Gate Piers Within Osterley Park

787/0/10174 JERSEY ROAD 11-MAR-04 Isleworth Gate Piers within Osterley Park

GV II Pair of gate piers. 1777. Designed by Robert Adam. Portland stone, with Coade stone insets. Each pier comprises a rectangular section upright on a base with torus moulding; at frieze height, on each of the principal faces, is a patera of artificial stone, set within a projecting block with guttae beneath. Above the moulded caps are plain low blocks, rising upwards to the centre: these supported lanterns, shown as in situ in photographs up to the 1980s. Attached to either side are short runs of contemporaneous spearheaded railings, formerly with gates (again, shown in situ in 1980s photographs) connecting with the adjoining lodge buildings (q.v.). HISTORY: these piers are shown in a drawing in Sir John Soane's Museum, entitled 'Elevation of a Gate and Lodges for Osterley Park. One of the Seats of Robert Child Esq'. They possess Adam's characteristic elegance, and his reliance on Roman sources: the paterae and shape of the piers echo the form of sacrificial altars. Listed as fine landscape features within the important parkland of the Osterley Estate, which is Grade II* on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The lodges and gates secured the eastern approach to the park; the lodges were substantially altered in the mid-C19.

Listing NGR: TQ1531378130