After the war, the house was dedicated as a memorial to the Royal Air Force squadrons involved in the Battle of Britain.

The house was built by Josef Conn in 1905, after he had received a lease from King's College, Cambridge, the owners of much of the land in Ruislip, to build within Copse Wood.

During his ownership, Kline had various ornaments from the Far East placed around the gardens, and had furniture built for the house using wood taken from the luxury cabins of his ships.

[1] It was provided to the United States military to enable agents of the Clandestine Operations Division to be trained before embarking on sabotage missions in occupied France, its location within Copse Wood making it ideal for this purpose.

Due to financial problems, the scheme could not buy the house, and it was instead purchased from King's College in 1948 by Middlesex County Council to become a welfare centre for young people.