Osterley Park
Osterley House | |
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Country house | |
Location | Jersey Road, Isleworth, UK |
Coordinates | 51°29′21.75″N 00°21′07.14″W / 51.4893750°N 0.3519833°W |
Built | 1570s |
Built for | Sir Thomas Gresham |
Rebuilt | 1761–1765 |
Current use | Historic house museum |
Architect | Robert Adam (1760s) |
Owner | National Trust |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Osterley House |
Designated | 21 May 1973 |
Reference no. | 1080308 |
Osterley Park is a Georgian country estate in west London,[1] which straddles the London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow.[2][3] Originally dating from the 1570s, the estate contains a number of Grade I and II listed buildings, with the park listed as Grade II*.[4] The main building (Osterley House) was remodelled by Robert Adam between 1761 and 1765.[3] The National Trust took charge of Osterley in 1991, and the house and park are open to visitors.
History
Early history
The original building on this site was a manor house built in the 1570s for banker Sir Thomas Gresham, who purchased the manor of Osterley in 1562.[5] The "faire and stately brick house" was completed in 1576. It is known that Queen Elizabeth I visited.[6] The stable block from that period remains at Osterley Park. Gresham, the founder of the Royal Exchange, also bought the neighbouring Manor of Boston in 1572.[citation needed]
Aquisition by the Child family
During the late 17th century, the estate was owned by Nicholas Barbon, a developer who mortgaged it to Child's Bank and then died in debt around 1698. As a result of a mortgage default, by the early 1710s, the estate 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 (who was just emerging as one of the most fashionable architects in Britain) to remodel the house. When Francis Child died in 1763, the project was taken up by his brother and heir, Robert Child, for whom the interiors were created.[7]
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 it 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 level.
Adam's neoclassical interiors are among his most notable sequences of rooms.
After Robert Child
Robert Child's only daughter, Sarah, married John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, 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 Fane, who was born in 1785.
Child's will kept his property out of the hands of John Fane, his son-in-law. Under the doctrine of coverture then in force, if Child had given his daughter more than a life interest in any property, Fane would have had control of it. Fane had eloped with Child's daughter to Gretna Green, as Child had not consented to the marriage. Child had wished his daughter to marry someone willing to take on the Child surname and ensure its continuation.[8]
Child's eventual heiress, Lady Sarah Fane, married George Villiers in 1804 and, having children, the estate passed into the Villiers family. In 1819, George Villiers changed his surname to Child Villiers.
Later history
George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey, opened Osterley to the public in 1939 after having received many requests from people wishing to see its historic interior.[9] He 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". Some 12,000 people visited the house during its first month of opening.[9] Villiers staged a series of exhibitions of artworks by living artists in the top-floor rooms to contrast with the 18th-century interiors on the ground floor.[9] He also planned to create an arboretum in the grounds, although that never came to fruition.[9]
Home Guard training establishment
The grounds of Osterley Park were used for the training of the first members of the
Painter
National Trust
After the Second World War, Lord Jersey approached
The National Trust took charge of Osterley in 1991. The house has enjoyed loans and gifts from Lord Jersey, including items of silver, porcelain, furniture and miniatures.
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 house saw its latest restoration from 2018 to 2021. This repaired structural deterioration and discolouring of the external brickwork.[citation needed]
Gallery
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The house
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A side view
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The courtyard
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Portico ceiling
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Columns at the front of the house
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View from the house over the estate
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Former stables, now a cafe
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Turret at the stable
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Farmland in Osterley Park
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Interior of the house in 1931
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State Bed at Osterley House
References
- ^ "Osterley Park and House". National Trust. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Historic England. "Osterley Park (Grade II*) (1000287)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Osterley House (Grade I) (1080308)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Historic England – Championing England's heritage | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ISBN 0948107146.
- ISBN 9780199551422.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ ISBN 978-0-917561-07-8.
- ISBN 978-1-905400-66-9.: 238
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Anthea Palmer (24 August 1998). "Obituary: The Earl of Jersey". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ a b Tom Wintringham (History Learning Site) accessed 29 Jan 2008
- ^ Newark, Tim Now you see it... Now You Don't, (March 2007) History Today
- ^ a b Kennedy, Maev (26 February 2014). "Osterley Park welcomes home its family portraits". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ "Strategis – Osterley". Strategis. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ "Parkrun – Osterley". Parkrun. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
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