Doughty House Explained

Doughty House
Building Type:Residential
Location:Richmond Hill, Richmond upon Thames, London, England
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Designation1:Grade II
Designation1 Offname:Downe House/ The Gallery at Number 142 Doughty House
Designation1 Date:17 May 1999
Designation1 Number:1249955 (House); 1387232 (Gallery)

Doughty House is a large house on Richmond Hill in Richmond, London, England, built in the 18th century, with later additions. It has fine views down over the Thames, and both the house and gallery are Grade II listed buildings. This view from Richmond Hill is the only view in England protected by an Act of Parliament.[1]

The house was named after Elizabeth Doughty, who lived there from about 1786[2] and provided funds to build St Elizabeth of Portugal Church in The Vineyard, Richmond.[3] It was the residence of the Cook baronets from when it was bought in 1849 by Francis Cook, 1st Viscount of Monserrate, and passed in his family by descent until after World War II.[4] A 125adj=midNaNadj=mid was added in 1885 for his very important art collection. The first Lady Cook, the American suffragist Tennessee Claflin, was mistress of Doughty House from 1885 until her death.[5] In 1870, she became the first woman, along with her sister Victoria Woodhull, to open a Wall Street brokerage firm.

The house and its collection became famous when the 3rd baronet Herbert Cook wrote his catalogue of the collection in 1914, for which he commissioned art historians to help with the various schools. It was his intention to keep the collection together, but financial difficulties in the 1930s forced him to consider selling and negotiations were opened with dealers before he died in 1939. The house was damaged by bombing in the Second World War and the 4th baronet, Sir Francis Cook, who was an artist himself, moved to Jersey with 30 paintings from the collection.

Doughty House was sold in 2013 to the developer K10 Group Ltd., which is working on a £30 million renovation to transform the structure into a private residence by 2019.[6]

Doughty House in art

Awaiting the Arrival of Christopher at Doughty House, Richmond: Bishop and George Bellamy, March 1938 (1938) and Airing Curtains, The Garden, Doughty House, Richmond (1946) by Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook (1907–78) are held at the Sir Francis Cook Gallery, Jersey, in the Channel Islands.[7] [8]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The view from Richmond Hill .
  2. Book: The London Encyclopaedia . Macmillan . Weinreb, Ben . Ben Weinreb . Hibbert, Christopher . Christopher Hibbert . Keay, Julia . Keay, John . John Keay . 1983 . 245 . 978-1-4050-4924-5.
  3. Evans . Dafydd . 2006 . Elizabeth Doughty: A Tale of Richmond and Kew – and Elsewhere . Richmond History: journal of the Richmond Local History Society. 27 . 11.
  4. Danziger, Elon. “The Cook Collection, Its Founder and Its Inheritors.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 146, no. 1216, The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd., 2004, pp. 444–58
  5. Book: 9-10. 1900. House Beautiful. Hearst Communications. 92. 3 August 2020.
  6. News: If you fancy palatial living, this prime London mansion could fit the bill. The National. Nelson, Christian. 31 October 2017. 3 August 2020.
  7. Web site: Awaiting the Arrival of Christopher at Doughty House, Richmond: Bishop and George Bellamy, March 1938 . . 22 September 2016.
  8. Web site: Airing Curtains, The Garden, Doughty House, Richmond . . 22 September 2016.