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, 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 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. 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.
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.
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.
