Pitzhanger Manor House

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Pitzhanger Manor House

Pitzhanger Manor-House is a former manor house in the London borough of Ealing . Major parts of the building were designed by the well-known architect John Soane , who owned the property from 1800 to 1810. After changing owners, the house served as a public library for several decades before it was converted into an exhibition center in 1985.

From the Pitshanger family to the first manor house

The name Pitzhanger goes back to the Pitshanger family (also Putelshanger), who are mentioned as landowners in Ealing in the 13th century. Today's Pitzhanger Manor-House with the adjoining Walpole Park are the remaining parts of what was originally a much larger property, the former names of which were Pits Hanger Manor Farm or Pitts Hanger .

There were two mansions on this land in the 18th century, of which the smaller, a simple brick building, called the Manor House or Pitshanger Farmhouse , was demolished in 1908. The larger building, today's Pitzhanger Manor House, is about 1.5 kilometers south of the old Manor House . It was originally built around 1770 by the architect George Dance the Younger for the banker's son Thomas Gurnell. His daughter-in-law Susannah Gurnell (second marriage Susannah Peyton) sold the property to the architect John Soane in 1799 .

John Soane

Soane worked as an architect and surveyor for the Bank of England from 1788 , in this position he bought the Pitzhanger Manor designed by his teacher Dance as a weekend home for himself and his family. Originally consisting of a central building with southern and northern extensions, Soane only left the south wing standing. The new central building is a two-story brick building, the facade of which is crowned by ceramic statues, decorated with Ionic columns , medallions and relief fields made of Portland stone . Together with the single-storey north wing, the new building was completed in 1804. Soane lived in the house until 1810, where he kept part of his growing collection of paintings, books, architectural drawings and fragments, which can now be seen in Sir John Soane's Museum in London . The current spelling of Pitzhanger with a "Z" goes back to him.

Pitzhanger Manor-House today

After Soane sold Pitzhanger Manor, the owners changed hands several times. In 1832, Eric Mackay, 7th Lord Reay (1773-1847), bought the property before the daughters of the murdered British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval lived there from 1844 to 1900 . In 1901 the District Council of Ealing bought the building and used it as a public library after renovations. For this purpose, an extension to the south wing built by Dance was built between 1938 and 1940.

In 1985 the library moved from Pitzhanger Manor to the Ealing Broadway Shopping Center. The building now serves as an exhibition space for the PM Gallery. In addition to a collection of English ceramics by the Martin Brothers from 1873 to 1923, the gallery shows changing exhibitions by contemporary artists. The part of the building designed by Soane is gradually being restored according to the original plans. In the adjacent Walpole Park, which has been open to the public since 1901, there is a stone bridge designed by Soane.

  • Interior design based on George Dance, later moderated by John Soane

  • Entrance gate designed by John Soane

  • View of the east side

  • Walpole Park

  • Stone bridge in Walpole Park

literature

  • Arthur Thomas Bolton: Pitzhanger Manor . Soane Museum Publications no.4, London 1918.
  • Dorothy Stroud: Sir John Soane, architect . DeLaMare, London 1996, ISBN 1-900357-02-X .

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 40 ″  N , 0 ° 18 ′ 26 ″  W.