Fairfax House and West Road

Fairfax House was a delightful Jacobean mansion built in the Dutch style. The 19th century local historian John Eustace Anderson described the house "with the tiled roof covered with ivy, the fine old Jacobean window at the back overlooking the garden, the marble flooring and the fine old chimney-piece in the hall".

Many distinguished families lived in Fairfax House. Sir Benjamin Hawes MP lived there from 1838 to 1843. He was a politician who promoted the establishment of the British Schools in Mortlake. His wife Sophia was the daughter of Marc Isambard Brunel and sister to both the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the artist Emma Brunel. Emma frequently visited Fairfax House and was said to have painted the watercolour below.

Sir James Bacon, Vice-Chancellor of England from 1870 to 1876, lived in the house from 1851 to 1860. Stephen Bell who was a brewer with the Phillips and Wigan brewery later bought the house. He lived there and later leased it out to the actor Charles Alexander Calvert until 1878. In 1880 Bell sold Fairfax House to the Reverend Mr Brown who had the intention of running a school from there. However in 1881, before the completion of the sale, and while the house was empty, it caught fire and the old Fairfax House was destroyed, but not before nine young men came and stayed there in April 1881. Fairfax House was the temporary home of the Cambridge University boat race crew which used it as a base until boat race day on 8 April 1881. They lost the race but at least did not have far to go to collect their belongings as the finishing post was just opposite!

In 1881, after the fire, Frank Whittaker Bush QC bought the land on which the old Fairfax House had stood, and built a new house on the site which he also called Fairfax House. He probably took a great personal interest in its construction as, according to Anderson, "Mr Bush was very fond of building and acting as master builder".

Whittaker Bush was born in 1825 and had lived since 1861 at Carlton House, Kew Green. He then moved into the newly built Fairfax House in 1890 and he lived there until his death in 1903. A notable feature of the new house was that it had concrete floors - he was said to be very concerned about the house catching fire. Whittaker Bush was described by Anderson as "one of the most eccentric old gentlemen we ever had in the place [ie Mortlake]". He added that Whittaker Bush "was very kind-hearted, very hard-working, and had a habit of sitting up reading very late at night".

From 1893 until 1898 Whittaker Bush served on the Barnes Urban District Council. He believed that workmen's homes could be built at less cost and therefore be let for a lower rent than those currently provided or proposed by the Council. Whittaker Bush acted upon his belief. The Council's Housing of the Working Classes Committee met on 26 October 1897 and reported that "Mr Bush also submitted sketch plans of semi-detached cottages containing four tenements, which he estimated could be erected for £500 per pair, and let at about 4 shillings and 6 pence per week."

In March 1899 the Council approved these plans. Whittaker Bush built a double row of cottages on about half of the southern part of his own garden. These homes were for working people to rent and Whittaker Bush let them at five shillings a week. This was West Road, and these were the Five Shilling Cottages. It was said by Anderson that Whittaker Bush spent "a few thousands of pounds" in this experiment. He also gave up a significant part of his garden in order to build his cottages.

The 1901 Census records Whittaker Bush, then a widower aged 76, as living in Fairfax House with his daughter Clara and cousin Marian. A housemaid and a cook also lived in the house which was described as having 11 rooms. Whittaker Bush lived to see his cottages built and tenants installed, but he died in 1903.

After the death of Whittaker Bush, there were many residents of Fairfax House, and it was rarely empty. From 1908 to 1920 George Seward lived there with his wife and son. He had been born in Bombay and was the brewery manager. Captain WLE Gordan lived in Fairfax House until 1936 when Watney's master brewer, JG Wreay became resident until 1957.

By 1962 Fairfax House had been demolished.