AS he built the stunning Kiplin Hall nearly 400 years ago, George Calvert could never have imagined the colourful times that were to come for the architectural gem.

In 1620, the design of a perfectly symmetrical and free-standing pavilion was unique in Jacobean architecture and a remarkable tribute to Calvert - the first Lord Baltimore and the founder of the state of Maryland, USA.

Since then, the house near Scorton, North Yorkshire, has passed through the hands of three families over the centuries and at one stage stood on the brink of ruin, with an estate of just 100 acres, compared to the 5,000 of the 1890s.

But on Sunday, George Calvert returned to Kiplin Hall at one of the most significant moments in the chequered history of the Grade I listed Jacobean house.

An imposing new portrait of Lord Baltimore was unveiled at a ceremony which brought both sides of the Atlantic together to promote the message that the future of the house was bright once again.

Payton Fowler, a direct descendant of Lord Baltimore, commissioned Washington artist Annette Polan to paint a copy of Daniel Mytens' original portrait, which hangs in the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

Mrs Fowler joined dozens of other American visitors yesterday to celebrate the major steps in the restoration of the home taken by a charitable trust, set up in 1971 by Bridget Talbot - the last owner and niece of the 19th Earl of Shrewsbury.

Mrs Fowler said: "They have done a marvellous job here. It is so exciting because the last time I was here four years ago it really was in a sad shape. It is an absolutely wonderful portrait and there is such an energy in the house now."

Kiplin Hall administrator Dawn Webster said more than £500,000 had been spent on rescuing the house since the trust was set up thirty years ago. And the building will also open to the public in July after securing museum status.

"All of the principal rooms have been done - the drawing room, the dining room, the library, the gallery - and it has been a tremendous labour of love for the trustees who have carried it out," she said.