Description

RICHMOND ROAD
21-MAY-1973 ISLEWORTH
787/21/376 Nazareth House

II

Nazareth (formerly Isleworth) House. 1832 with and addition of 1901. Edward Blore, architect of house; Pugin and Pugin, architects of chapel extension.
EXTERIOR OF HOUSE: classical-Italianate, rendered and painted. Channelled rustication to ground floor, rough-cast to upper floors; moulded cornice, parapet and window surrounds. West (entrance) front of 6 bays with single bay continuation to north. 3 storeys. Projecting square off-centre entrance porch with door surround flanked by pairs of pilasters; windows to sides; parapet above. Ground floor with 6/6 pane sashes and blind boxes. First floor with 6/6 pane sashes; outer bays are plain, inner 5 bays have balustraded balconies and pediments above. Second floor windows altered. East (river) elevation with pair of projecting 3-light 3-storey segmental bays with balconies to first floor; central 1-window bay with balcony and pediment to first floor. Channelled rustication to ground floor, with French windows. Two narrow flat-arched windows in wing set back to left; modified campanile set back at the right hand side: top storey of the campanile is stuccoed, with a triple blank arcade to each face beneath a deep eaves cornice. Heavy moulded stucco cornice and balustraded parapet to central core. INTERIOR OF HOUSE: extensive survival of high quality Greek revival interior fittings, particularly joinery and plasterwork. Imperial staircase with ornate cast iron railings; screen of grey scagliola Ionic columns below, plaster ceiling above. Door surrounds with paterae. Rooms to ground floor along east (river) front retain elaborate plasterwork with acanthus leaf coving and egg and dart enrichment; some sub-division has taken place. Several polished limestone chimneypieces on ground floor. Two principal rooms to first floor retain elaborate plaster ceilings. Servants' stair to north with plain posts. EXTERIOR OF ADDITIONS: Service range, contemporary with the house, adjoins to north-west. Two storeys, rendered brick with slate roof. Stable courtyard to north, with clock turret to north above shallow hipped roof. Adjoining service range to west is a red brick and Bath stone-faced addition of 1901 comprising a two-storey chapel, L-shaped in plan, and link to house. Steeply pitched and crested roof of green slate. Windows with painted stone surrounds and mullions. Entrance to chapel from north: small arched door under niche with statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, set within an arch. Two-light moulded and hooded windows to right; blocked arch to left formerly reached by a staircase (now removed). Elaborate round window within gable; cross finial. Side elevations with segmental-arched windows to ground floors (windows replaced), arched two-light windows between buttresses with quatrefoils to first floor; drip mould with carved head label-stops. South end of chapel has a niche with statue; semi-circular window with four quatrefoils over corbel table. Paired cusped windows to first floor of transept link; round window with quatrefoils to gabled return. INTERIOR OF CHAPEL: eight bay interior on first floor, gallery at north end, sanctuary at south end. Open wooden queen post trussed roof on moulded brackets. Marble High Altar with coloured marble colonnettes and insets. Stained glass windows at south end. Triple arcade to south of sanctuary leads to the nuns' choir. Ground floor formerly used as a dormitory and infirmary.
HISTORY: Isleworth House was built by Blore for Sir William Cooper, physician to George III, who had married into the wealthy Anglo-Jewish Franks family, previous owners of this estate. The Poor Sisters of Nazareth acquired the property in 1892 and added the chapel extension: an application was made to the Heston and Isleworth UDC in May 1901 for this (Building Control records, plan 1517-3). A photograph in the local archives identifies the architects as Pugin and Pugin.
Listed as a significant and finely-detailed design by a prominent late Georgian architect, retaining some good interiors and its service quarters. The Edwardian chapel addition is of high quality by a noted Catholic architectural practice.

Nazareth House, Nazareth House Gatehouse, front entrance gate and gatepost form a group.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26552069

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)