JMW Turner's House in Twickenham

In 1807, JMW Turner purchased a two-acre plot of land between Twickenham and Richmond bridge. By 1813, Sandycombe Lodge was built, to his own designs. Elements of the building, including the rounded wings and the laylight above the stairs, hint at the influence of Turner's great friend, Sir John Soane (1753-1837), whose Lincoln's Inn Fields home - now the Sir John Soane Museum - was being constructed at around the same time. The new house served as a retreat for Turner from the busy art world of London, and provided a home for his retired father, 'Old William', a retired barber. However, Turner also entertained close friends here, and the surrounding landscape inspired many of his paintings of this period, most famously England: Richmond Hill on the Prince Regent's Birthday of 1819 (Tate Britain).

After Turner sold Sandycombe in 1826, the house passed through various hands until, in 1947, it was bought by Professor Harold and Mrs Ann Livermore. In 2005, Professor Livermore established the Sandycombe Lodge Trust (now Turner's House Trust), to whom ownership of Sandycombe passed in 2010, on Professor Livermore's death. Conservation work began on the house in 2016, following a major fundraising campaign, and the house opened to the public in July 2017.