E-text prepared by Susan Skinner and the Project Gutenberg Online
Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original maps and illustration.
See 21218-h.htm or 21218-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/2/1/21218/21218-h/21218-h.htm)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/2/1/21218/21218-h.zip)
The Fascination of London
MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA, AND BAYSWATER
* * * * *
_IN THIS SERIES._
Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net each.
THE STRAND DISTRICT.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
WESTMINSTER.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMPSTEAD AND MARYLEBONE.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
CHELSEA.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
KENSINGTON.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMMERSMITH, FULHAM, AND PUTNEY.
By G. E. MITTON and J. C. GEIKIE.
* * * * *
[Illustration: HYDE PARK CORNER]
The Fascination of London
MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA AND BAYSWATER
by
G. E. MITTON AND OTHERS
Edited by Sir Walter Besant
London
Adam & Charles Black
1903
PREFATORY NOTE
A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should
preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her
mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that
Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the
past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he
died.
As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything
else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted
before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I
find something fresh in it every day."
Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should
contain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different
persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in
itself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in
which he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section
to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the
meantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the
districts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to
the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the
interest and the history of London lie in these street associations.
The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great,
for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying
charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with
the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her
history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the
series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain.
The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who
loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him,
and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links
between past and present in themselves largely constitute The
Fascination of London.
G. E. M.
Some attempt has been made in this volume to indicate the quality
of the district described by inserting one or two names of present
occupiers; but these names are only representative, and must not be
considered as constituting in any sense exhaustive lists.
MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA, AND BAYSWATER
Mayfair is at the present time the most fashionable part of London, so
much so that the name has come to be a synonym for wealth or pride of
birth. Yet it was not always so, as he who runs may read, for the
derivation is simple enough, and differs from most cases in that the
obvious meaning is the right one. In James II.'s reign a permission was
given for a fair to be held on the north side of Piccadilly, to begin on
the first day of May, and to last for fifteen days. This fair, we are
told, was "not for trade and merchandise, but for musick, showes,
drinking, gaming, raffling, lotteries, stageplays and drolls." It was
immensely popular, and was frequented by "all the nobility of the town,"
wherein, perhaps, we see the germs of the Mayfair we know. It must be
remembered that Grosvenor and Berkeley Squares, with their diverging
streets, were not then begun, and that all this land now covered by a
network of houses lay in fields on the outskirts of London, while Hyde
Park Corner was still the end of the world so far as Londoners were
concerned. It was about the end of the seventeenth century that the
above-mentioned squares were built, and at once became fashionable, and
as the May fair continued to flourish until 1708, it must have seen the
growth of the district to which it was to give its name. Though
suppressed, doubtless on account of disorders, it revived again, with
booths for jugglers, prize-fighting contests, boxing matches, and the
baiting of bears and bulls, and was not finally abolished until the end
of the eighteenth century.
But Mayfair is not the only district to be noticed; we have also its
rival--Belgravia--lying south of Hyde Park Corner, which is equally
included in the electoral district of St. George's, Hanover Square. This
electoral district takes in the three most fashionable churches in the
Metropolis, including the mother church, St. Paul's, Wilton Place, and
St. Peter's, Eaton Square, besides many others, whose marriage registers
cannot compete either in quantity or quality of names with these three.
The district can also show streets as poor as some are rich; it includes
not only Park Lane and Piccadilly, but also Pimlico and the dreary part
to the south of Buckingham Palace Road. It is a long, narrow district,
stretching from the river to Oxford Street. As a parish, St. George's
was separated from St. Martin's in 1724, and it is now included in the
city of Westminster, with which it has been associated from its earliest
history. In the charter given by King Edgar to the monks at Westminster,
their possessions were defined as reaching to the highroad we now call
Oxford Street on the north, and to Tyburn Lane, or Park Lane, on the
west. But of this the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John at
Westminster were the City, and the rest lay in the "Liberties."
The larger portion of the district is included in the ancient estate of
Eia, 890 acres in extent, reaching from the Bayswater Road to the
Thames, which was given by William the Conqueror to Geoffrey de
Mandeville, who at his death bequeathed it to the Abbey of Westminster.
