Construction and Early Occupation
The house was built between 1713 and 1717 in the corner of an orchard belonging to the Downes family. Its first occupant was Rev George Andreas Ruperti, the pastor of St Mary's Lutheran church in the Savoy, London, who used it as his country home. He cared for the thousands of refugees from the Rhineland who arrived in London following a famine in 1708-9. They hoped to be able to reach America - with Ruperti's help many did, and some settled in the south of Ireland. Ruperti's lists of the refugees, which record their trades, have been invaluable to family historians. He was appointed to the Lutheran Church at St James's Palace in 1728 at a salary of £200 a year. After his death in 1731 his widow retained the House; the Hogarths bought it from his son in 1749.
According to the increased valuations in the parish rate books, the Hogarths extended it in 1750 and Mrs Hogarth added another single storey extension in 1769. It was the artist's country retreat from 1749 until his death in 1764; he had a "painting room" over his coach-house at the bottom of the garden. He shared it with his wife, mother-in-law, his wife's cousin, Mary Lewis (who assisted with his business) and his sister. His town house was in Leicester Square, and was demolished in 1870. William Hogarth is buried in the graveyard of the nearby St Nicholas' Church, Chiswick; his fine tomb-monument carries an obituary by his great friend, the actor David Garrick. The family's connections with the House continued until Mary Lewis' death in 1808.
From 1814 to 1833 the House belonged to Rev Henry Francis Cary, a poet and skillful translator of Dante's Divine Comedy. He came to Chiswick as Curate of St Nicholas' Church and went on to become Assistant Librarian at the British Museum. He was part of a circle of writers and poets, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge who promoted Cary's Dante translation and made it a best seller. The House was acquired in 1833 by the Wickstead family; they migrated to Australia in 1840 and left the House to tenants. In about 1867 it became home to Newton Treen Hicks ("Brayvo Hicks") a well-known melodramatic actor.
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