{"id":439,"date":"2013-07-29T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T08:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/29\/third-time-lucky-at-chiswick-house-finally\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:59:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:59:30","slug":"third-time-lucky-at-chiswick-house-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/29\/third-time-lucky-at-chiswick-house-finally\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Time Lucky\u2014At Chiswick House Finally!"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nSunday, July 28, 2013<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nLondon<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThird Time Lucky\u2014At Chiswick House
\nFinally!<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Today\u2019s excursion occurred quite by
\nchance. In fact, when the day dawned, all that struck me was that it was Moving
\nDay again\u2014this past week seemed to have flown! But my friends Chris and Raquel
\nwere returning from the States late in the evening and I intended to move out
\nby 7. 30 pm. With most of my packing done yesterday, I awoke at about 6. 30 am
\ntoday, blogged for a bit, then finished up the last odds and ends of my packing
\nbefore planning out my day.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSunday Service at St. George\u2019s,
\nBloomsbury:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Regular readers of this blog will
\nknow that on Sundays in London, I usually seek out a historic church in which
\nto attend Service as I love the variety of services that the various churches
\noffer and because it permits me to peruse the gorgeous ecclesiastical
\narchitecture of this city. Having seen St. George\u2019s Church at Bloomsbury merely
\nfrom the outside on my walk around Bloomsbury, the other day, I decided to
\nattend the 10. 30 am service there (I discovered the timing of the service from
\nthe church\u2019s website). <\/span><\/div>\n
\nI
\nleft my place on Abbey Road at 10.00 am and by 10. 25am, I was at Bloomsbury.
\nThe church gates were open and I found myself inside a space that exemplified English
\nBaroque to the T. This church is the work of Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of
\nChristopher Wren, who had learned everything he knew from Inigo Jones. Well,
\nthere it was\u2014plainly visible to the eye: the classical discipline of Inigo
\nJones and the Baroque exuberance of Wren brilliantly combined in a space that
\nwas imposing yet austere. Anyone familiar with Hawkmoor\u2019s work will recognize
\nhis style: I have seen his work at St. Alfrege\u2019s Church in Greenwich and at
\nChrist Church, Spitalfields\u2014so it was easy for me to recognize his signature
\ntouches: broad Greek columns (his were Corinthian), classical proportions and
\n18th<\/sup> century symmetry, marquetry around the altar in woods of many
\ncolors, simplicity without too much color. The church was recently refurbished
\nand it is a grand space indeed. The service was equally interesting. It didn\u2019t
\nhave the full choral grandeur of the services I have attended these past two
\nSundays (at St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral and the Queen\u2019s Chapel at St. James Palace
\nrespectively) but it was still absorbing. The Rev. David Peebles preached a
\nvery stirring sermon, the Lectors were wonderful\u2014clear and full of expression.
\nAs always, the pastor made it a point to introduce himself to me at the end of
\nthe service and say \u201cWelcome\u201d. I was invited to stay for coffee after the
\nservice but I had been on an empty stomach and it was 11. 45am. I needed
\nsomething more than coffee\u2014much more than coffee!<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA Full English Breakfast at the Bloomsbury Caf\u00e9<\/i>:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>It was time to go out in search of
\nsustenance\u2014big time sustenance! A Full English Breakfast, I thought, would be
\nin order. It would be my Brunch since I was unlikely to eat anything again
\nuntil dinner time. Bloomsbury\u2014being the home of the British Museum and always
\ncrawling with visitors\u2014has no dearth of places offering this most nourishing of
\nmeals. So it was not surprising that I found my way to the Bloomsbury Caf\u00e9<\/i> on Bloomsbury Street to partake of the Full English
\nBreakfast that was advertised on the blackboard on the sidewalk. That and an
\nAmericano coffee, I told the proprietor, would be my order.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>A few minutes later, it arrived\u2014my
\nFull-Blown Heart Attack on a Plate! Two scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, 4 rashers
\nof bacon, baked beans, 2 slices of white buttered toast (yes, yes, I know the grilled