In Domesday Book it is divided into three manors of Hyde, Ebury, and
Neyte. Of these the first occupies the site of Hyde Park; Ebury, from
Knightsbridge to Buckingham Palace Road; Neyte, nearer the river, was
the favourite residence of the Abbots. Here John of Gaunt lived, and
here, in 1448, John, son of Richard, Duke of York, was born. The monks
remained in possession until dispossessed by Henry VIII. in 1536. Hyde
then became a royal hunting-ground. Neyte, or Neat, and Ebury remained
as farms, which in 1676 came into the possession of the Grosvenor family
by the marriage of Mary, daughter and heiress of Alexander Davies of
Ebury, with Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bart. With her came also the
Grosvenor Square property, extending from Oxford Street to Berkeley
Square and Dorchester House, and from Park Lane to South Molton Lane and
Avery Row. Other large landholders in the district are the Crown--Hyde
Park, and Buckingham Palace; Lord Fitzhardinge, the Berkeley estate; the
City of London, New Bond Street and parts of Conduit Street and Brook
Street; Earl Howe, Curzon Street; Sir Richard Sutton, Piccadilly; the
Dean and Chapter of Westminster, Knightsbridge; and the Lowndes family,
Lowndes Street and Chesham Place.
More than a quarter of the district is covered by Hyde Park, 394 acres
in extent. Long before its acquisition by the Crown in 1536 it had been
a favourite royal hunting-ground, and it so continued until Charles I.'s
accession, when it was opened to the public. During this reign, and
until 1736, the world of fashion centred round the Ring, a circular
drive planted with trees, some of which are still carefully preserved on
the high ground near the Ranger's house, though all trace of the roadway
has long been obliterated. The Park was sold by auction during the
Commonwealth, but resumed by the Crown at the Restoration, and in 1670
was enclosed with a brick wall and restocked with deer, who have left
their traces in the name of Buck Hill Walk and Gate, close to the east
bank of the Serpentine. This prettily-laid-out area, formerly known as
Buckden Hill or the Deer Paddock, is now tenanted only by peacocks,
ducks and rabbits.
The Serpentine, a noble stretch of water of 50 acres, has already been
described in "Kensington."
Hyde Park has always been noted for its springs. In 1725 the Chelsea
Waterworks Company obtained a license to supply the surrounding
districts, and built a reservoir and engine-house near Grosvenor Gate,
which existed until 1835, when, on the recall of the license, the
engine-house was demolished and the basin laid out with flower-beds and
a fountain. The present reservoir stands in the centre of the Park,
while opposite Stanhope Place on the north side is a Gothic drinking
fountain, the gift of the Maharajah of Vizianagram. The oldest of the
present roads in Hyde Park is Rotten Row, made by William III.; it is
now reserved for riding only, while under the trees on either side rank
and fashion have lounged and gossiped since the days of the Ring. The
popular derivation of the name is from Route du Roi, since it was known
first as the King's or Lamp Road; but possibly it has its origin in the
soft soil of which the ride since 1734 has been composed. The south
road, now the fashionable drive, was made by George II. about 1732, as a
short way to Kensington Park. The road from Alexandra Gate to Victoria
Gate crosses the Serpentine by a stone bridge built by Rennie in 1826,
and is the only one open to hired vehicles, which were first forbidden
the use of the Park in 1695. From the Serpentine a soft ride runs
parallel to the roadway as far as the Marble Arch; from this point Hyde
Park Corner is reached by a broad drive bordered with flower-beds and
trees, which replace the famous double avenue of walnuts cut down in
1811. It is much patronized by society, who congregate opposite Hyde
Park Corner, near the Achilles statue, by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A., cast
from captured French cannon, and erected at a cost of £10,000 by the
women of England in 1820, "in honour of the Duke of Wellington and his
brave companions in arms." It is copied from a Roman antique, but the
name is a misnomer. The road along the north side of the Serpentine is
now thronged every day with bicyclists, to whom the Park has been lately
thrown open. Here also are held the annual meets of the Four-in-Hand and
Coaching Club during the season. This road was widened in 1852. Of past
and present buildings in Hyde Park the following may be noted: When the
Serpentine was made, an old lodge was demolished which may have been the
tavern known in the reign of James I. as the "Grave Maurice's Head," and
which later became Price's Lodge. Up to 1836, on the bank of the
Serpentine stood an old house called the Cake House, and close to it was
the old receiving house of the Royal Humane Society, which was replaced
in 1834 by the present building, designed by Decimus Burton. Among the
trees behind it is an old farmhouse (Hyde Park Lodge), the residence of
Major-General Bateson, Deputy Ranger, adjoining which are the old
barracks, now a police-station and guard-room, the head-gardener's
house, built in 1877, and the old magazine. The new magazine stands
close to the Serpentine Bridge, and contains over 1,000,000 rounds of
ammunition. Near Grosvenor Gate stood the Duke of Gloucester's
riding-house, built in 1724, which, after serving as the headquarters of
the Westminster Volunteer Cavalry, was demolished in 1824. The old
Ranger's Lodge at Hyde Park Corner was pulled down when Apsley House was
built.
