Building    To 1969

Rockhills

Categories: Property

Home of Sir Joseph Paxton, 1852-65 (from when the Crystal Palace was rebuilt in Penge Park through to his death) and Sir Henry Buckland 1922-56. The dates are off the plaque and you'll note the overlap of 4 years, which we can't explain, other than to comment that it was a large house.

The large Regency mansion was bombed in WW2 and demolished in 1969. Sadly we could find no image of the house so we are showing you an 1895 map instead.

A pair of gate piers has survived, and is listed. The piers are on Westwood Hill, immediately to the left (east) of Old Cople Lane. They can be seen in Google Street View and British Listed Buildings has some photos. 

The Listing entry reads: "Pair of gate piers. Mid C19 in Classical style. These were the gatepiers to Rockhills where Sir Joseph Paxton, designer of the adjoining Crystal Palace, lived from 1852 and died in 1865 but the main house was destroyed during the Second World War. Cast iron. Approximately 6 feet high square piers with moulded bases and cornices, fluted capitals, round-headed panels with rosette decoration, Greek key decoration above crowned by antefixae. The gates {which have not survived to 2021} of wood with cast iron spear rails are a late C20 fairly authentic copy of the originals and are not included in the listing. The gate piers are reputed to have been a gift to Paxton from Queen Victoria."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Rockhills

Commemorated ati

Paxton’s house ‘Rockhills'

On this site stood Rockhills, the home of Sir Joseph Paxton MP, 1852 - 1865, ...

Read More

Other Subjects

8 Grenville Street

8 Grenville Street

The Marchmont Association thoroughly research their plaques and they found some interesting information about Barrie’s home: “Barrie (1937) writes (in the third person) about his first residences ...

Building, Property

1 memorial
Pageants Wharf fire station

Pageants Wharf fire station

In its time, it was one of the busiest fire stations in London. Fires frequently broke out in the nearby wharves, and during the Blitz, the station attended many fires following bomb attacks. It ha...

Building, Emergency Services, Property

1 memorial
St Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane

St Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane

The current St Dunstan's House, an office block, is the nearest building on Fetter Lane.  Its predecessor, from which the decorative panels were rescued, stood there from 1886 until its demolition ...

Building, Property

1 memorial
Lieutenant Commander James Dawbarn Young, R.N.V.R.

Lieutenant Commander James Dawbarn Young, R.N.V.R.

Qualified as surveyor and then as a lawyer.  Public spirited and worked with the Claremont Central Mission (we think this was a nationwide religious charitable organisation working with young peopl...

Person, Armed Forces, Law, Property, Belgium

War dead, WW1
3 memorials
Pitzhanger Manor

Pitzhanger Manor

In records prior to 1800 their names made it is easy to confuse the house that stood here with another which stood at what is now Pitzhanger Park, about a mile to the north. In 1768, George Dance ...

Building, Property

2 memorials