The history of the Twickenham Riverside site

• [Oct 06]: CLLR Serge Lourie writes: In a nutshell: the Richmond House site was bought by the Council in 1923/4 for the purpose of enabling the widening of King Street to support the commercial growth of the town and to house expanded civic buildings.

The house itself was demolished in 1927, but there was increasing pressure for a municipal bath house for Twickenham and the Council decided to apportion part of the site for this purpose. The Council also agreed to purchase other buildings, which, together with the King Street part of the Richmond House site, allowed King Street to be widened into an 80 foot thoroughfare. The rest of the frontage was then sold to a private company for the construction of a row of shops, with the council agreeing to provide a service road behind the shops that would separate the privately owned land from the public property. The claim that the Richmond House site was purchased in 1924 for "public walks and pleasure grounds" is not correct. Professor J M Lee has written an excellent book "The Making of Modern Twickenham" [Historical Publications, 2005; ISBN 1905286082] which sets out the history in great detail - it is very interesting:

• 1899-1922: Richmond House occupied by various tenants. A map of 1907 shows Richmond House set in grounds in the middle of the plot from Water Lane to Wharf Lane; with Poulett Lodge on the corner with Cross Deep; and the town hall, public library, Twickenham Urban District Council Depot, a bank and a couple of pubs on the north east part of the plot, fronting King Street and Water Lane.

• 1902-4: a Town Improvements Committee (TIC) was set up by the council to find a site/sites near the centre which could be used for the erection of public buildings (a new town hall, a Technical Institute, improved public library, large public hall, a better depot etc.) Five potential sites were identified, but the narrowness of King Street was a problem. In 1903 the TIC recommended that King Street be widened to 60-65 feet, and that the land between the new highway and the river should be occupied by a new town hall, a public library, council offices and a surveyor's depot.

• This plan required the compulsory purchase of Richmond House and some pubs and shops and it polarised public opinion. Nevertheless, it was voted through in council by 11 votes in favour, 10 against and 1 abstention, and the notice of intention to purchase the site compulsorily was issued on 16 October 1903. But a Public Inquiry into the scheme was held in January 1904 (the first of many!) and the Inspector issued an adverse report, stating that the case had not been made for compulsory purchase. The ensuing elections of March 1904 were dominated by personal rancour against individual candidates; seven of the nine members of the TIC were defeated; and the town was left with widened roads for tramcars leading into it, but totally inadequate provision in the centre.

• 1907: a new library with lecture room was opened in Garfield Rd, but over the next 15 years economic development and events in the property market compelled the council to return to the question of the structure of the town centre. Then, between Nov 1921 and Oct 1922 all 3 major houses in the town centre (York House, Richmond House, Poulett Lodge) came onto the market, and when the last tenant of Richmond House, Mrs Mackintosh, died in October 1922, aged 93, the question of acquiring the site for the construction of public buildings again arose.

• 1923/4: It was the future of York House which attracted most public attention: Sir Ratan Tata had died in 1918 and Lady Tata had returned to India. After much political pressure, it was purchased by the council for £20,500 to be the new Town Hall in anticipation of municipal borough status being granted to Twickenham (in 1926). Richmond House was also purchased, so that by the summer of 1924 the urban district council had a special opportunity to reshape the town centre.: Poulett Lodge and the adjacent Cross Deep house and Riverdale house created a sizable plot for potential development which was the subject of various occupancy and schemes over the next 10 years: some residents wanted a public park along the river that would be closer to the centre than Radnor House Gardens, but in July 1925 Poulett Lodge was acquired by Social Recreations Ltd for conversion into a social club, and the other sites were developed for private housing. Poulett Lodge was eventually demolished and a block of 68 flats - Thames Eyot - was built in 1935.

• 1926-30: The town became a municipal borough in 1926, York House was formally opened as the town hall on 16 November by the Duke & Duchess of York (who lived in Richmond Park), and there were ambitions to extend the borough boundaries to embrace Teddington, the Hamptons and Feltham. Confusion and dissent still surrounded the future of the Richmond House site, though the council did decide to demolish the house in 1926 and demolition started in November 1927. But Government plans for the Great Chertsey Rd and two new bridges over the Thames, and the expansion that this would bring, forced the council to look again at road widening and private enterprise in the town centre.

• The 1903 scheme was dusted down, but no road widening was possible without the council acquiring the old town hall, pubs etc. There was also talk of widening Water Lane and creating a bridge over to Ham. Then, in June 1927 the women's group of the East Twickenham Conservative Party ward committee raised concerns about the absence of baths in the houses of the poor. They wanted a public bath-house, with slipper baths and other washing facilities. This, together with concern about pollution in the River Crane where the public swimming place was located, led the council to set up a committee in 1930 to consider an open air swimming pool and bath-house for the Richmond House site. The new 50 yard open air pool was opened in 1935.

• The council decided to go ahead with the widening and commercial development of King Street. It agreed to purchase the old town hall, 7 King Street, and the King's Head pub and do a land swap with the brewery to create a more sensible set of boundaries. After making King Street into an 80 foot thoroughfare, a new King's Head pub was to be built behind the new building line and the rest of the road frontage was to be sold to a private company for the construction of a row of shops. Part of the old town hall was to remain as a meeting hall behind the shops.

• In 1928, all the shop frontages were sold to D Morris & Sons which let them to a management company on a 25 year lease. The council agreed to provide a service road behind the shops that would separate the privately owned land from the public property where Richmond House had been. The council also agreed to allow another run of shops on the land at the corner of Cross Deep, which became King Street Parade.

Related Links

• • Statement by Cllr Serge Lourie, Leader, at the meeting of the Council on 20 October 2009 [21st Oct]
• • Giving the lie to Tory and RUG lies about the Riverside [23rd Oct]