\ntomatoes and mushrooms were missing, but this was still pretty humongous!) It
\ntook me a good half an hour to savor all of it and by 12. 30 pm (as Bloomsbury
\nslowly came to tourist life), I paid my bill (8.25 pounds), thanked the owner
\nfor his excellent meal and made my way to my office at NYU to get some material
\nprinted\u2014only to realize that it is no longer open on Sundays. Oh well!<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOff To Victoria for a Ticket to
\nOxford:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>When I spied a 74 bus coming along
\nwith the sign stating that it would terminate at Victoria, I jumped into it to
\nrun my next errand: the purchasing of my return ticket to Oxford (as I will be
\nheading there on Wednesday). I thoroughly enjoyed the bus ride along Oxford
\nStreet and into Mayfair and Belgravia before we arrived at Victoria Bus Station
\nwhere I changed into another bus to get to the Coach Station. Thankfully, the
\nqueue was short and I ended up getting a return ticket at a cheaper fare than was
\nbeing offered on the website; plus I did not need to pay the delivery charges
\nthat I simply could not get rid of on the site\u2014I ended up saving nearly four
\npounds on my ticket and this pleased me absurdly! <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFinally Getting to Chiswick House:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>It was about 1. 30 by then and quite
\nsuddenly, I decided that this would be the time to make a trip to Chiswick (pronounced ‘Chizzik’) to
\nget inside Chiswick House, a grand 18th<\/sup> century mansion on the
\noutskirts of the city. On two occasions in the past when I have made the trip
\nthere, my intentions of visiting the house were thwarted. Maintained by the
\nEnglish Heritage, a not-for-profit organization that preserves heritage
\nproperties in the UK, it is only open three days a week. When I had visited
\nwith my friend Amy, five years ago, we had arrived on a day when it was closed.
\nThree months ago, when I arrived there with another friend Raquel, there was a
\nCamellia Festival on that had closed down the house temporarily for a week. I
\ncrossed my fingers and hoped it would be third time lucky. And indeed it was!<\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>By the time I got to Chiswick High
\nStreet on the Tube (getting off at Tunham Green), it was about 3. 30 pm but I
\ncould not resist poking around the thrift shops that are plentiful in the area.
\nI did find a lovely shiny bracelet and I was delighted with it. Then, fairly
\nracing along Devonshire Road to the venue (which I remembered well from my last
\nvisit), I reached Chiswick House at 4. 00 pm. This left me one hour to see the
\nhouse (I did not wish to spend time in the gardens which are free to the public).
\nI paid the entry fee of 5. 40 pounds and began my tour of the house. But first,
\nI think, a little historical information might be in order.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Chiswick House was the brain child
\nof Richard Boyle, 3rd<\/sup> Earl of Burlington (known as Lord Burlington),
\nwho was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, the son of landed gentry. His
\nparents already owned vast property in Piccadilly including Burlington House
\n(which became the Royal Academy of Arts). At the age of 21, as was the custom
\nat the time, Lord B undertook the Grand Tour\u2014a long journey through Europe
\nwhich was felt to complete the education of any young aristocrat of the time
\n(this was the early-18th<\/sup> century). This experience was life-changing
\nfor him as, in Italy, he became introduced to the work of Andrea Palladio whose
\nshowpiece city of Vicenza took his breath away. He resolved to build himself a
\nvilla similar in form and substance to the great work of Palladio and was
\nfortunate to come upon the English architect Inigo Jones who had just returned
\nfrom Italy himself and been completely swept away by Palladio\u2019s genius.  <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Teaming up with Jones, Lord B
\ncreated Chiswick House, a mansion that is plainly inspired by Villa la Rotunda
\nin Vicenza: anyone who had visited the latter in Italy will easily spot the
\nsimilarities at Chiswick House. Indeed as someone who was completely taken by
\nPalladio\u2019s work at Villa La Rotunda in Vicenza, I was profoundly interested in
\nChiswick House. There was a short audio-visual presentation that introduced
\nBurlington\u2019s vision and led one into the secrets of this amazing home. <\/span><\/div>\n
\nAn
\naudio guide ably led us on a self-guided tour that I found intensely
\nfascinating. The ground floor is a series of rooms that once accommodated Lord
\nB\u2019s library and his smoking room and led into the original home that his
\nparents had owned (destroyed by the fifth Earl in the 19th<\/sup> century).
