1881 – Chiswick School of Art, Bedford Park, London

Architect: Maurice B. Adams

This was one of the public buildings on the Bedford Park estate intended to give the new development a sense of community. Designed by Maurice B. Adams it opened in Bath Road in 1881. Among other subjects it offered ‘Freehand drawing in all its branches, practical Geometry and perspective, pottery and tile painting, design for decorative purposes – as in Wall-papers, Furniture, Metalwork, Stained Glass…’ Pupils included the brother and sisters of Irish poet W.B. Yeats.

In 1899 the Middlesex County Council took over the Chiswick School of Art to form the Acton and Chiswick Polytechnic. When some departments transferred to Acton in 1928 it was renamed the Chiswick Polytechnic. The building was flattened by a bomb in 1944