page_title: Pitzhanger Manor
section_title: Sir John Soane (1800–1810)
hierarchical_section_title: Pitzhanger Manor / History / Sir John Soane (1800–1810)
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of John Soane by William Owen, 1804.
context_page_description: Pitzhanger Manor is an English country house famous as the home of neoclassical architect, Sir John Soane. Built between 1800 and 1804 in Walpole Park Ealing, then to the west of London), the Regency Manor is a rare and spectacular example of a building designed, built and lived in by Sir John Soane himself. Soane intended it as a domestic space to entertain guests in, as well as a family home for a dynasty of architects, starting with his sons.
  Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery was established as a heritage attraction in 1987, later showing contemporary art exhibitions from 1996. In 2015, the Pitzhanger closed for a major conservation project to restore the Grade I listed buildings to Soane’s original designs, and upgrade the contemporary Gallery. The three-year project was led by Ealing Council, in collaboration with Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust and with the aid of the National Lottery Heritage Fund. On 16 March 2019 Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery re-opened, revealing Soane’s original design visible for the first time in over 175 years.
context_section_description: By the 1790s, John Soane had a successful architectural practice in London, holding the post of architect to the Bank of England. In 1794 Soane, his wife Eliza and their two young sons moved into 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields (now part of the Sir John Soane's Museum) in central London, which doubled as an architecture office for him and his staff.
  In early 1800 Soane decided to acquire a family country home to the west of London. Soane intended it as a country villa for entertaining guests, to showcase his skills as an architect and his collection of art and antiquities, and eventually for passing down to his elder son.Though he initially planned to have the house purpose built, he saw potential in Pitzhanger, likely due to his work there during his bricklayer apprenticeship. On 21 July 1800 he visited Pitzhanger, which he had heard was available, and offered the trustees £4,500 for the whole estate of 28 acres (110,000 m²); it was accepted on 1 August.  
  Soane worked vigorously on the designs of the new house, and over a hundred drawings for it are held by Soane's Museum. He planned for the demolition of the older part of the house and many of the outbuildings; however, he retained the two-storey south wing designed by George Dance. Soane had worked on this element of Pitzhanger as an apprentice for Dance, and admired its elegant interiors. Demolition began in 1800, keeping its original position in Walpole Park. Most of Soane's radical rebuilding was complete by late 1803.
  Fully completed in 1804, the central section of the house displays many typical Soane features: quartered and canopy dome ceilings, inset mirrors, and wooden panelling. Soane continued the building to the east with mock Roman ruins and a kitchen block (perhaps an adaptation of existing buildings). The buildings in this eastern part of the site were demolished in or around 1901. The building's shares many architectural features with his main London home at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Much of Soane’s collection of paintings and classical antiquities now at the Soane Museum were bought for and originally housed in Pitzhanger Manor.
  Soane sold the house in 1810: his wife Eliza was unhappy in the country and he had fallen out with his two sons, John and George. His intention for Pitzhanger as the seat of his architectural dynasty was unsuccessful, and so Pitzhanger passed through several owners until in 1843 it became home to the daughters of  Spencer Perceval, a former UK Prime Minister. 
  Since Soane's time, the house has been referred to variously as The Manor, or Pitshanger Manor, but has now formally reverted to the name given to it by Soane, spelt with a Z. Pitshanger Village and Lane remained spelt with an S.
caption: William Owen's Portrait of John Soane (1804)
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