Deodar Road

Deodar Road is a street in Putney, in the London Borough of Wandsworth.[1] There are no other streets named Deodar Road in Great Britain. It was formerly the site of a mansion called The Cedars and a terrace of houses built in 1853. This was on the site of Copthall, a villa rebuilt in the 1620s. Next to this was a mansion, Putney House, built in the 1680s; it was converted into a College for Civil Engineers in 1839 and demolished in 1857.[2] When the railway and bridge crossing the Thames was built (1887-9) by The London and South West Railway it more or less went straight through the terrace of houses. The area fell into decline and the Cedars was demolished about 1890. The road was named after The Cedars; the Himalayan cedar, Cedrus deodara. It was previously called Ranelagh Road.[3][4] The odd numbered houses back on to the river.

  • 79 Deodar Road
    79 Deodar Road
  • Blue plaque
    Blue plaque
  • Thornhill House
    Thornhill House
  • 49-51 Deodar Road
    49-51 Deodar Road
  • Riverdale House
    Riverdale House

Notable buildings and residents

Number 78, Thornhill House, is Grade II listed. It was built about 1890 by the Kensington builder, Mr Wakefield, who incorporated fine panelling, staircase and wall-paintings from Wandsworth Manor, which dated from the late 17th century, and was demolished in 1890. Some panelling and flooring is thought to have come from the Tivoli Theatre of Varieties on the Strand, London, which was demolished in 1916. Other internal decorations were added by his grandson, Norris, who had worked with Edward James in the 1930s at Monkton House.[5]

Number 79 has a blue plaque to commemorate Sir Sidney Nolan OM AC CBE RA, (1917-1992), one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century, who lived here from 1960 to 1979.[6][7] Earlier number 79 was the home of Freda Skinner, (1911–1993), sculptor and woodcarver.[8]

Joan Howson (1885–1964), a British stained-glass artist lived at number 61 together with Caroline Charlotte Townshend (1878–1944) who was also a stained-glass artist.[9][10][11] They converted the house as a studio and workshop. Joan's parents, Ethel and George John Howson, MA., lived at 79.[12][13] After the war she was living at number 81 and then at number 79.

Margaret Edith Rope (1891–1988) moved to 61 Deodar Road in about 1926 with her sister Helen (1900-1941). She moved to 81 Deodar Road during the War, but when that house was bombed she moved to Storrington, Sussex. She returned to live at number 89 after the War, where she had a studio, workshop & kiln which was also used by Rachel de Montmorency (1891-1961).[14][15][16][17]

They were neighbours to Edward Woore (1880–1960), also a stained-glass artist, who lived at number 66.[18][19]

Roy Plomley OBE (1914–1985), broadcaster, lived at 91 Deodar Road.[20]

Ellen Mary Rope (1855–1934), a British sculptor who shared her studio at number 66b with her assistant and niece, Dorothy Anne Aldrich Rope (1883-1971).[21] She was niece of M. E. Aldrich Rope.

The writer Edna O'Brien and her son the author Carlo Gébler, lived at number 87.[22][23]

The authors Nell Dunn and her husband Jeremy Sandford lived at number 57.[24][25]

Number 65, Swan Studios, was the studio of stained-glass designers Colwyn & William Morris.[26]

The author and playwright Alan Herman (1916-1995) lived in Deodar Road.[27]

Ronald Alley, Keeper Modern Collection, Tate Gallery, lived at number 61[28][29] with his wife the sculptor Anthea Alley.[30]

Peter Zinovieff (1933-2021), a British engineer and composer, lived in 49 Deodar Road. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands.[31][32]

The stained-glass artist Margaret Traherne (1919-2006) lived in Deodar Road in the 1950s and 1960s.[33]

The Australian born composer Jennifer Fowler lives at number 21.[34]

Hurlingham Yacht Club moved to 43A Deodar Road, under the railway Bridge, in 1928.[35]

Number 109-115 was formerly known as Riverdale House, dating from the 1850s; it is on the Council's Local List of buildings of architectural and historic interest[36] and is the only building surviving from before the railway line.

Number 95 was formerly the site of Hurlingham Private School.[37]


Notes and references
  1. "Deodar Road Putney". Streetlist. 2023.
  2. "The Cedars". Panorama of the Thames Ltd. 2015.
  3. Streets, Edith. "Deodar Road". Layers of London.
  4. Walford, Edward (1878). "Putney". Old and New London. Vol. 6. pp. 489–503 – via British History Online.
  5. "Thornhill House, including gates, gate piers and urns". Historic England. 2023.
  6. "Unveiling of Blue Plaque to commemorate the artist Sir Sidney Nolan". The Putney Society. 8 March 2022.
  7. Frost, Stefan (10 March 2022). "Putney Society unveils blue plaque for artist Sir Sidney Nolan". SW Londoner.
  8. "Miss Freda N. Skinner - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  9. "Architects & Artists TUV". Sussex Parish Churches. 2023.
  10. "Architects & Artists H". Sussex Parish Churches.
  11. "Windows by Caroline Charlotte Townshend - Maker". Stained Glass of Buckinghamshire Churches. 2013.
  12. "Deaths". Times. 20 December 1937. p. 1 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  13. "Obituary". Times. 22 May 1943. p. 6.
  14. "Life of M.E.Aldrich Rope (Tor) - Two Margaret Ropes - Stained Glass Artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement". www.arthur.rope.clara.net. Retrieved 8 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. "Architects & Artists R". Sussex Parish Churches. 2023.
  16. "ROPE, Margaret Edith". Suffolk Artists.
  17. "Architects & Artists M". Sussex Parish Churches. 2023.
  18. Joan Howson. University of Wales: Gwydr Lliw yng Nghymru – Stained Glass in Wales. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  19. "Architects & Artists WXYZ". Sussex Parish Churches. 2023.
  20. Plomley, Roy (10 April 1964). "Tax On Playwriting". Times. p. 13 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  21. "ROPE, Dorothy". Suffolk Artists.
  22. Hatts, Leigh (2023). The Thames Path. Cicerone Press. p. 48.
  23. Gebler, Carlo (2013). Father and I. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781405529341.
  24. Davis, John (2022). Waterloo Sunrise: London from the Sixties to Thatcher. Princeton University Press.
  25. "Deodar Road". The Tatler. 8 January 1966. p. 10.
  26. Watts, David (1 January 2014). "Stained Glass & Sundials". Glassmaking in London.
  27. "High Court Of Justice: Chancery Division". Times. 8 May 1963. p. 12 – via he Times Digital Archive.
  28. Alley, Ronald (27 April 1991). "Gifts to the Tate". Times.
  29. Hughes, Graham (5 May 1999). "Obituary: Ronald Alley". Independent.
  30. Whos Who 1969 An Annual Biographical Dictionary. London:Adam and Charles Black. 1969. p. 49 – via Internet Archive.
  31. "Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited". National Music Centre, Studio Bell.
  32. Roland, Mark (8 August 2018). "EMS: The Visionary". Electronic Sound.
  33. Harrod, Tanya (18 July 2006). "Margaret Traherne". Independent.
  34. Briscoe, James R. (1997). Contemporary anthology of music by women. p. 19. ISBN 0253211026. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  35. "1928 – HYC relocates to Deodar Road". Hurlingham Yacht Club.
  36. "Putney Society Buildings Walks No.6: Putney High St to River Wandle" (PDF). Putney Society.
  37. "Hurlingham School". Wandsworth Council.

Deodar Road Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy

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