In 1935, Julian Trevelyan and his first wife Ursula, when looking for a home, with sufficient space to build a pottery kiln, discovered Durham Wharf, alongside the Thames in Hammersmith. It comprised a series of buildings once used for importing coal. However, since the 1920s these spacious buildings had already been used as studios by the Footprint workshops (hand printed cloth designers) and the artists Eric Kennington and Len Lye. After commissioning their architect friend Kit Nicholson (brother of Ben), to divide the workshops up and make a section of them liveable, this became Julian and Ursula’s studio and home.

In his memoir, Trevelyan recalled his first visit “The tide was up and gulls flew screaming round us while tugs and sailing dinghies slapped about in the choppy water; we realised instinctively that this was our home and that we could live nowhere else.” (1)

The Thames, which flowed right past the house, provided Trevelyan with an endless source of inspiration. One of a long line of artists who had been fascinated by the constantly changing scenery that the Thames provided, Trevelyan’s interest was in capturing the river at all stages and at all times of the day or night. He wrote, "It is interesting to note…that the various painters who have painted the river, Turner, Whistler, Walter Greaves, Monet, and in our own time Kokoschka, have only been inspired by the high tide, a condition that only lasts for an hour or so. I find low tide as fascinating".

The Thames, that flows past my window, is such an individual, and I have grown to love it in all its moods. In Hammersmith where I live, it is tidal, and is either a flood of flotsam as far as the eye can see, or a trickle between acres or black mud. The landscape is always changing, and I am not sure which state I prefer. At high tide there is water stretching away to infinity. The elemental force of the flood is frightening; my frail house and river wall are the playthings of something primeval, and one feels powerless against the forces of the sun, moon, and wind. Sailing boats and twigs bob about on the surface, and gulls scream at each other... At low tide the chief feature and the hills of mud, between which a silver trickle, which is what our area river is reduced to, rubs its sluggish way to the sea”. (3)

Indeed, Durham Wharf provided Trevelyan with a home, until his death in 1988 and the constantly changing view over the Thames, provided Trevelyan with an endless source of inspiration.

The Durham Wharf Foundation

Thanks to the generosity of the artist Mary Fedden (Julian’s second wife and incredible working companion for fifty years), my family and Assemble architects began the restoration of the already famous studios at Durham Wharf. Thirteen years later, that work is now complete, and we are looking at multiple ways to raise money and retain the use of the studios for artists, both young and mature...and from a range of different disciplines. The funds raised by this sale will all go towards this goal with proceeds benefitting the Durham Wharf Foundation.

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Auction Details

Wednesday 11 March 2026, 10.30am GMT

Dreweatts, Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

Bidding is available in person at our salerooms, online, by telephone or you can leave commission (absentee) bids.

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Viewing:
Dreweatts London (highlights): 16-17 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5LU

• Friday 27 February: 10am–4pm
• Monday 2 March: 10am–4pm
• Tuesday 3 March: 10am–7pm

Dreweatts Newbury (full sale): Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

• Saturday 7 March: 10am-3pm
• Sunday 8 March: 10am-3pm
• Monday 9 March: 10am-4pm
• Tuesday 10 March: 10am-4pm

Further Information: 
General enquiries: + 44 (0) 1635 553 553 | pictures@dreweatts.com
Press enquiries: press@dreweatts.com

Literature

(1) (J. Trevelyan, Indigo Days: The Art and Memoirs of Julian Trevelyan, London, 1957 (2nd edition 1996), p. 49)

(2) (Banks & Scott, loc. cit.).

(3) Ariane Banks & James Scott, Julian Trevelyan, The Artist and His World, 2018, P. 18