In 2022 Orleans House Gallery, the home of Richmond Borough’s art collection, turned 50. This significant anniversary provided an excuse to explore the formation of the collection. Many local authorities in the UK own an art collection. Richmond’s Art Collection includes a wide range of artworks which together tell a fascinating story about the borough and its people.
As part of the Richmond Literature Festival, for the first time the stories of the historic houses and gardens of the Arcadian Thames have been brought together in one fine volume; the lost houses as well as those that have been saved.
The gardens and grounds of Orleans House were ceremoniously transformed and reconfigured by each occupant of the 18th century house. As the estate expanded down to the river and up towards Richmond Road, the gardens saw orchards, grottos, ice houses, formal planting and wild woodland.
Orleans House was a home and meeting place for royalty, politicians and gentry in the two centuries it stood on the Twickenham riverside. It was demolished in 1926. Without the foresight of local resident The Honourable Nellie Ionides, reputed to be the richest woman in England in the 1950s, it is likely that the glorious Octagon Room would have suffered the same fate.
Visit Pitzhanger Manor, former home of neo-classical architect Sir John Soane, for an evening of talks about three important collections of art and objects and how they were assembled