The principal entrance to Hyde Park is at Hyde Park Corner, and consists
of a triple archway combined with a fluted Ionic screen, by Decimus
Burton, completed in 1828. The iron gates are by Bramah. Cumberland
Gate, the next in importance, was opened in 1744, with wooden gates.
Here in 1643 was posted a court of guard to watch the Oxford Road, where
the Court was residing, and here also military executions took place.
The Marble Arch, an imitation by Nash of the Arch of Constantine at
Rome, erected originally as an entrance to Buckingham Palace, was moved
to this site in 1851. Albert Gate was made in 1841, on the site of the
Cannon Brewery. The iron gates were set up in 1845, and the stone stags
on either side were brought from the old Lodge in the Green Park.
The remaining gates are Alexandra Gate and Prince of Wales's Gate,
erected since 1851; Victoria Gate, Grosvenor Gate, made in 1724 by
subscription of the neighbouring inhabitants; and Stanhope Gate, opened
about 1760. There are also numerous entrances for foot passengers.
The present Park railing was put up after the Reform Riots in 1866 to
replace the one demolished by the mob, which had stood since 1825.
In duelling days Hyde Park was a favourite battle-ground. Of many
encounters the following may be recorded:
1685. The Duke of Grafton and the Hon. John Talbot, the latter being
killed.
1712. The Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun, which took place near Price's
Lodge. Both died on the ground, and Lord Mohun's second, General
Macartney, was afterwards tried, on the accusation of Colonel Hamilton,
for stabbing the Duke when on the ground; he was, however, acquitted.
1763. John Wilkes was wounded by Mr. Samuel Martin, M.P.
1770. Lord Thurlow and Mr. Andrew Stewart.
1777. Charles James Fox and Mr. William Adam, M.P.
1780. Colonel Fullarton, M.P., wounded the Earl of Shelburne.
After 1803 the practice of duelling fell gradually into disuse.
In troublous times military camps occupied the open ground, notably in
1649 under Lord Essex, in 1665 during the Plague, and in 1715 and 1722
to guard against Jacobite rebellion.
Reviews have been held at intervals from 1569 until 1876, but are now of
very rare occurrence.
Hyde Park has also been the scene of some serious riots, notably those
in 1821 on the occasion of the removal of Queen Caroline's body; in 1885
against the Sunday Trading Bill; and in 1862 the Garibaldi disturbances.
The most important riot, however, broke out in 1866, when the Reform
Leaguers forcibly entered the Park by pulling down the railing. From the
Reform League the Reformer's tree near the reservoir took its name;
though the original one has been felled, the name is still applied to a
neighbouring tree, and political demonstrations, which have been
declared legal since 1866, are still held on the open space in the
vicinity.
Oxford Street, which forms the northern boundary of the district, has
already been described in the book on "Marylebone," with which district
it is closely identified. It is only necessary here to mention some of
the notable houses on the south side which fall within our compass.
The first is Camelford House (Lord Hillingdon), an unpretentious
building in a courtyard, once the property of the Pitts, Earls of
Camelford. George Grenville occupied it in 1805, and subsequently H.R.H.
Princess Charlotte and her husband, afterwards Leopold I. of Belgium.
Adjoining it is Hereford Gardens, a row of handsome private houses built
in 1870 on the site of Hereford Street (1780).
At the corner of Lumley Street (south side) is the Royal Association in
Aid of the Deaf and Dumb. The building, erected in 1870 from designs by
Sir A. Blomfield, of red brick, contains a reading-room, lecture-hall,
and on the upper floor St. Saviour's Church, in early Pointed style.
From Dering Street, on the south side of Oxford Street, the garden of
Lord Carnarvon's house in Tenterden Street extended nearly to Harewood
Place. On the site are a noticeable stone-fronted house, now a carriage
warehouse, and the Royal Orthopædic Hospital, founded 1838 and removed
here from Bloomsbury Square in 1856.
