The Darkroom, and Beats & Roots Café. Add to that the ebb and flow of community groups using our development and practice space, plus co-workers in search of a creative space away from the kitchen table or garden shed, and it’s going to be a really buzzing place.

Now here’s where you come in…

I want to create something special to represent this new, vibrant space: a doll’s house version of The Ladder.

It needs to look like The Ladder. It needs to be portable—so we can take it into schools and nurseries to talk about the building and what goes on here. And of course, it needs to be child-friendly.

So, I’m looking for a small team of makers, people with a passion for creating and (hopefully!) an interest in The Ladder, to help bring it to life. I’ve never done anything like this before, so it doesn’t matter how much experience you have. Everyone’s welcome.

We’ll need to make scale drawings, paint, build, upholster, and get creative with wood and other materials. Whatever skills you bring will be gratefully received. I’m imagining we meet fortnightly at The Ladder, with a bit of tea and cake to keep us going, and aim to have the doll’s house finished in time for the New Year.

So… what do you think? Fancy getting involved?
Drop me an email at ellie@riftexcursions.co.uk — I can’t wait to get building together