Swakeleys House

Swakeleys House is a Grade I-listed 17th-century mansion in Ickenham, London Borough of Hillingdon, England, built in 1638 for the future Lord Mayor of London, Sir Edmund Wright. The house is a leading example of the architectural style known as "Artisan Mannerism", a development of Jacobean architecture led by a group of mostly London-based craftsmen. The many decorative quasi-classical gable ends are a distinguishing mark of the style. Originally the home of the lords of the manor of Swakeleys, the diarist Samuel Pepys visited the house twice. The property changed hands many times over the years and at one time was home to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Sports Association. Large sections of the grounds were sold off in 1922 and developed as suburban housing. Following a long period of decline, the house was purchased in the 1980s by a group of local residents and restored as part of its conversion to offices. It became a focal point for Ickenham during the biennial Ickenham Festival when the grounds were used to host the main gala day, until the house's new owners restricted access in 2014. Swakeleys is open in part once a year to the public as part of Open House London. Planning permission was granted in 2014 for the conversion of the house to form one large, residential property.