Turner's house, Twickenham

Design for Sandycombe Lodge c 1812 JMW Turner Tate Britain

Sandycombe Lodge © The Trustees of the British Museum

It may come as a surprise that JMW Turner was interested in pursuing a career in architecture until he was advised by Thomas Hardwick to continue painting. Though he went on to become one of England’s most celebrated landscape painters he designed Sandycombe Lodge in Twickenham as a country retreat for himself and his father. This is the only example of JMW Turner’s architecture extant.

In May 1807 Turner bought a two acre plot of land in Twickenham and from 1810 his sketchbooks contain a number of preliminary drawings for the planned building. His vision was of a simple but elegant country villa in Italianate style located near the unspoilt Thames Valley with views from the upper floor to Richmond Hill and the river Thames. There he could sketch, go fishing and entertain friends. His father managed the house and garden, with ponds at the bottom of the garden to store live fish caught in the Thames.

Building work was completed in 1813 and the house is seen as a small gem of Regency architecture with many echoes of the work of Turner’s great friend Sir John Soane, the architect of the Bank of England and fellow Academician (JMW Turner was Professor of Perspective while John Soane was Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy). Turner and Soane shared a love of fishing and Turner was a frequent visitor to his retreat at Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing and at Lincoln Inn Fields, now the Soane Museum.

BG Windus was only 23 when Sandycombe Lodge was completed but later when he established his Turner collection did John Soane visit the collection or perhaps join Turner for dinner there? Turner’s RA friend George Jones did so on a number of occasions.

And given Turner and Soane’s love of fishing did they ever fish in the River Lea; it was already famous for fishing through Isaac Walton’s The Compleat Angler (1653) in which Tottenham Cross is described:

And so you are welcome to Tottenham High Cross.
[...]
          And pray now let’s rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbour,
         which nature herself has woven with her own fine fingers ;
’tis such a contexture of wood-bines, sweetbriar, jessamine, and myrtle, and so interwoven,
as will secure us both from the sun’s violent heat, and from the approaching shower.

BG Windus’s house at Tottenham Green stood 150 metres from Tottenham Cross.

A look at the house in 2015

Photographs by David Cottridge, who had one of his pictures in Royal Academy Summer exhibition in 2015 took these photographs of the house.

Restoration

The house before restoration.

The restoration

In 2015, just before the house closed for restoration, a group of JMW Turner enthusiasts from Tottenham visited Sandycombe Lodge.  We were greeted by Turner’s House Trust Chair, Catherine Parry-Wingfield, and taken on an informative and inspiring tour of the house by volunteers, Mary Rose and Janice. 

We learnt about the architecture of the house which the Trust will restore to Turner’s original design over the next two years, there being substantial additions to expand the cottage into a family home after Turner sold the house in 1826. The house, located in the unspoilt Thames Valley, was close to a number of grand country houses (most of which no longer exist) and several influential figures lived nearby which may have influenced Turner’s decision to build there.

We could easily imagine ‘Old Dad’ in the kitchen, picture the pond where Turner kept the catch from his fishing trips on the Thames fresh for supper, and indeed envisage the view to the river he enjoyed from his bedroom. A truly evocative experience enjoyed by all.

The house has now reopened.  To book a visit go here