Park Lane, up to 1769 called Tyburn Lane, was in the reign of Queen Anne
a desolate by-road, but is now a favourite place of residence for the
fashionable persons in the Metropolis. It is open to Hyde Park as far as
Hamilton Place, whence it reaches Piccadilly by a narrow street. At its
junction with the former stands an ornamental fountain by Thorneycroft,
erected in 1875 at a cost of £5,000, the property of a lady who died
intestate and without heirs. At the base are the muses of Tragedy,
Comedy, and History in bronze, above Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton in
marble, the whole being surmounted by a bronze statue of Fame. The
principal mansions in Park Lane are: Brook House, at the north corner of
Upper Brook Street, designed by T. H. Wyatt, and the residence of the
Earl of Tweedmouth, and next to it Dudley House. Dorchester House
(Captain Holford) was built by Vulliamy in 1852 on the site of the town
house of the Damers, Earls of Dorchester. The building, which stands in
its own grounds, is rectangular, and constructed of Portland stone in
Italian Renaissance style. On the narrow front is a carriage portico.
The reception rooms and marble staircase have few rivals in London; they
contain two libraries and a collection of pictures by old and modern
masters. Here died in 1842 the Marquis of Hertford. Londonderry House,
No. 18 (Marquis of Londonderry), was built in 1850 by S. and J. Wyatt on
the site of the residence of the D'Arcys, Earls of Holdernesse. It
contains a fine gallery of pictures and sculpture. Other inhabitants:
the Duke of Somerset, in a house adjoining Camelford House, No. 35; Sir
Moses Montefiore, d. 1885; Park Lane Chambers, Earl Sondes, Lord
Monkbretton.
At the corner of Upper Grosvenor Street (then No. 1, Grosvenor Gate)
Benjamin Disraeli lived 1839-73. No. 24, Lord Brassey. No. 21, for many
years the Marquis of Breadalbane, and afterwards Lady Palmerston, when
left a widow in 1850; Earl of Scarborough. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton at a
house then numbered 1. In 23, Richard Sharp, 1822-24; Mrs. Fitzherbert,
1785; Warren Hastings, 1790-97; Marquis Wellesley, 1796.
Grosvenor Square and the surrounding streets have always been the centre
of the aristocratic world; the Square, which includes about six acres,
was built in 1695. The garden was laid out by Kent, and in the centre
stood formerly an equestrian statue of George I., by Van Nost, placed
there in 1726. On the site, in 1642, was erected a fort named Oliver's
Mount, which stood as one of the defences against the Royalists until
1647. Owing to the prejudices of the inhabitants, Grosvenor Square was
not lit by gas until 1842.
Inhabitants: Duchess of Kendal, d. 1743; Earl of Chesterfield, 1733-50;
Bishop Warburton, 1757; Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, 1758-64; Lord
Rockingham, d. 1782; Henry Thrale, d. 1781; Lord North, d. 1792; Thomas
Raikes, 1832; Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles; 10, Lord Canning and Lord
Granville, 1841; 22, William Beckford, 1800; 23, the Earl of Derby here
married Miss Farren, actress, in 1797; his successors resided here until
1832; Lord Stratford de Redclyffe, d. 1880; 24, the Earl of Shaftesbury;
29, Sir John Beaumont; 30, John Wilkes, d. 1797; 39 (now 44), the Earl
of Harrowby, 1820 (here the Cato Street conspirators proposed to murder
the Ministry); 44, Countess of Pembroke. The houses have since been
renumbered. To give a list of the present inhabitants of note would be
impossible; it would be like copying a page out of the Red Book. Suffice
to say there are living in the Square two Dukes, one Marquess, three
Earls, six Barons, and five Baronets, beside many other persons of
distinction.
At the corner end of Park Street, and in South Street and Aldford
Street, the old houses have been pulled down and have been replaced by
large, red-brick, ornamented structures, such as have also been erected
in Mount Street, Grosvenor Street, and North and South Audley Street.
The spaces behind the houses are occupied by mews. Great improvements
have also been effected since 1887 in the housing of the working
classes, particularly in the neighbourhood of Oxford Street, and in
Bourdon Street and Mount Row, by the erection of blocks of industrial
dwellings by the St. George's and Improved Industrial Dwellings
Companies, under the auspices of the Duke of Westminster.
In Park Street, formerly called Hyde Park Street, lived Miss Nelly
O'Brien, 1768; 7, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, M.P.; 26, Sir Humphry
Davy, 1825, till his death; 113, Miss Lydia White, d. 1827; 123, Richard
Ford, author of "The Handbook for Spain." In North Audley Street,
opposite Green Street, is St. Mark's Church, built from designs by J. P.
Deering in 1825-28, and reconstructed in Romanesque style in 1878.
Adjoining is the Vicarage, built in 1887, and at the back the St. Mark's
Institute, containing a church-room, mission-room, gymnasium, and a
working men's club. Attached to the institute are the parish schools,
built soon after 1830, and enlarged and repaired in 1894.
