Summary

A former estate laundry built between about 1738 and 1743 as the east range to Home Farm, part of the architect William Kent's improvements at Claremont. It was extended in the 19th century and in several phases during the 20th century. The interior was refurbished in around 1928 when the building was converted to a house with further refurbishment in the late 20th century. The kitchen extension, conservatory and veranda at the rear (west), and mid-20th century single-storey south extension are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.

Description

Former estate laundry built between about 1738 and 1743 as the east range to Home Farm; part of William Kent's improvements at Claremont. Extended in the C19 and in several phases during the C20. The building was converted into a dwelling in 1928, when the interior was remodelled, and was refurbished again in the late C20.

The kitchen extension*, conservatory* and veranda* at the rear (west), and the mid-C20 single-storey south extension* are excluded from the listing.

PLAN: the original range faced west onto the courtyard of Home Farm and had a probable cart entrance at the west. Following conversion to a dwelling the main front is at the east. The building was extended in the C19, and then in successive phases during the C20 to the south and west. The interior of the house has, at the ground floor, a central stair hall flanked by dining and living rooms with a study at the north end; at the first floor are bedrooms.

MATERIALS: brown and yellow stock brick covered in stucco (since the late C20) with slate roof coverings to the original range, felt roof coverings to the later additions and red clay chimney pots.

EXTERIOR: the main range is three bays wide and two storeys high with a hipped roof and three chimney stacks. There is a projecting central entrance bay under a pediment and two flanking bays, all with three-centred arched openings to each floor, and then a single-storey wing to the north. The ground floor has a plain plinth with incised ashlar treatment above, slightly projecting quoins and a projecting storey band with modillions to the central bay and dentils to the flanking bays. The entrance contains a half-glazed wooden door flanked by margin lights and a fanlight. The first floor has a plain stucco treatment with a cill band beneath the windows and a deep moulded cornice to the roof and central pediment. At the centre of the pediment is a tablet with a lion’s head and cornucopiae, which was added in the later C20. The arched windows each contain a pair of casements with fixed margin lights. The remodelled northwing generally continues the treatment of the central range and has a C20 flat roof with a perforated parapet.

The side and rear elevations continue the above architectural treatment. The north elevation has an arched window to the single-storey wing and a French doorway to the first floor of the main range, providing access out onto the roof top. The south elevation has a French doorway to the first floor of the main range.

At the rear, on the west elevation of the original block within the kitchen addition, is a former carriage arch to the ground floor, partially infilled and concealed by a modern false ceiling.

INTERIOR: the central staircase hall was remodelled in around 1928 and has three-quarter height plank and muntin wall panelling, a chamfered axial beam, and a brick inglenook fireplace. The fireplace has a curved wooden bressummer supported on re-used upended chamfered ceiling beams (possibly taken from elsewhere in the house), built-in wooden seats and a stone hearth. There is a double winder staircase with square newel posts, turned balusters, a wooden handrail, and splat balusters to the gallery above. A drawing room and study lead off to the north, both with three-quarter height wall panelling and chamfered axial beams. The drawing room has a four-centred arched fireplace with foliage decoration, whilst the study has a cast-iron fireplace with a register grate, decorative tiles and a wooden surround. A dining room leads off to the south of the hall and has an inserted Louis XVI style marble fireplace. On the first floor of the house are two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a dressing room. The mid-C18 central range has a trenched purlin roof structure with king post trusses of sawn timbers strengthened with iron straps, which appears to be original. The later C20 and C21 fixtures* to the interior of Tawny House are not of special interest.

EXCLUSIONS
* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the kitchen extension, conservatory and veranda at the rear (west), mid-C20 single-storey south extension and the aforementioned structures and features are not of special architectural or historic interest and are excluded from the listing. However, any works to these structures and/or features which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require Listed Building Consent (LBC) and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to determine.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 27 February 2026 to amend the description and spatial depiction

