Pitzhanger Manor
Encyclopedia
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
(west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), was owned from 1800 to 1810 by the architect John Soane
John Soane
Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...
, who radically rebuilt it. Soane intended it as a country villa for entertaining and eventually for passing to his elder son. He demolished most of the existing building except the two-storey south wing built in 1768 by George Dance
George Dance the Younger
George Dance the Younger was an English architect and surveyor. The fifth and youngest son of George Dance the Elder, he came from a distinguished family of architects, artists and dramatists...
, who had been his first employer. In the late twentieth century, an extensive restoration returned much of the building back to Soane's design. It is now a showcase of Soane's design and also hosts exhibitions and events for visitors.
The building is in Walpole Park
Walpole Park
Walpole Park is a municipal urban public open space run by Ealing Borough Council, and its main entrance is situated in Mattock Lane, Ealing, West London....
, Mattock Lane, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
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Until the eighteenth century
A large house has stood on the site at least since the late seventeenth century, at which time the smaller Pitzhanger Manor (variously spelled) stood a mile or so to its north.Between 1664 and 1674 a Richard Slaney paid Hearth Tax on a building on the site of the present-day Pitzhanger Manor for 16 hearths. This provides a rough indication of the (considerable) size of the property as it then was.
In 1711, the occupants John and Mary Wilmer gave away their eldest daughter Grizell to be married to Johnathan Gurnell. He went on to make his fortune, first as a merchant and later as a co-founder of the city bank Gurnell, Hoare
C. Hoare & Co
C. Hoare & Co. is England's oldest privately owned banking house. Founded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, C. Hoare & Co. remains family owned and is currently managed by the 11th generation of Hoare's direct descendants....
, and Harman. It was through this marriage that the house then passed to his only surviving son Thomas Gurnell, who bought Pits Hanger Manor Farm (sometimes spelt Pitts Hanger on old maps) in 1765. With the plainer 'manor house' of Pits Hanger (Farm) Manor standing near the centre of the modern Meadvale Road in the present suburb of Pitshanger (often referred to locally as Pitshanger Village
Pitshanger Village
Pitshanger Village is a small but busy local centre, centred around the shops in Pitshanger Lane, located about 1 mile north of Ealing Broadway in West London. It contains numerous small shops, several cafes, two pubs, two churches, a school, and a park , and is often taken to also include parts of...
), his grander existing house, a mile to the south in Ealing, became known as Pitshanger Place.
Upon the death of Thomas Gurnell, his son Johnathan II inherited the house. On his death in 1791, ownership passed to his young daughter (but was held in trust). The house was let out until 1799, and the trustees decided to sell it.
John Soane
John Soane
Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...
had a successful architectural practice in London, holding the post of architect to the Bank of England. In 1794 he, his wife and their two young sons moved into 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...
(now part of Sir John Soane's Museum) in central London, which doubled as an architecture office for him and his staff.
In early 1800 Soane decided to acquire a family home to the west of London. At first he planned to have it purpose built, but on 21 July 1800 he visited Pitzhanger, which he heard was available, and seeing its potential offered the trustees £4,500 for the whole estate of 28 acres (113,312.1 m²). This was accepted on the first day of the following month. Soane referred to it as Pitzhanger Manor-house.
Soane worked vigorously on the designs of the new house, and over a hundred designs for it still exist and are held by Sir John Soane's Museum. He planned for the demolition of the older part of the house and many of the outbuildings; however, he retained the two-storey south wing designed by George Dance
George Dance the Younger
George Dance the Younger was an English architect and surveyor. The fifth and youngest son of George Dance the Elder, he came from a distinguished family of architects, artists and dramatists...
in part because of admiration for their interiors and in part in respect for Dance, his first employer. Demolition work started in 1800 and most of the rebuilding was complete by late 1803.
Completed in 1804, the central section of the house uses many typical Soane features: curved ceilings, inset mirrors, false doors, and wooden paneling with many cupboards. Soane continued the building to the east with a servants' wing (perhaps an adaptation of existing buildings) and romantic ruins. (All the buildings in this eastern part of the site were demolished in or around 1901.) The building is remarkably similar to his main London home at Lincoln's Inn Fields (now the Soane Museum). Much of his collection of paintings and classical antiquities
Antiquities
Antiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
now at the museum was housed in Pitzhanger Manor.
Soane sold the house in 1810 and it then passed through several hands until in 1843 it became home to the daughters of Britain's only assassinated Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...
.
Since Soane's time, the house has been referred to variously as The Manor, or Pitshanger Manor, but has now formally reverted to the name given to it by Soane, spelt with a Z.
Ealing District Council
In 1900 the house was acquired by Ealing Urban District Council in the year before it became a Municipal BoroughMunicipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
for a total of £40,000 pounds, a quarter of which came from the Middlesex County Council
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 county to constitute the County of London...
