Lindsey House is a Grade II* listed villa in Cheyne Walk

Cheyne Walk

Cheyne Walk , is a historic street in Chelsea, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It takes its name from William Lord Cheyne who owned the manor of Chelsea until 1712. Most of the houses were built in the early 18th century. Before the construction in the 19th century of the busy...

, Chelsea

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....

. It is owned by the National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 but tenanted and only open by special arrangement.

History

The house was built in 1674 by the third Earl of Lindsey

Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey

Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey, 16th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, PC, FRS was a British Hereditary Peer. He was the son of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey and Martha Cokayne. His mother died shortly after his birth about July 1641.From 1661 to 1666 he was Member of Parliament for Boston in...

 on the riverside site of Thomas More

Thomas More

Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...

's garden and is thought to be the oldest house in Kensington and Chelsea. It was extensively remodelled in 1750 by Count Zinzendorf for the Moravian community in London.

The house was divided into four separate dwellings in 1775. Today, it occupies nos. 96 to 101 of Cheyne Walk, covering a number of separate frontages and outbuildings. Previous residents have included the historical painter John Martin

John Martin (painter)

John Martin was an English Romantic painter, engraver and illustrator.-Biography:Martin was born in July 1789, in a one-room family cottage, at Haydon Bridge, near Hexham in Northumberland, the 4th son of Fenwick Martin, a one time fencing master...

, in one of the outbuildings at 4 Lindsey Row from 1849–53 and James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...

 between 1866–78 at 2 Lindsey Row (now 96 Cheyne Walk). In 1808, engineer Marc Brunel lived in the middle section of the house (now no. 98), and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...

 grew up here. These residencies are commemorated by Blue plaque

Blue plaque

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....

s on the walls of the house.

The house was separated from the river by the construction of the Chelsea Embankment

Chelsea Embankment

Chelsea Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England.The western end of Chelsea Embankment, including a stretch of Cheyne Walk, is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; the eastern end, including...

, completed in 1874, as a part of Joseph Bazalgette

Joseph Bazalgette

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while...

's grand scheme to create a modern sewage system.

One part of the house features a garden designed by Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...

 and Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...

 in 1911. This is a small garden of 50 feet (15.2 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m), laid to grass, two broad paths with two narrow paths on the boundary run the length of the garden around an ancient mulberry tree and lily pond. This area is surrounded by statuary, a colonnade

Colonnade

In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....

 and a single flower border. The garden is said by Lennox-Boyd be "modest in its elements, quietly restful in its effect" and "to respect the simple formality of the house". In 2000, the garden was restored and a glazed garden room was added to the house by Marcus Beale Architects.

The National Trust house is open to the public during London Open House weekend and is Grade II* listed.

This house should not be confused with the eponymous 1640 house in Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...

. That house came to be known as Lindsey House for its occupation in the 18th century by later Earls of Lindsey.