History

Tawny House originated as a service building (former laundry) to the Claremont estate. The first country house on the Claremont site was a small villa built in about 1709 by the architect Sir John Vanbrugh for himself. In 1714, the house was sold to Thomas Pelham-Holles, Earl of Clare, who extended it and named it ‘Clare-mount’; later contracted to Claremont. Work on the landscaped park and garden began in about 1715 under Vanbrugh and Charles Bridgeman. In around 1734, William Kent was appointed to extend and naturalise the gardens (Park and Garden, National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1000324, and Wilson 1984, 218). The estate was sold to Lord Clive of India in 1769 who demolished the house and built the current Palladian mansion, whilst also employing Lancelot Capability Brown to remodel the park. In 1816, Claremont was bought by the nation for Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor to Claremont in the mid-C19 and bought an interest in the estate for her youngest son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, in 1882 (Cooper 1963, 41). Following the First World War, it passed into public hands and then was sold privately. Large portions of the park and associated buildings were sold off for housing development in the 1920s, whilst the house became a school from 1930. The National Trust acquired 50 acres of the parkland in 1949, and subsequently restored it, whilst the school is now (2025) the Claremont Fan School.

The area occupied by the present buildings off Home Farm Close was historically the entrance to the Claremont estate grounds from Esher Common. During the period William Kent (1685-1748) was appointed to the estate, several service buildings known as Home Farm were erected on the site and the drive was extended north to the present entrance with lodges. These service buildings do not appear on John Rocque’s plan of 1738 but first appear on his plan of 1750 (Ridgeway and Williams 2000, 132, and Webber 2014, 55) and are attributed to William Kent by Mowl (2006, 234). On the 1750 plan, Home Farm is shown as comprising five buildings built around a courtyard with a gatehouse range at the front (west) labelled as a brewhouse and the current Tawny House at the rear (east) labelled as a laundry, with a pond immediately to the south-east (later labelled on the 1871 OS map as the ‘laundry pond’). A painting of about 1770 by The Master of Tumbled Chairs depicts the brewhouse as a large pedimented gatehouse flanked by two ranges with what appear to be Diocletian windows, pediments and gabled roofs (Built Heritage Consultancy 2025, 9). The laundry is shown comprising a projecting pedimented central bay and two flanking bays, all with three-centred arched windows and pitched roofs, as well as a lean-to on the south side. There was almost certainly a matching lean-to on the north side at this time. The laundry is shown facing west onto the courtyard; the main front is now the east elevation. A huge obelisk is shown in the painting immediately to the south of the gatehouse range, moved from an earlier position in the Vanbrugh landscape.

Home Farm is described in sales particulars of 1783 as: ‘a capacious farm yard surrounded by substantial building, which comprehends an elegant farm house, large brick barn, stables, brew house, wash house, laundry, servants rooms, and variety of useful offices, &c’ (Ibid). The former laundry was extended in the C19; on the 1871 OS map, the laundry range is shown with a half-depth bay adjoining the south lean-to.

In around 1928, Home Farm was sold off and divided up as housing. The former laundry became a dwelling and was renamed Tawny House. It appears to have been refurbished at around this time with wooden panelling, an inglenook fireplace and timber staircase added to the central hall, as well as further panelling and a four-centred arched fireplace added elsewhere. The building is shown on the 1935 OS map with a small extension to the west of the central bay. By 1939, the south extension had been built (with three bays of windows possibly inserted later when it was converted to an annexe) and an extension had been added to the west of the main range. In the late C20, a conservatory and veranda were also added to the west, whilst parts of the interior were refurbished. An aerial photo of 1979 shows the building, originally built of brown and yellow stock brick, covered in stucco with perforated brick parapets added to several of the bays at each end (Built Heritage Consultancy 2025, 17). The mono-pitch roofs of these bays, shown in 1920s photographs, had been replaced with flat roofs when they were substantially remodelled. An additional bay was subsequently also added to the west of the central bay. The current doors and windows are largely later C20 replacements; the latter largely retaining the glazing pattern of earlier windows shown in 1931 photographs (which were likely replacements).

Reasons for Listing

Tawny House, a former estate laundry built between about 1738 and 1743, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest

* as a relatively rare mid-C18 estate building by the renowned architect William Kent which formed part of his improvements, including the Home Farm service buildings, to Claremont, a highly influential country house and landscaped park;
* for the original mid-C18 range, which has a central carriage arch under a pediment and a trenched purlin roof structure with king post trusses, as well as the C19 and 1920s interior features, including several fireplaces, the timber staircase and plank and muntin wall panelling.

Group value

* with the nearby contemporary Grade II-listed former gatehouse/brewhouse and stable block to Home Farm, as well as the Grade II*-listed obelisk, alongside Claremont House (Grade I-listed), the landscaped park (Grade I-registered), and numerous listed buildings and structures associated with the park.

External Links

• Wikidata Q26670524

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House