New Plan for Former Residence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Historic Church Street Post Office could become architect's studio
The old Post Office on Church Street from planning documentation
January 12, 2025
A proposal is being made for a restoration of one of Chiswick’s oldest buildings which was once the temporary residence of enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The Old Post Office at 6-7 Church Street was constructed around 1730 in the reign of George II and was Chiswick’s longest operating shop closing finally at the beginning of this century.
Since then, it has been empty and fallen into a state of disrepair. Hounslow Council gave permission for it to be converted to residential use in 2022, but the applicant did not proceed with the scheme.
Now local architectural firm ABL3 Architects, which is already based in a nearby building, is proposing to restore the building as part of its plan to convert it into offices for its own use.
The company is a father-daughter partnership of Rob Adams and Tamsin Bryant and handles bespoke residential and commercial projects. It worked on the renovation of a terrace of houses on Strand on the Green.
The firm acquired the freehold of The Old Post Office last year and immediately began looking into the general and architectural history of the building.
It is a relatively rare surviving example of early Georgian vernacular architecture for shop premises, and it initially was at the heart of a busy commercial and social centre of what was then the village of Chiswick.
A detail from a painting circa 1865 of Church Street terminating with The Old Post Office. Picture: The Orleans House Gallery
For some three months in 1766 it was the home in England of Rousseau who arrived in the country on 13 January to get away from political opponents in France. He came to the Chiswick area due to his friendship with the philosopher David Hume who lived in what was then the Hamlet of Turnham Green. He recommended lodging in the Church Street shop with the grocer Mr. Pulleyn and his wife and Rousseau remained there until 28 March when he left Chiswick for Wooten Hall.
According to Thomas Faulkner, the antiquarian and local historian, the presence of “the celebrated Rousseau caused the quiet village” of Chiswick to be “frightened from her propriety”.
However, Rousseau appears to have enjoyed his stay saying that he enjoyed chatting in English with customers as he sat in the shop believing that this increased trade for his host. In a letter written at the time he expresses his gratitude to local people who found his lost dog causing him to shed tears of joy at the demonstration of human kindness.
It served as a grocery shop right through to the Second World War with a post office counter added in the second half of the nineteenth century. After the war, there were a number of different businesses at the location including a ladies’ hairdressers and a greengrocer. In the fifties it became a sub post office until its closure in 2002.
Building as it was in the forties. Picture: Local Studies Library
The building has a basement, ground, and first floor accommodation, plus an attic roof storey. The double frontage of The Old Post Office fills the left-hand section of the ground floor and has matched pair of shop windows divided by a centrally placed door.
The shop window was significantly changed around 1820 when a Regency double window shop front was installed and this was retained until 1975 when it was removed without planning permission with a less elegant replacement. It is proposed to restore this Regency design at the front of the shop as well as bring back the canopies over the windows using as much of the existing mechanism surviving.
The central double ‘shop doors’ will be kept locked shut, except for special events with access to the business by a door on the right-hand side. The doors and the buildings may be opened to the public during architectural events such as Open House weekend.
It is proposed to construct a first-floor extension above the rear store area to allow space for a meeting room.
Photograph of The Old Post Office dated 1900. Picture: National Monuments Record, Historic England
You can see further details and comment on the application by visiting the planning section of the Hounslow Council web site and searching using reference P/2024/4360. Feedback on the proposals can be given until 7 February.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |