123 Mortlake High Street, also known as The Limes or Limes House and previously referred to as Mortlake Terrace, is a Grade II* listed 18th-century property in

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many cen ...

in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The building is now used as commercial office space. It was originally a private house and in the 20th century it functioned as the local town hall. It is featured in two paintings by J. M. W. Turner.

History of the building

The house was built in about 1720 but the facade and

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

were added later. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays: the central section features a porch with four

Tuscan column The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with ...

s. The building was the seat of local government for the Barnes Urban District from 1895 to 1932 and then of the

Municipal Borough of Barnes Barnes was a local government district in north west Surrey from 1894 to 1965, when its former area was absorbed into the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. History Barnes was formed as an urban district in 1894 and became a municipal bor ...

from 1932 until 1940, when it was damaged by wartime bombing. The house's of grounds have now been completely built over, and the building itself has been converted to commercial office space. The exterior is still similar to what it was in two oil paintings that J. M. W. Turner (1755–1851) made while visiting the house in 1827.

Artistic depictions

Turner's two paintings were made for William Moffatt, whose house it then was. ''Mortlake Terrace: Early Summer Morning'' (1826) is in the Frick Collection, New York. It was shown in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1826 where it was praised for its "lightness and simplicity". ''Mortlake Terrace'' (1827) is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. The

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...

holds a wood engraving of people at The Limes, as it was then called, watching the

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men' ...

. ''The Limes – Mortlake: 1872'' is taken from '' London: A Pilgrimage'' by Blanchard Jerrold and

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravin ...

, 1872. Jerrold describes how "the towing paths presented to the view of the more fortunate people upon the private river-side terraces, a mixed population ..." The house was, at the time, the residence of a Mr Marsh Nelson.

Former residents

The house's former residents include the Franks, a family of Jewish merchant bankers; Lady Byron, widow of the poet; the educational philanthropist Quintin Hogg; and

Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (4 June 183325 March 1913), was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, We ...

, who lived there from 1874 to 1875 and later became

Commander-in-Chief of the Forces The Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, later Commander-in-Chief, British Army, or just the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), was (intermittently) the professional head of the English Army from 1660 to 1707 (the English Army, founded in 1645, was succ ...

References

{{Authority control 1700s establishments in England City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1720 Grade II* listed houses in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Houses completed in the 18th century Mortlake, London J. M. W. Turner