Clarence House, Richmond is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

house in

The Vineyard, Richmond The Vineyard is a street in Richmond, London, Richmond, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It includes three groups of almshouses, a Grade II Listed building, listed church (St Elizabeth of Portugal Church) and Clarence House, Rich ...

, dating from about 1696. It was built for Nathaniel Rawlins, a London

haberdasher __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing st ...

merchant, who lived there until his death in 1718. The Duke of Clarence, later to become

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...

, lived in Richmond in the late 1780s and gave his name to the property. From 1792 to 1799, Clarence House was a

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

run by Timothy Eeles. Among the students was

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; 20 August 1778 – 24 October 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque people, Basque-Spanish people, Spani ...

. O'Higgins is commemorated on the wall of the property with a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

installed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

, for his role in the

Chilean War of Independence The Chilean War of Independence (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Guerra de la Independencia de Chile'', 'War of Independence of Chile') was a military and political event that allowed the emancipation of Chile from the Spanish Empire, Spanish Mona ...

.The plaque, installed in July 1994, reads: "Bernardo O'Higgins, 1778–1842, General, Statesman and Liberator of Chile, lived and studied here". The building was used as a warehouse by

Fortnum & Mason Fortnum & Mason plc (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an Luxury goods, upmarket department store in London, England. The main store is located at 181 Piccadilly in the St James's area of London, where it was established in 1707 ...

from 1941 to 1947. They had planned in 1943 to tear the building down and replace it with a commercial development. A private dwelling since 1947, it was owned by the actor

Brian Blessed Brian Blessed ( ; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars''; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television ...

from 1967 to 1976. In 2012 the house was offered for sale, with an asking price of £22.5m. This was reduced to £18 million, and eventually to £14.5 million in 2013.

Notes

References

{{coord, 51.4578, -0.3033, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1690s establishments in England Defunct Catholic schools in England Fortnum & Mason Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Grade II listed houses History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Houses completed in the 17th century Houses in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Richmond, London The Vineyard, Richmond