Boston Manor House

Resurrecting a Jacobean gem

Introduction

We led the conservation, repair and reinterpretation of Boston Manor House, a Grade I-listed Jacobean mansion situated within West London’s Grand Union Canal and Boston Manor Conservation Area. Once on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, the building has now been sensitively transformed into a community heritage asset, underpinned by forensic research and a conservation philosophy rooted in authenticity.

Working alongside specialist craftspeople and a dedicated client team, the team have carefully blended old and new to create a new, fully immersive visitor attraction.

The State Drawing Room

From decline to rebirth

Built in 1622 for Mary Reade, a wealthy widow, Boston Manor House exemplifies the ambitions of early 17th-century London merchants. The house evolved over time, reaching its height in the late 18th and early 19th centuries under the Clitherow family before falling into decline after WWI. By the early 2000s, the building was structurally vulnerable and underused.

In 2017, the London Borough of Hounslow appointed Purcell to lead on the development phase of the project as lead consultant and conservation architect. Purcell worked with a dedicated team of funders, including The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, and specialists to deliver the £6m restoration project. The works have secured the building’s future, removing it from the Heritage at Risk Register and opening it to the public once again.

Portico and details

Past informing future

At the heart of the project was a deep understanding of the building’s architectural and social history. A comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CMP), historic interiors research, and specialist surveys – including wallpaper, fabric, and paint analysis – revealed layers of the building’s past and reshaped the project’s direction.

We worked closely with the structural engineer to ensure that the superficial repairs coordinated with the structural repairs, saving as much of the historic fabric as possible, such as splicing in new oak where necessary to match the existing timber. Along with the structural repairs, with damp and mould growth present, we had to carefully dry out the building and carry out essential repairs to the roof to stop water causing further damage to the interiors.

Our team discovered huge evidential value under modern interventions, giving an understanding of how the space was decorated, dating from the 1620s to the 1840s.

We uncovered over 40 historic wallpaper fragments, spanning nearly 200 years.

Paint analysis across ceilings, walls and joinery informed period-accurate decorative schemes. Archival documents, including a 1922 sale catalogue, helped reconstruct the house’s furnishings across different eras. As a result, this multi-period restoration now authentically represents Jacobean, Georgian, and Victorian schemes. Interactive displays bring these schemes to life for the visitors, with individual rooms reflecting the changing history of the house, its use and fashions in different centuries.

'There is so much to celebrate about the restoration of Boston Manor House to its former glory in 2023, when the House celebrates its 400th anniversary. I would like to thank Purcell, as well as all the dedicated craftspeople and the Council’s heritage team, who have worked tirelessly to bring the restoration project to life.

There have been so many incredible achievements, from the House being removed from Historic England’s ‘Heritage At Risk Register’ in 2022, to the project accredited at the Civic Trust AABC Conservation Awards, which recognises the highest standards of historic building conservation across the UK.'

– Cllr Shantanu Rajawat, Leader, Hounslow Council

Restoration through discovery

Each discovery informed a conservation approach tailored to the space. The State Drawing Room is the jewel of the house and retains its magnificent and finely-worked early-17th century plaster ceiling and ornate overmantle. The decision to restore it to its 18th-century splendour was based on the significant change to the size of the windows in the 1730s that would have entailed a new decorative scheme, which documentary evidence indicated lasted until 1786.

Research in 2019 uncovered a few blue silk fibres on one of the walls that suggested the walls had once been hung with fabric. Given this evidence and the fact that the family was at the height of its social standing in the 18th century, we judged that a silk damask would be appropriate. This was specially woven, copying a 1730-1750s design dyed to match a contemporary blue, and finished with a silk edging braid to match.

The State Drawing Room

The State Bedroom, masked by unsympathetic 1960s finishes, was reimagined as a richly dressed 1620s space – how first owner Mary Reade’s bedroom might have looked when the house was first built. A decayed part of a frieze was carefully remade in lime mortar by plaster specialists to match surviving details.

The main staircase, also covered in 1960s décor, was transformed into a fully immersive 18th-century environment using reproduced classical wallpaper discovered onsite. Elsewhere, original wallpapers were conserved in situ or recreated to enhance the visitor experience, while hidden fragments were carefully catalogued for future research.

The State Bedroom; the main staircase

Modern purpose within historic fabric

Alongside restoration, key upgrades ensure the building’s relevance and accessibility. New interventions include a lift discreetly inserted using handmade kiln wood-fired bricks to match the 17th-century fabric, a café and catering kitchen, improved toilet facilities, and the adaptation of the service wing into ‘maker spaces’. This is currently occupied by the Jimmy Choo Academy – a fashion focused higher education institution founded by the eponymous shoe designer.

Boston Manor House now operates as a vibrant heritage hub for the local community, offering events, interpretation and educational programmes. Its renewed service wing serves as a campus for the Jimmy Choo Academy, a fashion school run by the eponymous shoe designer. Its renewal demonstrates how conservation can breathe new life into buildings of exceptional historic significance – grounded in scholarship, realised through craftsmanship, and made possible by public investment.