. Its new function was to serve as a Free Public Library. However, work on converting the building did not start until after the death of its last resident, Frederika Perceval in May 1901. The important part of the work was to build a ground-floor extension with a pitched slate roof, on the west of the 'Eating Room'. However, this magnificent room was all that remained of George Dance's original design. Therefore the Council had its chief surveyor Charles Jones
Charles Jones (architect)
Charles Jones was Ealing's first architect, engineer and surveyor. He held these posts for fifty years.He is admired to this day, by both local residents and visitors, for his pleasing, well proportioned and functional civic buildings....
design the extension next to the existing Breakfast Room. As Dance gave the room windows with a tall aspect, topped by semicircular bonded gauge brick arches, it made sense to remove the glazing and frames so as to open them up. This provided three large arched pedestrian openings into the newly created extension. To avoid a clash of architectural styles, Jones specified that the new extension be an almost mirror image of its neighbour, which is clearly visible through the connecting arches. With the high ceilings and matching plaster moulding and colour scheme, this helps create the illusion of one elegant, pleasantly proportioned and spacious reading area.
Finally, as access from this part of the building to the main library stock and issuing area required going up and down many steps along the passage way (which winds northward through the house), a new entrance was built out on the east-side of the breakfast room with 'Reading Room' emblazoned across its Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
lintel.
On the north side of the house: Jones had the servants' quarters demolished and removed some ornamental faux Roman ruins. The building to house the new lending library was constructed on the space so cleared. To complement the rest of the house it had the same arched windows. The lintel of the Portland stone surround of the portico was inscribed 'Lending Library'. It was opened to the public in April 1902.
In 1938-40 the lending library block was replaced by a new, slightly larger building.
The Library moved out in 1984 and in 1985 the restoration work began. Analysis of the structure and paint layers were used to recreate an authentic period look to the build.
PM Gallery and House
The house opened to the public once again in January 1987 as the London Borough of Ealing's main museum, known as the PM Gallery & House. The PM Gallery is a venue for professional contemporary art exhibits. Visitors can also take audio wand guided tours of the house, which describe its history, design and architecture. There are also displays about John SoaneJohn Soane
Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...
, his other buildings, and area history and information.
The house is a Grade I listed building.
Film and television location
Because of Pitzhanger's authentic period look it has been registered as a film location and as such is available for hire. It is also only yards from Ealing StudiosEaling Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
.
- The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
(2002) with Judi DenchJudi DenchDame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
, Rupert EverettRupert EverettRupert James Hector Everett is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s...
and Colin FirthColin FirthSirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
. The restored George Dance wing (Breakfast Room) and its VictorianVictorian eraThe Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
extension was used. - The Biographer (First Biography Films, 2000). Pitzhanger Manor used to double as Kensington PalaceKensington PalaceKensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
. Pitshanger Gallery doubled as The TateTate GalleryThe Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
in this 1990s period drama about biographer Andrew Moreton (played by Paul McGann). - Kavanagh QCKavanagh QCKavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....
(Carlton TV, 1998). Pitzhanger Gallery doubled as a Crown CourtCrown CourtThe Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
, effectively a full set build apart from the ceiling light. - Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
: More Than 30 Years in the TARDISTARDISThe TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
(BBC, Sunday 7 November 1993). Sarah Jane SmithSarah Jane SmithSarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
(played by Elisabeth SladenElisabeth SladenElisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
) and her daughter Sadie are pursued by a SontaranSontaranThe Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and also seen in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They were created by writer Robert Holmes.-Culture:...
, played by Stephen Mansfield. This short shot was for a one-off anniversary program, made in the style of a documentary.
Getting here
Nearest National Rail station is Ealing BroadwayEaling Broadway station
Ealing Broadway is an east-west National Rail and London Underground station in Ealing in west London. The station is located in Haven Green , at the termination of The Broadway, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-Services:...
, which is also connected by both the District Line
District Line
The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
and the Central Line
Central Line
The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
of London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
. South Ealing tube station
South Ealing tube station
South Ealing is a London Underground station in west London. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line, between Acton Town and Northfields stations...
is the closest on the Piccadilly Line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
.
Buy bus: No. 65 to Ealing Green; or 83, 112, 207, 297, 427, 607, E1, E2, E7, E8, E9, E10, E11 to Ealing Broadway, then stroll 3 minutes south-west. Entrance is free to both the House, Gallery and Park.
Further reading
- Cruickshank, Dan. "Soane and the meaning of colour." Architectural Review, January 1989. (The newly restored Pitzhanger Manor-House is commented upon at length)
External links
Neighbouring historic houses or sites
South west Boston Manor House 2.3 miles (3.7 km), (6 min driving time)South east Chiswick House
Chiswick House
Chiswick House is a Palladian villa in Burlington Lane, Chiswick, in the London Borough of Hounslow in England. Set in , the house was completed in 1729 during the reign of George II and designed by Lord Burlington. William Kent , who took a leading role in designing the gardens, created one of the...
4.2 miles 10 min driving time
South Syon House
Syon House
Syon House, with its 200-acre park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence...
2.8 miles 8 min driving time.