[This is the second in a series of articles to describe some
of the most interesting and attractive places in London.]
I here briefly describe two spectacular houses, one in the
very centre of London, the other on its Western periphery, both developed to
honour famous men, namely the military genius and statesman the 1st Duke of
Wellington and the pre-eminent banker Francis Child and his family.
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| Apsley House, No 1, London |
Positioned perfectly on one side of busy Hyde Park Corner, Apsley House (now also known as the
Wellington Museum) was probably nick-named “No 1 London” as it was the
first large London house travellers came across as they left the suburban
Knightsbridge toll road. The house we see now was built (1771-80) for Earl
Bathurst (also Baron Apsley) from designs in red brick by the distinguished
neo-classical architect Robert Adam. Bathurst sold the house in 1807 to Richard
Wellesley, Lord Mornington, the retired and portentous Governor-General of
India. Mornington sold the house for £42,000 to his younger brother Arthur in
1817 by which time Arthur had become the hero of conservative Europe for
vanquishing Napoleon and had become 1st Duke of Wellington.
Mornington had altered the original building in 1808 using
James Wyatt, but the Duke extensively remodelled the house from 1828-9, adding
the Corinthian portico, building the Waterloo Gallery and re-facing in Bath stone.
Not much of Adam’s building survived and the Duke was not best pleased when the
new architect Benjamin Wyatt’s (son of James) estimate of £14,000 swelled to
£38,000 and total costs soared to £61,000. Wyatt invented an eclectic style of
neo-Louis XIV, Rococo and Regency, which was derided by the sophisticates but
admired by the public.
Apsley House is above all an art gallery as Wellington had
been gifted by the King of Spain the paintings looted by Joseph Bonaparte from
Madrid which the Duke recaptured at his great victory at Vitoria in June 1813.
The collection was supplemented by mainly military paintings collected by the
Duke. The Vitoria paintings include masterpieces by Velasquez, Rubens, Murillo
and Correggio, numerous Dutch and Flemish works and in a stairwell stands an
unlikely 13 ft Canova sculpture of Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker.
.jpg) |
| The Water-Seller by Velasquez |
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| Canova's Napoleon the Peacemaker |
From 1830 to 1852, the Duke entertained officers in the
stately Waterloo Gallery on the anniversary of the battle. London had
Wellington-mania with statues and monuments honouring the great man everywhere.
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| The Waterloo Gallery |
The triumphalism of the Wellington cult rather got out of
hand and the laconic Duke was a symbol of reaction to many – although as Prime
Minister he had enacted Catholic Emancipation in 1828, his opposition to
parliamentary reform caused an enraged mob to pull down his railings and break
his windows in 1832. Yet the Duke was revered in his old age, his funeral in
1852 was a national thanks-giving and that spirit of esteem is well illustrated
by the 1822 painting by Sir David Wilkie Chelsea
Pensioners reading the Waterloo Despatch now hanging proudly at Apsley
House.
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| Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Despatch by Sir David Wilkie |
……………………………………..
Osterley Park is
a more restrained building, with a famous Robert Adam interior, erected over a
Tudor house first used by the Elizabethan magnate and founder of the Royal
Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham. The corner towers of Gresham’s time survive but
the house we now see was the creation to some degree of Sir William Chambers
but from 1761 the guiding light was Robert Adam who had come home from travels
in Europe and the Levant brim-full of new architectural ideas.
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| Osterley Park |
Osterley is now a pleasant suburb of West London not far
from Heathrow Airport but in the 18th century it was decidedly
rural. It had been bought by the pioneering Lord Mayor, goldsmith and banker
Francis Child who established Child & Co at No 1 Fleet Street (not quite
the cachet of No 1, London but still memorable!) and it was his grandson,
another Francis, who initiated the great building works to transform the house
into a monument of 18th century classicism.
Robert Adam created an elegant neo-classical house, paying
lavish homage to the art of Greek, Roman and Etruscan traditions. He designed
the portico with steps up to the piano
nobile and a rather inconvenient walk over an uncovered court to the front
door. The entrance hall itself would do justice to a fine villa in Pompeii.
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| The Entrance Hall at Osterley |
Adam cherished the Etruscans and his Etruscan Room is a
lightweight confection but was not admired by the outspoken contemporary
visitor Horace Walpole, who was a critic of excessive delicacy.
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| Osterley, the Etruscan Room |
Finally, the room that most appeals to me is the lovely
Tapestry Room designed to enhance the Gobelin
tapestries owned by the family. It is a warmly vibrant place exuding the breath
of Georgian England.
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| Osterley, The Tapestry Room |
By marriage Osterley passed from the Childs to the Earls of
Jersey, who cared for the house until 1947 when it was donated to The National Trust. Its large grounds are enjoyed by the local people of Hounslow, with
its Adam Garden House, and Osterley Park itself stands as a monument to an age
of elegance and beauty.
SMD
16.01.14
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2014
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