Hogarth's House – The Big Day
In about an hour from now, Hogarth’s House will once again be open to the public. Â Wonderful timing for the great man’s birthday this Thursday. After a total refurbishment that dragged on for three years because of serious fire damage in October 2009, the 1715 Grade 1 listed country retreat opens its doors to us at last. Hogarth lived in the place with his wife Jane from 1749 until his death in 1764. In those days the building was surrounded by fields. Today it goes largely unnoticed as thousands of cars zoom past each day on the A4 dual-carriageway.
Although William Hogarth extended the house to include a studio, its main function was a country retreat: he continued to do most of his work and business at his town house in what is now Leicester Square. The Hogarths made their home available as a wet nursery for foundlings left at Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital, an institution which Hogarth actively supported. [I haven’t got this quite right: please read Val Bott’s detailed comment]
The refurbishment project has been led by Val Bott, a distinguished local historian and museum consultant who is a trustee of the William Hogarth Trust. We’re proud also to have Val as a member of London Historians. She has been in charge of the decor and all new display materials which are substantial compared to previously. There is a section which features other owners and residents of the house over the years, something which was not really addressed prior to the restoration.
Here is a picture I took last Tuesday, when everywhere was a maelstrom of last-minute preparations. I shall visit during this week and add some interior shots.
9 November: And here they are. Mostly uncaptioned, I think they’re kind of self-explanatory to give you a flavour of the place and also to encourage you to go yourself and have a look! My overall impression: fabulous!
There are some more pictures on the History Today web site, here.
The house is free to visit and will be open every day except Mondays, from noon to 5pm. The best way to visit the house is to take the Tube to Turnham Green. Walk up Turnham Green Terrace and check out the 2001 statue of Hogarth and his pug on Chiswick High Road. From there it’s a 10-15 minute walk (best to use Devonshire Road, I reckon) to the house.
I am looking forward to a tour of the house. Have they opened up areas previously forbidden, do you know?
Good to see Hogarth’s WW2 bomb-damaged mulberry tree survives (front right, surrounded by palings).
This tree is famous: it appears on JL Carr’s wonderful pictorial map of Middlesex, purchasable from the Quince Tree press via its dreadful website http://www.quincetreepress.co.uk/
Ground and first floors are fully open. Second floor, previously occupied by a live-in custodian is now study / research / outreach kind of area. Attic is shut, presumably for storage and such. Quince Tree Press is asking me to install plug-ins – can’t be arsed right at the minute, maybe later.
Thanks Mike for the coverage and for your help with some finishing touches! Just for clarification, the Foundling Hospital farmed babies out to women in parishes around London (“wet nurses”) who would breast feed and care for them in their homes. Chiswick women already had a reputation for this and Hogarth was made Superintendent of the wet nurses in the Chiswick parish but this would not have taken place at the House.
To answer Will Watts above, the top floor now houses a proper store (not open to visitors) and for the first time an office/workspace for staff and volunteers. The middle room will be a study space for small group workshops and work with children, all of which will have to be booked in advance. (these will be advertised in the near future). Because the House has only one stair and nowhere where another or a lift can be provided, there is a limit on the number of people who may be on the second floor at any one time, so the study room is only going to be open by appointment and for no more than ten people at a time. There is an empty garret or attic in the roof which once had two plastered rooms, probably used as servants’ bedrooms – and Foundling children may have stayed there too, but this is absolutely not part of the usual visit for the same reason of safety. Hope this is not disappointing! The new interpretation includes external information panels which help you explore the structure of the House and the layout of the garden and the internal displays provide many routes into understanding how the House worked and who lived there in the past (between 1717 and 1940!)
Thank you, Val, very helpful comment, especially clearing up the wet nurse business.