Osterley Park and House is a
Georgian country estate in west London, that straddles the London boroughs of
Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Ealing was his ...
and
Hounslow
Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...
.
Originally dating from the 1570s, the estate contains a number of
Grade I and II listed buildings, with the park listed as Grade II*. The main house was remodelled by
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...
between 1761 and 1765.
The
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
took charge of Osterley in 1991 and the house and park are open to visitors.
History
Elizabethan
The original building on this site was a
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...
built in the 1570s for banker Sir
Thomas Gresham, who purchased the manor of Osterley in 1562. The "faire and stately brick house" was completed in 1576. It is known that Queen
Elizabeth visited. The stable block from that period remains at Osterley Park. Gresham was so wealthy that he also bought the neighbouring
Manor of Boston in 1572.
Child and Adam
Two hundred years later the manor house was falling into disrepair, when, as the result of a mortgage default, it came into the ownership of Sir
Francis Child, the founder of
Child's Bank. In 1761 Sir Francis's grandsons, Francis and Robert, employed Scottish architect
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...
, who was just emerging as one of the most fashionable architects in Britain, to remodel the house. When Francis died in 1763, the project was taken up by his brother and heir
Robert Child, for whom the interiors were created.
The house is of red brick with white stone details and is approximately square, with turrets in the four corners. Adam's design, which incorporates some of the earlier structure, is highly unusual, and differs greatly in style from the original construction. One side is left almost open and is spanned by an
Ionic pedimented screen which is approached by a broad flight of steps and leads to a central courtyard, which is at ''
piano nobile
The ''piano nobile'' ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the ho ...
'' level.
Adam's neoclassical interiors are among his most notable sequences of rooms.
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician.
He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...
described the drawing room as "worthy of
Eve before
the fall." The rooms are characterised by elaborate but restrained plasterwork, rich, highly varied colour schemes, and a degree of coordination between decor and furnishings unusual in English neoclassical interiors. Notable rooms include the entrance hall, which has large semi-circular alcoves at each end, and the Etruscan dressing room, which Adam said was inspired by the "Etruscan" vases (as they were then regarded, now recognised as Greek) in Sir
William Hamilton's collection, illustrations of which had recently been published. Adam also designed some of the furniture, including the opulent domed state bed, still in the house.
After Child
Robert Child's only daughter,
Sarah Anne Child, married
John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland
John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, (1 June 175915 December 1841), styled Lord Burghersh between 1771 and 1774, was a British Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who served in most of the cabinets of the period, primari ...
in 1782. When Child died two months later, his will placed his vast holdings, including Osterley, in trust for any second-to-be born grandchild. This proved to be
Lady Sarah Sophia Fane, who was born in 1785.
Lady Sarah Fane married
George Villiers in 1804, and having children, the estate passed into the Villiers family. In 1819, George changed the family surname to Child-Villiers.
Child's passing of his holdings to Lady Sarah Fane bypassed any dealing with John Fane, his son-in-law. Such a right to dealings would have arisen if he had given his daughter more than a life interest, under the then still live doctrine of
coverture
Coverture (sometimes spelled couverture) was a legal doctrine in the English common law in which a married woman's legal existence was considered to be merged with that of her husband, so that she had no independent legal existence of her own. U ...
. This was because Fane eloped with his daughter, Sarah, to
Gretna Green
Gretna Green is a parish in the southern council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the Scottish side of the border between Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the nearby Solway Firth. It was histo ...
on the basis of lack of bride's father's consent which was expected for such an aristocrat, as Child desired a non-noble pairing with someone willing to take and ensure continuation of his own surname.
Later history
George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey
George Francis Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (15 February 1910 – 9 August 1998), was an English peer and banker from the Villiers family. Lord Jersey gave one of the family seats, Osterley Park, to the British nation in the late 1940s ...
, opened Osterley to the public in 1939 after having received many requests to see its historic interior.
The Earl justified his decision by saying that it was "sufficient answer that he did not live in it and that many others wished to see it" – 12,000 people visited the house in its first month of opening.
[ A series of exhibitions of artworks by living artists were staged by the Earl in the top-floor rooms to contrast with the 18th-century interiors on the ground floor.][ Though it never came to fruition, the Earl planned to create an arboretum in the grounds.][
]
Home Guard Training Establishment
The grounds of Osterley Park were used for the training of the first members of the Local Defence Volunteers
The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an armed citizen militia supporting the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard had 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible f ...
