An ambitious online crowdfunding drive to ensure historic Lauderdale House is saved for future generations has been hailed a success following the end of the campaign.

For six weeks, campaigners for the 16th-century mansion have urged the community to give as much as they can to its final push to restore the Highgate Hill house to its former resplendent glory.

Thanks to more than 100 members of the public, the house raised an incredible £20,965 in just over one month as the Ham&High went to press. It will go towards its Lauderdale Transformed: The Historic Galleries campaign to refurbish the mansion’s two upper-floor galleries – run in partnership with the Ham&High.

Despite falling short of its mammoth £125,000 target, director Katherine Ives said the crowdfunding appeal has been a major success in helping put Lauderdale House on the map.

She said: “It has been a great incentive for us to keep going.

“It’s incredibly touching that people who don’t have much to give are generous enough to give what they can and people with more influence have given as well.

“Having the support of the Ham&High has been invaluable, adding skills and experience to our team as well as the reach that the paper has.”

The campaign forms part of its larger £2.1million Lauderdale Transformed project, for which it has already raised more than £1.8million.

Ms Ives said: “The crowdfunding campaign was a great springboard for us to make the final push.”

Long-time supporter Maggy Meade-King, of Cholmeley Lodge, Highgate Village, urged the community to keep donating, saying: “I think it’s a really important part of our heritage in Highgate and it would be great to see it restored.”