In 1807 Turner purchased a plot of land at Twickenham, then a fashionable riverside town close to Brentford and Isleworth, on the Middlesex bank of the Thames. Here he built a country villa, Solus Lodge, in Sandycoombe Road, near the river, to his own design, with advice from his friend, Sir John Soane, the leading architect of the day,for himself and his father.

Professor Harold Livermore (1914 - 2010) outside Turner's House

Solus Lodge, as it was then called, is a rare example of a house designed and built by a great artist for his own use. Examples of sketches and ideas for the house can be found in Turner's notebooks.

The external appearance of the house has been altered by the addition of second floors to the original side wings but the interior layout remains and gives a remarkable insight into the character of its owner, being modest and unostentatious.

Turner created a water garden in the grounds and kept a small boat moored nearby. Local tradition has it that he captured some of the fiery sunsets characteristic of his work while working on the upstairs balcony at the front of the house. Turner however was often away travelling and his father complained of the damp. Turner eventually sold the house in 1826 and based himself in central London.

The surrounding area, which was still rural and given over to market gardens in Turner’s time, was extensively developed for housing in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Turner’s original garden has long since gone. Miraculously Turner’s house has survived to the present day, surrounded by suburban villas. It is now called Sandycombe Lodge.

In the 1940s the house was purchased by the late Professor Harold Livermore and his wife Ann. Professor Livermore lived there until his death in 2010. It was his intention to leave the house to the nation on his death together with a collection of material about the artist. A charitable trust has been established to carry forward this aim.

In 2004 a small group of local residents founded the Friends of Turner’s House to support Professor Livermore in his aims, to promote knowledge of Turner in Twickenham and to establish an archive of material relating to the house and garden. A booklet on the history of the house, now called Sandycombe Lodge, is available from the Friends's shop.

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