Gordon House Maria Grey Training College

Gordon House, Maria Grey Training College

Probably dating from circa 1720, with alterations circa 1865, this is a substantial riverside residence of 2 storeys on the bank of the River Thames at Isleworth.

The main front on St Margaret's Road is constructed of stock brick with lavish red rubbed brick dressings. It has 5 sash windows without glazing bars. A central Corinthian columned painted stone staircase features a round-headed window above in an elaborate stone surround, with a stone cornice over. Full height rusticated pilasters with capitals mark the outer corners of the front, which is topped with a parapet and slate roof, with 19th-century chimneys. The main block is flanked by extensions: a 2-storey, 2-window extension to the right, probably 18th-century; a further 2-storey extension with a large canted brick bay and balustrade parapet, probably late 18th-century; and nearly matching extensions to the left, probably 19th-century.

The river front, dating from circa 1720, is constructed in yellow brick with red dressings and has 5 sashes without glazing bars. Stone cills rest on brackets. A central 1st-floor round-headed window has a key block and coved cornice on consoles extending across the elevation. Rusticated pilasters at the angles carry capitals and bases, and a panelled parapet runs along the top. A 19th-century pediment surmounts 19th-century lower extensions to the right, with a 19th-century brick porch. To the left is a 2-storey stock brick section added in 1758 by Robert Adam, containing 3 sashes without glazing bars, with architrave surrounds and pediments on consoles and a Greek key band. The upper part is 19th-century. To the right is a 6-bay extension with a round-headed window on the ground floor and segmental arches to windows above, topped with a cornice. A heavy oak dentilled cornice runs to the ceiling of the upper floor.

The interior of the main block preserves remarkable features. The ground floor front section, formerly the entrance hall, retains some original panelling and ceiling cornice. The staircase hall, overlooking the river, contains a very handsome original oak staircase of grand scale rising on two walls to a broad landing on the other two walls. The staircase has two balusters to each tread, cut strings with panelled ends, and a panelled soffit.

The most significant interior space is the present conference room on the river front south-west end of the staircase hall. Designed by Robert Adam in 1758 as a drawing room for General Bland, it represents probably Robert Adam's earliest surviving work in England and is of the finest quality. The long rectangular room is surmounted by a modillioned cornice from which springs a boldly coved ceiling elaborately decorated with scrollwork and oval panels, with a plain oval centre except for a central rose. A Greek key pattern borders the ceiling moulding. The very fine chimneypiece, now painted over, features fine consoles supporting blocks with lion masks, a central frieze with floral swags and a centre block with military trophy. The carved wood doorcases consist of bold quarter-round mouldings. The Ionic columned and pedimented doorcases shown in Adam's drawings do not exist, nor does the upper tier of the chimneypiece. There is no dado, only modern skirting.

The house was originally called Seaton House and dates from about 1720. In 1758, it was altered for General Bland to designs by Robert Adam (see drawings reproduced in "Robert Adam and his circle" by John Fleming, 1962, and others in Sir John Soane's Museum). It was later purchased by William IV for his daughter, Lady Augusta FitzClarence, wife of the Honourable John Kennedy Erskine. She subsequently married Lord John Frederick Gordon. The house was later owned by T.C. Haliburton (1796–1865), author of "Sam Slick" (see Dictionary of National Biography), and was bought by Lord Kilmorey in 1865, who carried out extensive alterations. It was subsequently used as a school for the daughters of naval officers, when the chapel was built.

The house stands in a garden on the bank of the River Thames, with modern training college buildings nearby.