OSTERLEY PARK is a mansion set in a large park of the same name in the London Borough of Hounslow, part of the western suburbs of London. This house is one of a group of large houses close to London which served as country RETREATS for wealty families like SYON HOUSE and CHISWICK HOUSE. OSTRLEY PARK is one of the largest open spaces in west London though it is marred by the presence of the M4 Motorway which cuts across the middle of the park.
When I am coming into central London from Heathrow Airport, I pass by the entrance to OSTERLEY PARK, and I am reminded that I must blog about this fabulous country seat.
The original building on this site was a anor house built for banker Sir Thomas Gresham in the 1570′s It is known that Elizabeth I visited twice. The stable block from this period remains at Osterley Park. Two hundreds years later, the manor house was falling into disrepair wen it came into the ownership of Sir Francis Child, the head of Child’s Bank. In 1761, he employed Robert Adam who was emerging as one of the most fashionable architects in England to remodel the house. When Sir Francis died in 1763, the project was taken up by his brother and heir Robert Child for whom the interiors were created.
Adam’s neoclassical interiors are among his most notable sequences of rooms. Horace Walpole sarcastically described the drawing room as WORTHY OF EVE BEFORE THE FALL. The rooms are characterized by elaborate but restrained plasterwork, ric, highly varied color 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 ws inspired by the Etruscan vases in Sir William Hamilton’s collection. Adam also designed some of the furniture, including the opulent domed state bed, still in the house.
Osterley Park was used for Buckingham Palace scenes including Victoria’s sitting room and anteroom in the 2009 film THE YOUNG VICTORIA starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend.
OSTERLEY PARK WEBSITE: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-osterleypark.htm
ADDRESS: OSTERLEY PARK, Jersey Road, Isleworth, London TW7
CHISWICK HOUSE, SYON HOUSE, AND OSTERLEY PARK are absolutely MUST SEE VISITS while you are in London. Fabulous. What a destination.
Thomas Moore email: TMooreSr@me.com Telephone: 801.791.9918
I have written several posts about the new vitality in South London. The art galleries, restaurants, and clubs are thriving. Well, so is the church ALL SAINTS CHURCH, PECKHAM. The church started in 1867 when Peckham was a village on the edge of Camberwell and was a haven outside the intense bustle of Victorian London. Within a few years the church had grown from about 20 people to over 600 adults in the congregation, and there was even a children’s service for 800 children each Sunday afternoon.
ALL SAINTS HAS TWO SERVICES each Sunday, a morning service at 10:30 am and an evening service at 7pm. There is also a midweek service on Tuesdays at 11:00am. The services reflect the New Wine/SoulSurvivor style of worship. In 2005 the church released its first live worship CD YOUR FAVOR.
I realize that many of my readers stay on the north side of the Thames–probably because limited time allows visits only to the more famous church buildings like Westminster Abbey, Brompton Oratorio, and St. Paul’s. But for those who have a bit more time, start exploring South London. Great things are happening there. I have written about BOROUGH MARKET and the GLOBE, etc., but I think ALL SAINTS PECKHAM would be a wonderful experience. You would mingle with local Londoners and would be hearing accents which are so charming.
Fun