Beeches house lived in by artist whose portrait of Winston Churchill was secretly destroyed

*Historical* The unusual house pictured below, was known as ‘Four Winds’. It has a red plaque on it that highlights artist Graham Vivian Sutherland once lived here. Graham (1903-1980) was a renowned artist who studied at Goldsmiths in London while living here in Carshalton Beeches between 1922 and 1924.

Read on to hear about his high-profile commission of Winston Churchill, and more on Graham Sutherland’s so-called Windebank home.

🗝️ Controversial painting presented to Churchill

Perhaps Sutherland’s most controversial work was the full-length portrait of Prime Minister Winston Churchill – shown below. The painting was commissioned in 1954 for Churchill’s 80th birthday, with funds raised by both the House of Commons and House of Lords. The plan had been to hang the portrait in Parliament, but instead, it made its way to Chartwell, Churchill’s family home.

Portrait of Winston Churchill by English painter, Graham Sutherland pic.twitter.com/ljQc9teOjw

— Bill Stratton (@bill_stratton) November 5, 2013

🗝️ Lost painting featured in The Crown

It transpired Churchill hated the painting (he was known to dislike many portaits), and within a year of it arriving at Chartwell it had been set alight and destroyed by his wife, Lady Spencer-Churchill. Netflix drama, The Crown, refers to the moment Churchill was first presented with the portrait and the disdain he showed for it.

It wasn’t until after Lady Spencer-Churchill’s death in 1977, that the fate of the painting had been uncovered.

🗝️ More about that unusual building in Carshalton Beeches…

The building has a Dutch style and was likely constructed sometime between 1900 and 1930 – one of 3 in this style on the estate. The area was farmland until the early 1900s. When exactly the land came under the ownership of property developer Percy Vere Windebank is not clear.

Windebank (1866-1934) had a reputation for good quality housing stock, often created in an Arts and Crafts style. Windebank himself lived at several addresses around his new estate.

Houses in this attractive area (just up from Barrow Hedges school) are still referred to as Windebank homes in sales brochures.

As usual we reserve the right to update this post as new info comes our way – for example we’d like to see an image of Percy Vere Windebank.  Please leave your comments below if you have something to add, or enjoyed reading this post. With thanks to Past on glass, Dominic Winter