Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery and Walpole Park *

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

There appears to have been a substantial property on the site by the mid C17th as Richard Slaney paid Hearth Tax on a building with 16 hearths. There were various owners until 1711, when it became the property of wealthy merchant Jonathan Gurnell, who married Grizell Wilmer whose family then owned the house, later passing to their son Thomas. Thomas commissioned George Dance the Younger to improve the house in 1768, and it later passed to his son Jonathan in 1785. After his death in 1791 the house probably stood empty as his son was not yet of age and the Trustees decided to sell the property. In 1800 the manor house and c.28 acres of land were sold to architect John Soane (1753-1837) for £4,500. Soane was architect of the Bank of England and later of Dulwich Picture Gallery (q.v.), and he had also been an apprentice of Dance when he was working for Gurnell. Soane redesigned Pitzhanger Manor as his ‘country’ residence. Here he entertained and displayed his art collection, retaining what is now Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn as the family residence. He demolished most of Dance's building apart from the southern extension and redesigned the main block. He also added the entrance archway on Mattock Lane, replacing an earlier one to the east, and he also built an adjacent small single-storey lodge.

In June 1809 Soane decided to sell Pitzhanger Manor and from 1810 it passed through a number of owners until it was purchased in 1843 by Spencer Horatio Walpole MP (1806-1898) after whom the public park was later named. Walpole lived next door in a house called The Hall and Pitzhanger Manor became the home of his four unmarried sisters-in-law, the daughters of the former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Spencer Perceval who was assassinated in 1812. The setting of the house had remained largely rural until the mid C19th set amongst other detached villas built along Ealing Green. The last Miss Perceval died aged 95 in May 1900 and the estate was sold to Ealing UDC by her nephew Sir Spencer Walpole, negotiations having commenced earlier in the year. The cost was £40,000, with Middlesex County Council contributing £10,000. Alterations were then carried out by Ealing Borough Surveyor Charles Jones, who demolished outbuildings and the servants' wing to the east, building an extension to the west of Dance's wing and a new lending library, itself replaced by a larger structure in 1940. Jones also redesigned elements of the grounds for the municipal park, which opened to the public in 1901. Various amenities were added over the C20th such as playgrounds, tennis courts, a pond.

The main area of the parkland is south-west of the mansion and in the main consists of grass crossed by tree-lined axial avenues dating from the early C20th. Smaller paths are laid out around the perimeter. In the central area are a number of fine old trees that may be remnants of C18th field boundaries. Halfway across the park a long elongated oval stone-edged lake was constructed in 1904/5, the work carried out as a scheme to help the long-term unemployed. It had two small islands planted with shrubs and small trees, with a fountain between them. Waterfowl were donated and in the summer it was used as a model boating lake. The site corresponded with an old field boundary and it may have been an earlier drainage ditch. The OS of 1865 shows a fishpond here, which had probably dried up by the time it was laid out as a public park. To the east of lake an open-air theatre and café were added in the late C20th. Another path leading to the Lammas Park Road entrance is lined by trees that were planted to commemorate past mayors of the borough, and other trees along the path from this entrance also has commemorative trees planted in the latter part of the C20th. By this path is a wooden shelter built c.1920 to service the tennis courts that were once here near the western boundary of the park.

The grounds were opened as a public park on 1 May 1901 by Ealing's MP, the Rt Hon Lord George Hamilton, and in April 1902 the house opened as a public library. The name Walpole Park appears to have been adopted in late 1900. Two new entrances to the park were made in the early C20th and another new entrance from Ealing Green dates from c.1921 when the War Memorial was built, designed by Leonard A Shuffrey, taking the form of two curved walls either side of the entrance inscribed with the names of those who died in WWI; another tier of names was added following WWII. The library continued to operate here until 1984 after which restoration works began to be carried out to both mansion and grounds, the house re-opening as a museum in the late 1990s.

Formal gardens are reached from the main entrance via a path lined with shrubs to the north, which continues to a small circular stone-lined fishpond dating from the early municipal layout. North of the small fishpond is an early C19th Portland stone seat with a grotesque carved mask in the backrest. The path then divides, one branch leading between the mansion's west front and rectangular west lawn set with beds that date from the 1940s onwards, including a circular bed with silver birch commemorating HRH Princess Diana that was laid out in 1998. One of the existing Cedar trees on the west lawn dates back to the C18th. The main branch of the path leads over a low rustic classically-styled bridge with 3 arches, which Soane appears to have resurfaced with rubble, flint and dressed stone to suggest greater antiquity. At one time Coade stone vases decorated the parapet, but have since been removed. The bridge crossed a small stream that was once a small serpentine lake made for Soane in 1800. The path then passes a bronze portrait bust of Charles Jones, created by Frank Bowcher, which provides a monument to Jones who died in 1913. Soane's rustic bridge forms the northern end of a sunken garden created in the 1920s, to the east of which an evergreen hedge was planted to separate the rock garden from the rectangular lawn. A number of animal enclosures and children's play area have been provided, with an early C20th wooden shelter to the west of the enclosures. The kitchen garden was to the south of the mansion, and remains a partially enclosed walled garden entered from the north through a classical doorway. It is marked on John Rocque's map of 1746 and by 1832 had a hothouse and grapery, but by the early C20th it was abandoned. It was laid out as a rose garden in 1920s and now has a late C20th wooden pergola.

In 2009 Ealing Council began planning a major restoration project to rejuvenate both the house and its immediate park setting, aiming to revive the historic landscape reflecting Soane's original designs and upgrading the facilities. In 2011 Ealing Council was awarded £2.4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  Research undertaken by Sarah Couch revealed that Soane had taken an active involvement in the design and use of the park and gardens, with numerous notebooks and account books recording considerable detail.  Work on the park was completed in 2014. The landscape architects were J&L Gibbons, with Land Management Services assisting  with planting design. The corner of the park where Soane had cow yards and haystacks has become the site of The Rickyard, an education centre, events space and kiosk cafe. 

In 2015-19 Pitzhanger Manor was restored to its Soane-era condition through the conservation and restoration project led by Ealing Council working with Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust, an independent charitable trust who now manages the building and its cultural and educational programme. The project received National Lottery Heritage funding and was supported by Arts Council England, as well as many trusts, foundations, individuals and corporate sponsors. The building was closed in March 2015 when works began, reopening in March 2019, to reveal much of Soane’s original designs and restored architectural features. Elements of his original scheme have been reinstated, including the conservatory demolished in 1901, the central roof light, and a colonnade that now connects the Gallery and Manor. The original paint schemes, overpainted in the 1830s, have been recreated throughout, as has the hand-painted Chinese wallpaper in the Upper Drawing Room, and marbling in the Entrance Hall. The lead architects in the project were Jestico & Whiles, with support of  heritage experts Julian Harrap Architects and a team of specialist contractors led by Quinn London Ltd, including Hare & Humphreys interior decoration specialists and craftspeople bringing their skill to reinstating everything from stone carving, wallpaper, glass and landscaping.

The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.