The White House
The White House is a house that used to exist in Heston some say it was built by Oliver Cromwell for his daughter Elizabeth but I beleive this to be untrue. In fact the House built by Oliver Cromwell was in fact called Highclere which was lived in by Elizabeth during the 17th century.The house built on the site which became Heston filling station, but it got demolished in 1933.
It became the home of Lynwood Palmer in 1911 after his return from Canada until his death in 1941. Mr Palmer a famous equestrian artist whose paintings are still in great demand. One of his paintings sold at auction at Sotheby’s in London on the 1st of July 2004 for £57.600. The artist died in Heston in 1941.
Lynwood Palmer also kept horses at the house and he cared for the 1924 Grand National winner “Master Robert” which is how the newly opened public house on the Great West Road became named
After this time it was owned by Dr Russell Blacker and his family up until it was compulsorily purchased by the local authority. Shortly after which it burned down in an arson attack
The site was then rebuilt as Palmer Close which remains there to this day.
Below are Emails from Dr Blacker
Dear Heston RA
I thought you might like a photo of the White House Upper Sutton Lane –
Lynwood Palmer’s home – where we lived until it was compulsorily purchased
off us and then mysteriously burned (arson) a few months later.
We understood that it was built by Cromwell for one of his relatives. I
remember the secret passage that ran from the back of a cupboard through to
the other end of the house.
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Actually the last owners were my grandmother Gwendoline Getgood (a
friend of the artist Augustus John) and my uncle and aunt – ‘Mickey’ and
Annette Mason who used the paddocks for quarantining animals that Mickey
captured in India SE Asia and elsewhere – in preparation for shipping to
London and San Diego zoos. They also had boarding kennels alongside – and a dance school!
Dr Russell Blacker
Photographs supplied by Dr Russell Blacker