Kew Palace - The Second Kew Palace

The Second Kew Palace

The so-called 'Old Palace', sometimes referred to as the Dutch House, was built in 1631 by Samuel Fortrey.

The building formerly belonged to the Smith family, and by marriage became the property of Samuel Molyneux, Esq., secretary to George II.

Frederick, Prince of Wales took a long lease of the house, which he made his frequent residence; and here, too, occasionally resided his favourite poet, James Thomson, author of "The Seasons." In 1738, another poet, Alexander Pope, gave Prince Frederick a dog, with the following verse inscribed on its collar:

I am His Highness' dog at Kew.

Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?

The house contained some good pictures, among which were a set of Canaletto's works; the celebrated picture of the Florence gallery, by Zoffany, (who resided in the neighbourhood). The pleasure-grounds, which contained 120 acres (0.49 km2), were laid out by Sir William Chambers, one of the greatest masters of ornamental English gardening.

The building was taken on a long lease by George III from the descendants of Sir Richard Levett, a powerful merchant and the former Lord Mayor of the City of London, who had purchased it from the grandson of Samuel Fortrey..

Originally from Sussex, the Levett family (whose name derives from the village of Livet in Normandy) retained ownership of the house, as well as other lands in the Kew complex, until October 13, 1781, when the Dutch House was purchased by King George III from the Levett family for £20,000. But members of the Royal Family had occupied the house as early as 1734, when they leased the house from the Levett heirs. (A map of 1771 delineated the land between the Dutch House and the river as belonging to barrister Levett Blackborne, Lincoln's Inn barrister and grandson of Sir Richard Levett.) Indeed a musical portrait of the cello-playing Frederick, Prince of Wales (son of George II) and his sisters, part of the National Portrait Gallery collection in London, painted oil on canvas by Philip Mercier and dated 1733, uses the house as its plein-air backdrop. In 1735 the architect William Kent produced a grandiose plan for a large Palladian palace at Kew, very much in the style of Stowe but this was never executed.

George III's residency of the Dutch House was originally intended to be brief, a temporary residence while his new castellated palace in the Gothic style (described below) was built - at first the Royal Family resided at Richmond Lodge but as the family became larger it became necessary to take over other properties on Kew Green, which included the Dutch House.

George III's wife, Queen Charlotte died at the Dutch House on November 17, 1818. On ascending the throne in 1837 Queen Victoria gave most of Kew Gardens to the nation, retaining only a small summer house once belonging to Queen Charlotte for her own use. Known as "Queen's Cottage" Queen Victoria seldom visited it and to mark her Golden Jubilee in 1887 she presented this also to the country.