Kneller Hall is a Grade II listed mansion in Whitton, in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

. It housed the Royal Military School of Music, training musicians for the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, which acquired the building in the mid-19th century. It was also home to the school's Museum of Army Music. The Army vacated the site on 31 August 2021.

History and architecture

The first house on the site was built by Edmund Cooke between 1635 and 1646 and in 1664 was the fourth largest house in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. In 1709 the property was purchased by Sir

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leading Portrait painting, portraitist in England during the late Stuart period, Stuart and early Georgian eras ...

, court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I. He had the original house demolished and replaced by a new building, reputedly designed by Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...

. This second house was known as Whitton Hall, after the village, but was renamed by Kneller's widow, in memory of her husband. In 1757, the house was sold to Sir Samuel Prime, a prominent London lawyer, who, with his son of the same name, extended it significantly and landscaped the grounds. After Samuel Prime junior died in 1813, the hall was sold to Charles Calvert, Whig MP for

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

from 1812 to 1832. He further expanded the house (to designs by Philip Hardwick), adding

drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th ce ...

s at the east and west ends of the building. Calvert died of cholera in 1832 and his widow inhabited until her death about 1845. The house was then acquired by the government as a teacher training college, but it needed substantial reconstruction. By 1850 much of the Wren bulk of the house had become dilapidated and so was demolished. The Hardwick additions were preserved to form the wings of the new house, designed by George Mair. This third building on the site, which still stands today, is stone-corniced, casemented and constructed as to its ground floor central range and otherwise built of red bricks, all in the neo- Jacobethan style suitable to 19th and 20th century mansions of its scale. It consists of 17 bays, the central of which is the widest and of stained glass and the two adjacent of which are arrow-slit windows. The bays are split into five recessed or projecting ranges. Two square, pavilion towers form the near left and right bays, each tower crowned by a stone and leaded

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

-shaped

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. Its gatepiers and house are separately listed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

at Grade II.

Functions

From 1850 to 1856 Kneller Hall served as a teacher training college under principal Frederick Temple and vice-principal Francis Turner Palgrave, known for his poetry anthology '' Palgrave's Golden Treasury''. In exchange for a two-year college education almost entirely subsidised by the state – one of the first forms of state-sponsored

social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given socie ...

– graduates of the college were supposed to teach pauper and delinquent boys in specially built district schools. Though Kneller Hall itself was generously funded by the state, the larger scheme to build district schools never came to fruition owing to political and religious conflict (see Newcastle Commission). The college closed when it was unable to attract any more students, who were now expected to teach in miserable conditions in Britain's workhouses. On 3 March 1857 the building was taken over by the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

as the base for a school for army bandsmen; it then evolved into the Royal Military School of Music. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the site was briefly the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces from late 1939 until the headquarters moved out to St Paul's School in July 1940. On 18 January 2016 defence minister Mark Lancaster announced that Kneller Hall was one of 12 Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites proposed to be sold as part of the MoD's drive for greater efficiency. In November 2016 the MoD announced that the site would close in 2020. This was later extended to 31 August 2021. In September 2021 it was announced that the hall would become the Upper School for Radnor House School, Twickenham, currently housed in Pope's Villa.

History and architecture

Functions

References

Further reading