The Thames from Hampton Court to Sunbury Lock

The Astoria

Fred karno’s houseboat

Fred Karno bought a houseboat called Highland Lassie in 1903, then had the Astoria built for him in Brentford at a cost of £20,000 in 1913—about £900,000 at 2005 prices.

 

After Fred’s bankruptcy it was sold to Vesta Victoria (1873-1951), a music hall singer and comedienne whose career had started with “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me A Bow-Wow” in 1892. She had great success in the USA from 1907 and retired during the First World War, though she made a come-back in the early 1930s.

 

In the early 1930s the houseboat was given a steel outer hull at Frank Hucks’ boatyard—the Swiss Chalet. It was moored at Tagg’s Island until 1951.

 

Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour bought it in 1986 and turned it into a recording studio.

 

Most of the albums ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ and ‘The Division Bell’ were recorded on the Astoria, plus music from other bands, including a re-issue of Procul Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ (re-mixed here in 2000) a Kula Shaker album, and the 2004 album ‘Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus’ by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds.

 

Gilmour’s 2006 album ‘On An Island’ was also recorded on the Astoria in 2005.

 

The Astoria also featured in the two-part TV programme based on Three Men In A Boat, broadcast in January 2006, featuring Griff Rhys Jones.

 

The riverside garden where Astoria is moored was part of Garrick’s House and is reached via a tunnel/grotto (supposedly designed by Capability Brown) under the road. But it is private—there is no public access, so you can only see it from the Surrey bank.

 

The house just downstream of the Astoria is Garrick House, originally called The Cedars, supposedly bought by David Garrick and given to his nephew (also called David Garrick).

This is Fred Karno’s houseboat from 1913—The Astoria. Older than Joan Collins, but perfectly preserved

Another view of the Astoria