West Hall, Kew
General information
Type	Residential
Location	West Hall Road, Kew, Richmond TW9 4EE, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Coordinates	51°28′33″N 0°16′44″W / 51.4758°N 0.2789°W / 51.4758; -0.2789
Completed	circa 1700
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	West Hall
Designated	25 October 1951
Reference no.	1253185

West Hall at West Hall Road, Kew, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a Grade II listed building^[1] dating from the end of the 17th century.^[2] It is Kew's only surviving 17th-century building apart from Kew Palace.^[3]

History

The house stands on what was described in 1386 as an estate of 160 acres. This was included in Mortlake Manor, which was owned by the Archbishops of Canterbury.^[2]

By the end of the 15th century, West Hall estate had become part of the new manor of East Sheen and West Hall.^[2]

The late 17th-century house^[4] was probably built by the lord of the manor, Thomas Juxon, who lived in East Sheen, as a house to let.^[2] A second substantial house to let, Brick Farm, was built just to the west.^[5] This later became the home of Sir William Hooker, the first Director of Kew Gardens, who rented the house and renamed it West Park.^[3] The estates of both houses were let out for grazing and market gardening.^[5]

In 1813 the painter William Harriott is recorded as living at West Hall.^[6] He was the son of the miniaturist Diana Hill, who also lived at the Hall.^[7]

Although the house of West Hall remains, and the property includes gardens and cottages,^[8] much of its estate, and that of the neighbouring Brick Farm, has now been redeveloped for housing.^[9]

The roof and upper floor of the house were damaged by fire in 2005.^[8] In 2007 the house was restored by the Bissell Thomas family.^[3][8]

West Hall in popular culture

Joanna Lumley was filmed at West Hall in the mid-1990s for her television series Class Act.^[8]

References

Sources

• Blomfield, David: Kew Past, Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 1994, ISBN 0-85033-923-5