Old Battersea House

Old Battersea House is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Battersea, South West London and is Grade II* listed.[1] It was built around 1699,[1] and was once rumoured to have been designed by Sir Christopher Wren.[2][3]

Old Battersea House viewed from Vicarage Crescent

Building

Until the 1930s, the building was known as Terrace House.[4] It was built for the "naval administrator"[3] Samuel Pett,[5] and was most likely completed in 1699.[4]

Battersea Council almost demolished the house in the 1920s and built St. John's estate[6] (now Battersea Village) on the grounds of the house in the 1930s. In 1931 it passed into the possession of novelist Wilhelmina Stirling, who renamed it Old Battersea House.[3] Under her tenure the house served to house a collection of art by her sister, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn De Morgan, and Evelyn's husband, the potter designer William De Morgan.[7][8] This collection is now kept by the De Morgan Foundation.

The building was listed on 28 June 1954[1] and became derelict after Stirling's death in 1965. It was acquired by Malcolm Forbes in 1970[6] and housed some of his family's valuable art collection until 2011.[9]

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References
  1. "OLD BATTERSEA HOUSE - 1065500". Historic England. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  2. John J. Tackett (2011-10-21). "The Devoted Classicist: Old Battersea House". Tdclassicist.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  5. "Samuel Pett (c.1644 - c.1699) - Genealogy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  7. "BFI Screenonline: Old Battersea House (1961)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  8. "Wilhelmina Stirling's Battersea art collections on display - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  9. "Forbes family sells £5 million art hoard from their London home | London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2017-02-23.

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