\nWe were also led into the basement cellar with its numerous kegs of wine.         <\/span>But the true glories of the house are
\non the top story where room after room simply dazzles the eye\u2014for Lord B was an
\navid collector who returned from the Grand Tour with 870 wooden crates
\ncontaining Italian art including two priceless porphyry (rare purple marble
\nquarried in Egypt) vases and two gilded wooden table bases with Florentine pietra dura<\/i> (inlaid) marble tops. There
\nare a multitude of paintings in the rooms\u2014of which the Red Velvet Room and the
\nGreen Velvet Room are the most sumptuous. There is also a Blue Velvet Room
\nwhich is much smaller and which served as Lord B\u2019s private study. The paintings
\ninclude contemporary portraits by Van Dyke and Stephano Ricci, landscapes and
\nscenes depicting classical mythology. An abundance of gilding, grand brass
\nchandeliers, innumerable marble busts of Greek and Roman personages punctuate
\nthe home. It is simply glorious and I am delighted, just delighted, that I was
\nfinally able to feast my eyes upon this home. Considering that it is so easily
\naccessible from London (the No. 190 bus from Hammersmith stops right outside
\nthe main gate of the property from where the house is only a few steps away\u2014so
\nmuch simpler to get to it this way than walking all the way from Tunham Green
\nTube statin as I had done), I simply can\u2019t believe that it has taken me so long
\nto see Chiswick House.  <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nI
\ndid stop to buy a drink (Elderflower and Grape Juice) at the famous caf\u00e9
\nattached to the house as I badly needed a cool drink. Then I felt ready for the
\njourney back home.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nIndeed,
\nI found the bus stop (190) right outside the main gate and when I reached
\nChiswick High Street, I realized that bus No. 27 went all the way to Chalk Farm
\npast Baker Street. Well, it was a grand evening for a long drive and on it I
\nhopped. It took me about an hour to reach Gloucester Place from where I hopped
\ninto the 189 bus to get to Abbey Road. I was dropped just opposite my building,
\nNeville Court.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMoving To and Settling In
\nBattersea:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>By 6.45 pm, I was home. It took me
\nabout half an hour to settle the last of my stuff and to clean and tidy up
\nbehind me as I did want to leave the place looking welcoming for my friends
\nupon their return (I did leave them a bunch of gifts with a Thank-you card). I
\nalso left my suitcase behind with the intention of picking it up tomorrow. By
\n7. 15 pm, I took my backpack with me and left the house on the Tube to Vauxhall
\nheaded to my friend Roz\u2019s place at Battersea.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>In under an hour (at 8. 10 pm to be
\nprecise), I was ringing Roz\u2019s doorbell. We sat in her garden and ate a lovely
\nmeal of chicken fingers with couscous and a salad of lettuce and tomatoes with
\nthe last of the delicious Elderflower water that I really enjoy here in the UK.
\nShe showed me up to my room and I settled down with a nice hot shower and made
\nmyself comfortable in her darling three-level home that is filled with
\npaintings, sculpture and other wonderful art work. Although I will only be here
\nfor two days before I leave for Oxford, I am looking forward to some great
\ntimes with her. My room overlooks her garden and the train tracks and
\noccasionally I hear a train steaming into the night as I type this. It is wonderfully
\ncomforting to be in the company of a good friend and I know I will have a very
\nhappy time here.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Until tomorrow, Cheerio!  <\/span>      <\/span> <\/span> <\/span>  <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, July 28, 2013 London Third Time Lucky\u2014At Chiswick House Finally!             Today\u2019s excursion occurred quite by chance. In fact, when the day dawned, all that struck me was that it was Moving Day again\u2014this past week seemed to have flown! But my friends Chris and Raquel were returning from the States late in the… <\/p>\n

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