Battle of Britain House, also known over time as Franklin House and Kokyo, was a private mansion in Ruislip that was used by the United States military to train agents for undercover missions in occupied France during the Second World War. After the war, the house was dedicated as a memorial to the Royal Air Force squadrons involved in the Battle of Britain, and became a residential college and headquarters to the Ruislip & District Natural History Society. The house was destroyed by fire in 1984 and demolished; in 1993 the site was cleared to allow it to be reclaimed by nature.HistoryThe 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. At the time of building, it was possible to view the reservoir of what would become Ruislip Lido, and the church of Harrow on the Hill, St. Mary's.Meyer Franklin Kline, an American shipping magnate, took over the lease from Conn in 1920. He first renamed the house "Kokyo" to reflect his company's presence in Asia, followed by "Franklin House", after President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 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.