History of Redlees Arts Studios

The estate of Redlees House (also called Hippesley House), included a gravel pit which is now Redlees Park, a gatehouse and the stable block that remains in use today.

Local archives have a reasonable amount of information on some of the owners of the estate, particularly the Farnell family who owned Isleworth Brewery and were involved in various other business ventures in and around Isleworth, and A. W. Smith who owned the property in the early 20th century, primarily for use as a market garden.

Local study archives also hold auction prospectuses from a couple of points in time when the property was up for sale, and those do provide some description of the house and also of the facilities within the stable block.

Within the stables, the four-sided clock tower is a striking feature of the block, which was built by Charles Frodsham & Company of The Strand between 1830 and 1840. It will be refurbished shortly as part of conservation works.

During the early 20th century, with the house having been removed, the area was extensively used for tomato growing with some 21 large greenhouses and use for horticulture continued until well after the world war periods. This led to the acquisition of the area by Heston and Isleworth Urban District Council and Redlees Park being opened as a recreational open space from 1932.

Subsequently, Redlees Park and the stable block came to be owned by the London Borough of Hounslow (LBH) with the stable block used for storage.

As a major development within the LBH’s arts and culture strategy of the time, a Lottery Fund grant was secured in 1993 to convert the stable block into a studio complex for artists and craft makers. The conversion created a gallery space, which is unique for such studio facilities, along with two communal studios and a series of smaller occupancy spaces.

A small reception was added to the Eastern wing of the building and specially commissioned railings and gates installed to enclose the courtyard of the stable block. Bespoke tiles were also laid into the courtyard floor, some bearing the shape of a horseshoe; the lines of these tiles trace the paths of the horses that would have resided in the building during its use as stables.

The first artists took up leased studio spaces in 1995 and ‘Artists at Redlees’ was born. In the 30 years since that time, many artists have benefited from relatively low cost dedicated arts space in a communal setting. The Artists at Redlees have opened the doors to the gallery and studios twice every year throughout this time and the Open Studios weekends in Summer and Winter have become a regular and well supported feature of the Hounslow cultural scene.

Many artists have held exhibitions and workshops at Redlees over the years, including life drawing, art for everyone, ceramics, batik and even bicycle maintenance.

The artistic community prides itself on presenting a professional gallery show for each open studios and although each exhibition is curated to a high standard, there have been some exceptional presentations that still get talked about.

Recently, Redlees received a 2022 Hounslow Summer of Culture grant to put on a week-long series of free taster workshops. Under the banner of 'Art for Everyone!’ local residents were treated to linocut printing, painting with acrylics, children's play with clay, paper origami and expressive botanical drawing.

Today Redlees Studios continues to be a thriving artistic and cultural space for Hounslow. There has been a collaborative effort between the resident artists and LBH to bring fresh artistic talent into the space. Long may the studios inspire creativity and artistic development within the Borough of Hounslow.