Garrick's Villa is a Grade I country house located on Hampton Court Road in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The structure was originally constructed in the Middle Ages. The country house was initially listed as Hampton House prior to its acquisition by David Garrick in 1754. Numerous alterations were made to it during Garrick's tenure by Robert Adam, including the portico, the building of an orangery and the construction of a tunnel under the road to connect with his riverside lawn. A wing was added to the west side of the house in 1864.
During the early part of the 20th century the house was the family home of Sir (James) Clifton Robinson (1848-1910), Managing Director and Chief Engineer of London United Tramways, and a single private tram track leading into the grounds was constructed. The house was converted into flats in 1922 and redeveloped again in 1969.
On 25 October 2008, during building works on the house, a fire broke out and was brought under control five hours later.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
The original Hampton House and grounds were acquired by David Garrick between 1753 and 1754. The house was, and remains, separated from the southern, riverside part of the site by Hampton Court Road. By 1755 Garrick had begun to build Shakespeare's Temple on the riverside part of the grounds; the architect is thought to be have been Lancelot Brown, who between 1756 and 1757 advised Garrick on the small-scale landscape development, including the making of a tunnel beneath the road to connect the main northern garden with the riverside garden (Stroud 1975). Robert Adam (1728-92), who worked closely with Garrick on his theatre in Drury Lane, added a new front to the house and constructed the orangery. After Garrick died in 1779 his widow, Eva, continued to live at the Villa until her death in 1822.
Hampton Court Road was widened in 1902 to accommodate trams, which required the north end of the tunnel to be extended. By 1922 the Orangery had been converted into residential accommodation, and in the C20 a large part of the lawn was built on. By the mid 1970s over 100 elm trees had been lost through Dutch Elm disease and much of the existing planting dates from this period.
The Villa and the grounds to the north of Hampton Court Road, the tunnel, and a small part of the riverside garden are in private ownership; the remainder of the riverside garden is a public open space.
DESCRIPTION
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING: Garrick's Villa is situated on the north bank of the Thames in the area known as Hampton, c1km west of Hampton Court Palace. The Villa is separated from the Thames-side lawns (Temple Lawn) by Hampton Court Road. The Bushy Park Environment Centre at the south-west corner of Bushy Park (qv) lies to the east, beyond the late C20 Hogarth Way, and Johnson's Drive to the west. The level grounds to the north of the road have been reduced, through development, from 2ha to c 1.5ha. The Thames-side lawn remains relatively intact, although in split ownership, and occupies c 0.25ha.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES: The main area of Temple Lawn, on the south of Hampton Court Road, is public open space with entrances from the west and east off the public road. The small area to the east which is not in public ownership is approached via Garrick's tunnel under the road.
The private garden to the north of the Villa is entered through either of two entrances in the southern boundary wall which runs along the length of the property. The approach to the garden from the west entrance crosses a paved area in front of the Villa to the east side of the site.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: The C18 Hampton House, known since the mid C19 as Garrick's Villa, was acquired by David Garrick between 1753 and 1754 and altered by Robert Adam c 1756 and again in 1775. The three-storey villa, seven windows wide, is built in yellow brick and has a Corinthian columned portico in the middle of the south front. A three-storey wing three windows wide to the west was added in 1864, with pilasters and cornice to match the main block.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS: Much of the ground to the north of the Villa is taken up with modern housing. A gravel path leads past the front of the Villa for c 40m to the tunnel which leads to the Thames-side garden. The tunnel was possibly designed by Lancelot Brown, who certainly advised Garrick to build a tunnel and not the bridge that Garrick had originally intended. The tunnel has battered sides faced with flint nodules and a segmental-arched tunnel vault lined with slag. The floor is paved with stone slabs and flint-work. There are grassed slopes around the entrance to the tunnel and the gravel path continues 30m east, past evergreen oak which screen a new parking area, to Hogarth Way, the service road to the late C20 houses on the east side of the garden. The brick boundary wall to the east of Hogarth Way continues 200m north to the Orangery with a narrow bed planted with small shrubs and trees at its base. The wall runs to the south of Garrick's raised mound which was designed to give views into Bushy Park; this now survives within the western boundary of Bushy Park (qv). The Orangery, which was converted to residential use in 1922, was built by 1758 and is thought to have been designed by Robert Adam. It has a white-painted stucco front and is two storeys high with C20 wings added to either side of the C18 building and C20 garages on the north-west side. From the Orangery there is a good view south across the lawn back to the house. Mature trees and new plantings along the west side of the lawn help to attract the eye away from much of the new build.
The Temple Lawn, to the south of Hampton Court Road, is dominated by Garrick's 'Shakespeare's Temple' (listed grade I) at the west end of the lawn. Built in c 1756, it is an octagonal brick structure with a lead dome and once held Roubiliac's statue of Shakespeare. The lawns slope gently down to the river bank. The bank, from which there is a fine view of the Villa, now (1997) has a number of small trees growing along it, unlike the open aspect with light planting depicted in The Modern Universal British Traveller. Garrick's c 80m serpentine path system, which led between trees and shrubs from the tunnel to the Temple, and which survived until at least 1865 when it is shown on the OS 1st edition map, has now been replaced by a straight path bordered on the south by lawns and on the north by shrubs and the boundary with Hampton Court Road. A C20 shelter built against the north retaining wall supports a ramp down from Hampton Court Road.