Our history

The story of Orleans House Gallery begins with Nellie Ionides’ work to save the remaining buildings of Orleans House. The history of the house itself goes back to the early eighteenth century. The house, the Octagon Room, its riverside landscape, and French connections all have wider links to Britain’s colonial history.        

Saving Orleans House: Nellie Ionides’ legacy

In the 20th century, the site experienced decline, demolition, preservation and finally rebirth. Mrs. Nellie Ionides (1883–1962) is central to this story.

Nellie was born into a wealthy Hampton family, and later lived at Buxted Park in Sussex, and at Riverside House next to Orleans House. She collected from an early age and later became an expert on Oriental porcelain. Nellie also collected nearly 500 local views, which now form the core of the Richmond Borough Art Collection.

In 1926, a firm of gravel merchants bought Orleans House. The main house and link building were demolished. Nellie purchased the remaining Octagon Room and stables to preserve the site and prevent redevelopment.

Nellie died in 1962. She bequeathed the buildings, site and her collection to what was then the Borough of Twickenham. The gallery opened to the public in 1972, and today’s thriving cultural and heritage hub is Nellie’s legacy for the local community to enjoy.

The origins of Orleans House and the Octagon Room

In 1710, James Johnston, joint Secretary of State for Scotland, commissioned architect John James to build a simple yet substantial house. It was one of the first important villas along this stretch of the Thames.

In 1720 the baroque Octagon Room was constructed. It was designed by the Scottish architect James Gibbs to entertain on a lavish scale and to curry favour with the royal family. In this respect it was a resounding success. Both George I and George II visited, and Queen Caroline (wife of George II) and her children dined here in 1729.

The room was served by a kitchen, scullery, laundry and room for fruit, as well as a wine cellar. It was set apart from the house until the introduction of a link building in 1750. The interior of the room was painted and gilded with ornate plasterwork by the Swiss ‘stuccatori’ (plasterers) Artari and Bagutti.

The ‘capriccio’ (fantasy) scene of classical Roman ruins over the fireplace is a copy of the lost original that was attributed to Giovanni Paolo Panini.

The portrait bust of George I above the reclining female figures and cherub-like ‘putti’ presides over female personifications of ancient Rome. A portrait medallion of the Emperor Augustus is opposite, heralding a new ‘Augustan age’.

Relief profile portraits of the future George II and Queen Caroline (who dined here in 1729) can be seen above the doors either side of the fireplace.

Notable 18th century residents of the house included George Morton Pitt MP, who changed the Octagon Room and added the link building, and naval officer Sir George Pocock.

The French royal exiles and the Orleans name

Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orléans lived here in exile from 1815–1817. He enjoyed the tranquillity of Twickenham, writing, “I bless heaven, morning, noon and night that I am in my peaceful house in old Twick.”

He became King of the French in 1830 and revisited his former Twickenham home in 1844, accompanied by Queen Victoria.

Louis’s son, Henri, Duc d’Aumale, lived here for nearly two decades from 1852. He built a gallery and library next to the house. His extensive collection of masterpieces, which he brought here by river, included two paintings by Raphael and works by the French and Italian Schools. These are now in the Château de Chantilly near Paris.

The landscape and the Thames

Orleans House overlooks the River Thames and sits within the famous view from Richmond Hill. This is the only view to be legally protected by an Act of Parliament: the Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act of 1902.

This ‘Arcadian’ vista has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. It attracted artists such as Turner and Reynolds who immortalised it in paint. Writer Sir Walter Scott described it as “an unrivalled landscape”, and Horace Walpole likened it to the finest views in Italy.

The vast majority of scenes of the building later known as Orleans House show it from the river, although its main entrance was from Richmond Road. The river view conveyed status and promoted the idea of a country idyll.

The original sixteenth-century estate, built on Crown land, gradually expanded. By the eighteenth century it stretched as far as the river to the south and Richmond Road to the north.

The original garden adjoined the first building. It was “planted with rare and Choyce Flowers and divers small trees”, and arranged into formalised compartments, terraced and surrounded by a wall. When Johnston moved here in 1702, “he amused himself with planting and gardening, in which he was reckoned to have very good taste”.

