West Thames College, Formerly Spring Grove House

Spring Grove House, London Road

A mansion built in 1892-94 by W.M. Catherwood for Andrew Pears, the soap magnate. It stands on a site formerly occupied by the home of Sir Joseph Banks, the distinguished naturalist, who lived here from 1779 until his death in 1820. The earlier house was substantially altered in 1834-40 by Henry Pownall, but Pears's major remodelling campaign of 1892-94 erased all outward signs of the earlier building.

The house is constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings and a slate roof. It is of two storeys with a mansard storey, built to a square plan. A music room and conservatory were added to the north-west, and a service range to the north-east.

The exterior displays Late Victorian Nouveau Riche eclecticism. The entrance front, facing east, is ten windows wide at first floor level and features a large Doric porch with fluted columns and triglyph frieze, approached by stone steps. The glazed front door has margin lights. A bow window with leaded upper lights stands to the right of the door. All windows are 2/2 pane sashes set in stone shouldered architraves. A plat band marks the first floor level. Dormer windows with flanking stone pilasters are topped by two with eared pediments. A kitchen extension to the right bears a frieze and finial-topped lantern. The south front is seven windows wide with double doors to the centre. The west front is also seven windows wide and features a canted bay to the centre, French window to the second bay from left, and most windows have blind boxes.

The northern continuation comprises two components. The music room is two storeys with a tripartite doorway featuring a central pediment on the ground floor, flanking windows with four-pane upper lights and segmental pediments above. The first floor contains a central tripartite window beneath a pediment with acroterion. The conservatory is single storey and rectangular, with a tall two-stage glass roof above, topped with cresting. The lower wall features a row of tall windows beneath oeils de boeuf. The northern addition houses a billiard room with a large eight-light window beneath a cornice on brackets, flanked by a pair of six-light windows, raised over a tall plinth. The inner faces of the courtyard are clad in white glazed brick.

The interior contains an exuberant series of rooms surviving in good condition. The staircase hall features a Jacobean-style oak staircase with ground floor panelling to three-quarter height. Six-panel doors have pedimented doorcases. The fireplace has a tiled surround and hearth with marble bolection moulding and a Jacobean-style superstructure carried on tapering columns with a mirror between bulbous columns. Rooms to the west display Adam-style plasterwork and female herm-flanked chimneypieces.

The dining room, now the board room, is lined with oak panelling to dado height, with an oak-lined bay window. The fireplace features serpentine marble and a tiled surround within a Jacobean-style oak chimneypiece carried on pilasters, with a plaster ceiling decorated with scrollwork. A stained glass window in the passage depicts allegorical figures of Music and Poetry.

The music room features a gallery at the east end with an armorial at its centre. A large hearth recess dated 1894 has Renaissance-style detailing with a mirrored overmantel. The coved compartmented ceiling displays Jacobean-style plasterwork. The walls are divided by paired pilasters with painted panels in the frieze depicting musical instruments against a gold ground. Beneath these panels are the names of composers: Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, and Brahms. The panels beneath are now empty. Elaborate door surrounds frame a recessed lobby to the garden side.

The conservatory, or Winter Garden, features arched iron trusses springing from brackets and carrying a tall lantern. The walls are divided into windows, doors and panels, each with frames. An ornamental cast iron bench with shelf runs around much of the wall. A Turkish or Moorish kiosk stands against the northern wall, displaying a triple arcade of openwork horseshoe arches with a very ornate interior decorated with coloured mosaics in Moorish style on the walls and a matching plaster ceiling.

The billiard room to the north has a glazed roof with Adam-style decoration, oak panelling to dado height, frame doorcases and a Baroque chimney surround of oak with a mirrored overmantel flanked by paired pilasters beneath an open pediment. The staircase is lit by an elaborate stained glass window with large allegorical figures of Art and Industry, surrounded by Manufacture, Navigation and Commerce, Poetry, Drama and Music, with Agriculture and Sculpture below. The upper floors retain much original joinery, numerous tile-lined bathrooms and water closets, and secondary staircases remain in place. The kitchen interior has been substantially altered.

After serving as a hospital during the First World War, the house was acquired by Middlesex County Council. It opened as Hounslow Polytechnic in 1922, became Spring Grove Secondary School in 1923, and was renamed Isleworth Polytechnic in 1959. The building is now West Thames College. The surrounding area was transformed in 1967 by the construction of the present college buildings, which necessitated demolition of the vast greenhouse formerly attached to the north of the conservatory. The house is listed as a fine example of Late Victorian Nouveau Riche eclectic taste and for the quality and completeness of its interior fixtures.