(forerunners of the Home Guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...
) when the 9th Earl, a friend of publisher Sir Edward Hulton, allowed writer and military journalist Captain Tom Wintringham
Thomas Henry Wintringham (15 May 1898 – 16 August 1949) was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founder ...
to establish the first Home Guard training school (which Hulton sponsored) at the park in May/June 1940, teaching the theory and practice of modern mechanical warfare, guerilla warfare techniques and using the estate workers' homes, then scheduled for demolition, to teach street fighting techniques.[''Tom Wintringham'' (History Learning Site)]
accessed 29 Jan 2008 Painter Roland Penrose
Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World ...
taught camouflaging here, an extension of work he had developed with the paintbrush in avant-garde paintings to protect the modesty of his lover, Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller (married to Aziz E. Bey).[Newark, Tim ''Now you see it... Now You Don't'', (March 2007) '']History Today
''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...
'' Wilfred Vernon taught the art of mixing home-made explosives, and his explosives store can still be seen at the rear of the house, while Canadian Bert "Yank" Levy, who had served under Wintringham in the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
, taught knife fighting and hand-to-hand combat
Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H) is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at short range (grappling distance or within the physical reach of a handheld weapon) that does not involve the use of weapons.Hun ...
. Despite winning world fame in newsreels and newspaper articles around the world (particularly in the US), the school was disapproved of by the War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
and Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, and was taken over in September 1940. Closed in 1941, its staff and courses were reallocated to other newly opened War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
-approved Home Guard schools.[
]
National Trust
After the Second World War, the Earl approached 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 c ...
, who had shown interest in buying the estate, but eventually decided to give the house and its park to the National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
.[ The furniture was sold to the ]Victoria & Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
.[ The 9th Earl moved to the island of ]Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...
in 1947, taking many pictures from Osterley's collection with him.[ Some were destroyed in a warehouse fire on the island soon after.][ The Earl assisted the Ministry of Works and V&A in their restoration of the house to its present late-18th-century state.][
The National Trust took charge of Osterley in 1991. The house enjoys loans and gifts from Lord Jersey including items of silver, porcelain, furniture and miniatures.][ The trust commissioned portraits of Lord Jersey and his wife by Howard J. Morgan – which hang upstairs.][ In 2014 a ten-year loan to Osterley of portraits of the Child family was arranged by William Villiers, 10th Earl of Jersey, the present Earl.] Portraits included in the 2014 loan include Allan Ramsay's portrait of Francis Child (1758), and George Romney's portrait of Francis's brother, Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
.[
The house and small formal gardens are open to the public. They account for 30,000 paying visitors per year. Many hundreds of thousands of visitors per year walk the footpaths and enjoy the woodland of the surrounding park at no cost.] The park is the site of a weekly 5k Parkrun
Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...
.
The house saw its latest restoration from 2018 to 2021. This repaired structural deterioration and discolouring of the external brickwork.
Gallery
File:Main mansion at Osterley Park.jpg, The main mansion
File:Side of Osterley Park Mansion.jpg, A side of the mansion
File:Courtyard of Osterley Park.jpg, Courtyard of the mansion
File:Ceiling detail at Osterley Park.jpg, Ceiling of portico
File:Columns of Osterley Park.jpg, Columns at the front of the mansion
File:View from Osterley Park.jpg, View from the mansion over the estate, over stone eagle finial to balustrade
File:Stables at Osterley .jpg, Former stables, now a cafe
File:Turret at Osterley Park Stable.jpg, Turret at the stable
File:Farmland at Osterley Park.jpg, Farmland in Osterley Park
File:Ranken, William Bruce Ellis; Osterley Park, London, Interior.jpg, Osterley House, London, Interior, 1931
File:Ranken, William Bruce Ellis; State Bed at Osterley Park.jpg, State Bed at Osterley House
References and footnotes
Citations
Footnotes
External links
Osterley Park information at the National Trust
Flickr images tagged Osterley Park
A Brief History of Osterly Park
by the Dowager Countess of Jersey, 1920
List of paintings on view
{{Authority control
Country houses in London
Isleworth
Grade II* listed parks and gardens in London
Houses in the London Borough of Hounslow
Museums in the London Borough of Hounslow
Historic house museums in London
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hounslow
Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Hounslow
Grade I listed houses in London
Grade I listed museum buildings
History of the London Borough of Hounslow
History of Middlesex
National Trust properties in London
Robert Adam buildings
Georgian architecture in London
Neoclassical architecture in London