Under subsequent owners, the grounds and gardens continued to change. By 1808, the entrance was from Riverside rather than across the grounds. Only one of two original canals remained. It was altered into a slightly more naturalistic shape and surrounded by a wooded path with a grotto.

By the mid-nineteenth century, a new drive swept across the park. The remaining pond had reverted to a more formal oval shape, with a central fountain. A new Italian Walk had appeared in the southeast corner.

The planting of trees was more naturalistic, and the kitchen garden was much reduced and replaced with a wooded area criss-crossed with paths. In the twentieth century, the sale of the site to gravel merchants and subsequent demolition of the house transformed the grounds forever.

The original building was replaced by gravel excavations which characterised the site throughout the 1930s. These were superseded by the woodlands, providing a haven for wildlife. The lawns are now used for recreational activities. In recent years, a team of dedicated volunteers have planted flowerbeds to enhance the site.

Connections with Britain’s colonial history

Like many large estates and houses, Orleans House has deep connections with Britain’s colonial history. This history is part of the story of the house: its early owners, its relationship to the Thames, the French connections that gave the site its name, and Nellie Ionides’ role in preserving the remaining buildings and collection.

Bringing these connections together helps us understand how wealth, power and empire shaped the site, and how they continue to influence contemporary culture and society through inequality and racism. By highlighting this history, we hope to better understand the roots of today’s inequalities and support our vision of building community through creativity.

Orleans House was built in the early 18th century, at a time when the newly formed United Kingdom was extending its power across the globe. With the support and direction of government and military force, traders and colonisers sought wealth and new markets. They imposed language, culture and economic systems on communities, often through violence and with disastrous consequences.

British colonialism transferred resources to Britain and made some people very wealthy. Orleans House was built and later developed by people who benefited from this wealth.

As noted above, James Johnston commissioned the house in 1710. He was a Scottish politician and diplomat closely connected to the creation of the United Kingdom and the centralisation of power in London. He assisted the transfer of power during the Glorious Revolution and later the Hanoverian succession.

Johnston was also involved in Scottish plans to develop new colonies. He promoted the failed African Company Bill, which proposed a Scottish settlement in Panama to control transatlantic and Pacific trade routes.

George Morton Pitt bought the house and gardens after Johnston’s death. Pitt was born in 1693 in Madras, now called Chennai. After being educated in England, he returned to India and joined the East India Company, a trading company that came to control large parts of the Indian subcontinent through economic and military power.

He rose to become President of Fort St George in Madras, a very lucrative position, before retiring in 1735. Pitt returned to England, bought the house in Twickenham and became MP for Pontefract. When he died in 1756, he left the house to his stepdaughter, Sophia Dent.

George Pocock married Sophia Dent in 1763. He had been a successful naval commander, fighting against the French in the Indian Ocean and later in the Atlantic. He also convoyed ships on the first leg of the triangular Atlantic slave trade.

These ships carried British goods that would be bartered for enslaved people on the West African coast. Pocock gained fame and fortune at the Battle of Havana in 1762, which led to British dominance in the Caribbean and an increase in the number of enslaved people trafficked from Africa.

Orleans House takes its name from Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, who lived here in exile between 1815 and 1817. He became King of the French in 1830. During his reign, his government promoted colonial expansion in North Africa and occupied much of Algeria.

Orleans House was demolished in 1926 and the site became a gravel pit in the 1930s, with only the outbuildings and Octagon Room remaining. These were saved by Nellie Ionides, an art lover and the daughter of Lord Bearsted, founder of the Shell Transport and Trading Company. She later left the site, buildings and her art collection to the borough.

Colonial histories like these are woven into the story of Orleans House. Recognising this global history is an important first step in understanding how the past continues to shape contemporary inequalities, and how we can work with artists, communities and partners to address them today.

Since opening as a public gallery in 1972, Orleans House Gallery has continued to change and develop as a space for exhibitions, Richmond Arts Service programmes, events and arts education.

We are committed to developing a diverse programme in partnership with artists of colour, diverse-led arts organisations and a broad range of community partners from across the borough and London.