Pitzhanger Manor: Sir John Soane’s Neoclassical Country House in London
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- British
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page12 sections
History
Pitzhanger Manor is a neoclassical country house in Ealing, London, United Kingdom, rebuilt by Sir John Soane and completed in 1804. Soane, a leading English neoclassical architect who served as architect and surveyor to the Bank of England, intended the house as a country residence, a place for entertaining, and a setting for his collection of art and antiquities.
Before Soane
A substantial house stood on the site by the late seventeenth century. Between 1664 and 1674, Richard Slaney paid Hearth Tax on a building with 16 hearths. This tax was assessed according to the number of fireplaces in a property, and the payment indicates a house of considerable size.
In 1711, John and Mary Wilmer arranged the marriage of their eldest daughter, Grizell Wilmer (1692–1756), to Johnathan Gurnell (1684–1753). Gurnell later became a merchant and co-founded the city bank Gurnell, Hoare, and Harman. Through the marriage, the property eventually passed to their surviving son, Thomas Gurnell.
Thomas Gurnell bought Pits Hanger Manor Farm in 1765. The farm’s smaller manor house stood about 1.5 kilometres to the north, while the larger house on the present site was known as Pitshanger Place. In 1768, George Dance the Younger, an influential eighteenth-century English architect and Soane’s teacher and early employer, was commissioned to extend the house. The young Soane worked on this project during one of his early architectural apprenticeships.
Soane’s rebuilding, 1800–1810
After Thomas Gurnell’s death, the house passed to his son, Johnathan II. When Johnathan II died in 1791, ownership was held in trust for his young daughter. The property was let while the trustees considered its future, and they decided to sell it in 1799.
Soane acquired the estate in 1800 for £4,500, together with 28 acres. He demolished most of the earlier house and its outbuildings but retained Dance’s two-storey south wing, whose elegant interiors he admired. Most of the rebuilding was complete by late 1803, and the house was fully completed in 1804. The work formed part of Soane’s early nineteenth-century neoclassical practice, which drew on the forms and proportions of ancient Greek and Roman buildings.
Soane lived at Pitzhanger from 1800 to 1810. He hoped the estate would become the home of an architectural family dynasty, but this plan failed after his wife, Eliza, became unhappy in the country and Soane fell out with their sons, John and George. He consequently sold the property. Part of his expanding collection of paintings, books, architectural drawings, classical antiquities, and architectural fragments was kept at Pitzhanger. Much of that material is now held by Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.
From private house to public institution
After Soane’s sale, the estate passed through several owners. Eric Mackay, 7th Lord Reay, acquired it in 1832. In 1843, the house became the home of the daughters of former British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
Ealing Urban District Council acquired Pitzhanger in 1900, with one quarter of the purchase price provided by Middlesex County Council. The council intended to convert the house into a free public library, although the work began only after the death of its last resident, Frederika Perceval, in May 1901. The Lending Library opened in April 1902 and remained until 1984.
After the library moved out, the first phase of restoration began in 1985. Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery was established as a heritage attraction in 1987, and contemporary art exhibitions were introduced from 1996. The building was converted into an exhibition centre after the library’s departure.
In 2015, the manor closed for a major conservation project led by Ealing Council in collaboration with the Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery Trust, with assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project aimed to restore the Grade I listed building to Soane’s designs and improve the gallery. Pitzhanger reopened on 16 March 2019, presenting Soane’s original design for the first time in more than 175 years. The building had been designated Grade I in 1950, the highest category of statutory protection for buildings of exceptional architectural or historic interest in England.
Remains
Pitzhanger Manor stands in what is now Walpole Park, Ealing, as part of the former estate associated with the names Pits Hanger Manor Farm and Pitts Hanger. The central house is a two-storey brick building completed in 1804. Its neoclassical exterior combines Ionic columns, whose capitals have scroll-like forms, with Portland-stone medallions and relief panels, as well as ceramic statues.
The Soane and Dance house
Exterior and south wing
The two-storey south wing designed by George Dance survives as part of the manor. Soane retained it because of its refined interiors and because he had worked on the extension as Dance’s apprentice. The Eating Room was the principal surviving element of Dance’s design. Soane also extended the eastern side of the property with mock Roman ruins and a kitchen block, possibly adapting existing buildings. These eastern buildings were demolished in or around 1901.
Interior features
The completed house contains characteristic Soane interiors, including quartered and canopy dome ceilings, inset mirrors, and wooden panelling. These spaces share architectural features with Soane’s London home at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The combination of classical references, mirrors, domes, and controlled natural light reflects the methods associated with his domestic architecture.
Library and gallery buildings
South library extension
During the conversion to a public library, Ealing’s chief surveyor Charles Jones designed a ground-floor extension beside the Breakfast Room. It had a pitched slate roof and was conceived as an almost mirror image of the adjoining structure. To link the extension with the Eating Room, workers removed its tall windows and glazing frames. Three large arched pedestrian openings were then formed beneath the original semi-circular arches made from closely fitted, specially shaped bricks.
Lending Library block
On the north side, the servants’ quarters were demolished and some ornamental faux Roman ruins were removed to make space for a new Lending Library block. The building had matching arched windows, while its Portland-stone portico carried the words “Lending Library” on the lintel. A slightly larger replacement built between 1938 and 1940 survives as Pitzhanger Gallery.
Estate features and collections
A gate designed by Soane marks the entrance to the estate, and a stone bridge designed by him stands in the adjoining Walpole Park. The gallery displays English ceramics made by the Martin Brothers between 1873 and 1923. The Martin Brothers were a British family pottery firm known for distinctive ceramics, including art pottery. The Soane-designed portions of the manor continue to be restored progressively in accordance with the original plans.
Nearby sites
