The Chiswick School of Art, sometimes called the Chiswick School of Art and Science, was an art school in Bath Road,

Bedford Park, London Bedford Park is a suburban development in Chiswick, London, begun in 1875 under the direction of Jonathan Carr, with many large houses in British Queen Anne Revival style by Norman Shaw and other leading Victorian era architects including Ed ...

, from 1881 until 1899, which was then merged into the Acton and Chiswick Polytechnic. In 1928, it became the Chiswick Polytechnic.

Origins

The development of Bedford Park as a

garden suburb The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

was made possible by the creation of the

District Line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...

in 1869. The lead developer was Jonathan Carr, who in 1875 bought of land just north of the new Turnham Green Station. The

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

was then thirty minutes away by steam train.Gillian Clegg
People
Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society
archived
June 2021, accessed 11 August 2022 The school was planned to help to give the new garden suburb a sense of community. The

arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

architect

Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in 1 ...

was commissioned to design a School of Art building, which was completed on Bath Road in 1881, near the new Tabard Inn,

Richard Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

's St Michael and All Angels Church, and a shop. John Charles Dollman, Berry F. Berry, et al., ''Bedford Park'' (Harrison and Sons, 1882) The school was formally opened on Saturday, 19 November 1881, and this was followed by an evening party with the Conservative member of parliament

Alexander Beresford Hope Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope PC (25 January 1820 – 20 October 1887), known as Alexander Hope until 1854 (and also known as A. J. B. Hope until 1854 and as A. J. B. Beresford Hope from 1854 onwards), was a British author and Co ...

presiding. The new building was illustrated by

Thomas Erat Harrison Thomas Erat Harrison (1858–1917) was an English artist who made sculptures, medals, paintings, and stained glass. Biography Harrison was born in St John's Wood, London; his father was a builder. He was active between 1885 and 1910. He exhibit ...

in a book of 1882 called ''Bedford Park''.

History

At the outset, the school taught "Freehand drawing in all its branches, practical Geometry and perspective, pottery and tile painting, design for decorative purposes – as in Wall-papers, Furniture, Metalwork, Stained Glass".1881 – Chiswick School of Art, Bedford Park, London
Archiseek, 26 August 2009, accessed 11 August 2022 By 1887, the name of the school had become the Chiswick School of Art and Science, and in November of that year new classes were announced in Chemistry, Steam, and Electricity. In 1899, the school was taken over by

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...

to become part of the new Acton and Chiswick Polytechnic. In 1928, the two branches of this were separated, so that the building in Bedford Park became the home of the Chiswick Polytechnic. The building was destroyed by a

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

in 1944, but a new Chiswick Polytechnic rose from the ashes. In 1976, this was merged into the

West London Institute of Higher Education The West London Institute of Higher Education (WLIHE), a two-campus academic establishment, was located in Isleworth and East Twickenham, West London, UK from 1976 until 1995 when it became Brunel University College. In 1997 it was fully integrat ...

. In the 1980s, the site was acquired by Arts Educational Schools.W B Yeats Bedford Park Artwork Project
wbyeatsbedfordpark.com, accessed 11 August 2022

Notable students

Students included

Jack Butler Yeats Jack Butler Yeats RHA (29 August 1871 – 28 March 1957) was an Irish art The history of Irish art starts around 3200 BC with Neolithic stone carvings at the Newgrange megalithic tomb, part of the Brú na Bóinne complex which still stands ...

, his sisters

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

and Susan Yeats, and

Bruce Angrave Bruce Angrave (6 December 1912 – 8 July 1983) was an English illustrator and poster artist. He designed many posters for the large railway companies, as well as posters and cartoons for Ministry of Information during World War II. Biography An ...

.Dr Bex Lewis
Bruce Angrave (b 1914; d.1983)
drbexl.co.uk, 24 July 2009

Gallery

File:Chiswick School of Art, Bath Road, 1881.jpg, Design for the School by

, 1881 File:School of Art, Stores and Tabard Inn by Thomas Erat Harrison 1882.jpg, ''School of Art, Stores and Tabard Inn'' by

, 1882 File:Maurice B. Adams map of Bedford Park 1897.jpg, Maurice Bingham Adams's map of Bedford Park, 1897 File:Focus of Bedford Park Garden Suburb.svg, The community buildings

Notes

Art schools in England Buildings and structures in Chiswick Defunct art schools Educational institutions established in 1881 {{coord missing, London