Kew Farm & the Dutch House

In the early 16th century, the land between Kew Green and the Thames was laid out in a regular series of plots, with a house on each. In the following decades, more royal courtiers settled in the area. The complexity and ferocity of Tudor politics being what they were, many of the previously fairly uniform plots were merged into larger, less equal, landholdings.

By 1558 all the free land between the modern Brentford Gate and the future site of the Dutch House was held by just one man, Sir Robert Dudley. The many small houses were neglected and destroyed, leaving only one large house on the estate. This was named Kew Farm.

A similar process took place on the land to the east, and by the early 17th century two houses dominated this strip of land, dividing the land between them. On one of these plots, Samuel Fortrey, the merchant son of Flemish émigrés, built a Thames-side villa in 1631. This was the Dutch House, distinguished by the use of carved brickwork for all of its architectural decoration, most notably the superimposed tower of the Orders above the entrance. With its distinctive Flemish bond brickwork and rounded gables, the Dutch House is the oldest building remaining in the Gardens and is now known as Kew Palace.

The ownership history of the plot east of the Dutch House, where the Herbarium now is, is not clear, but the 1730 map shows that by then, it was owned by the St Andrés, and was part of the Kew Park estate.

Back to: 16th & 17th Centuries: Royal Influences