Near the church lived the Countess of Suffolk, mistress of George II.;
at 1, Maria Edgeworth; 26, the Misses Berry.
South Audley Street takes its name from Hugh Audley (d. 1662), the owner
of some land in the neighbourhood. It has several interesting houses.
No. 8, Alington House (Lord Alington), was, in 1826, Cambridge House,
the residence of the Duke of York, and afterwards, until 1876, belonged
to the Curzons, Earls Howe. In 73, Bute House, lived, in 1769, the great
Earl of Bute, and near him his friend Home, author of "Douglas."
Chesterfield House, a large mansion standing in a courtyard at the
corner of Curzon Street, was built by Ware in 1749 for the fourth Earl
of Chesterfield, d. 1773, who wrote the "Letters" in the library. The
portico and marble staircase, with bronze balustrade, were brought from
Canons, the seat of the Duke of Chandos. In 1869 the house was sold to
Mr. Magniac for £175,000, and he built over the gardens. It is now the
town house of Lord Burton.
Opposite Aldford Street is Grosvenor Chapel, erected in 1730; an ugly
building, with sittings for 1,200. It is now a chapel of ease to St.
George's. Here were buried Lord Chesterfield, 1773; Ambrose Phillips,
poet, 1749; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1762; David Mallet, poet, 1765;
William Whitehead, poet, 1785; John Wilkes, 1797; Elizabeth Carter,
1806. The churchyard at the back was, in 1889, converted into a public
garden. Just outside the gate is the Public Free Library, erected in
1894 under the Free Libraries Act.
Other inhabitants: General Paoli; Holcroft, dramatist, 1761; Sir William
Jones; Lord John Russell; Lord Sydenham, 1841; 8, Archbishop Markham, d.
1807; 14, Sir R. Westmacott, sculptor, d. 1856; 15, Baron Bunsen, 1841;
72, Charles X., when in exile, and in 1816 the Duchesse d'Angoulême;
Louis XVIII., in 1814, also lived in this street; 74, the Portuguese
Embassy early in the eighteenth century; 77, Sir Matthew Wood; here
Queen Caroline resided in 1820. In the enlargement of the street called
Audley Square Spencer Perceval was born. North Row has no interest. In
Green Street lived Sydney Smith, d. 1845; Lord Cochrane, d. 1814; 61 is
Hampden House, residence of the Duke of Abercorn. At the corner of Park
Street stood St. Mary's Church, pulled down in 1880.
In Norfolk Street lived Lord William Russell, murdered by his valet in
1840; at 27 the Earl of Dunraven, 1895. In Upper Brook Street lived Lord
George Gordon, b. 1750, and George Grenville; 3, Sir Lucas Pepys and the
Countess of Rothes; 18, Hon. Mrs. Damer, sculptor, d. 1828; 27, "Single
Speech" Hamilton, d. 1796; 18, Sir William Farrer, F.R.G.S.; 32, Marquis
of Ormonde.
Upper Grosvenor Street contains Grosvenor House, the residence of the
Duke of Westminster, a handsome building standing in a courtyard, with a
garden at the back, skirting Park Lane as far as Mount Street. On its
purchase in 1761 by the Duke of Gloucester, brother of George III., it
was known as Gloucester House. The present screen and metal gates by
Cundy were erected in 1842. The house contains a very fine collection of
pictures.
In this street lived: No. 2, Lord Erskine; 11, Mr. Francis Hale Rigby,
1817; 16, the first Sir Robert Peel; 18, Lord Crewe, 1809.
Among present inhabitants are:
The Dowager Duchess of Northumberland; Dowager Countesses of Galloway
and Wilton; Lord Templemore; Major-General Hon. H. F. Eaton; Prince
Alexis Dolgorouki; Sir E. Chandos Leigh.
Balfour Place has been lately rebuilt, and was so named in 1892 instead
of Portugal Street.
Mount Street (1740), called from the Fort of Oliver's Mount, was rebuilt
with ornamental red-brick houses; it contains the Vestry Hall--now the
Register Office for the district--built by Bolton in 1887, at a cost of
£15,200, on the site of the old workhouse, now removed to the Fulham
Road.
Inhabitants: Lady Mary Coke, 1810; Martin Van Butchell, d. 1810; Sir
Henry Holland, 1816; No. 102, Madame d'Arblay, 1832; 111, on the site of
an old manor-house, was in 1891 occupied by a college of Jesuit priests;
2, Sir Charles Hall, Q.C., M.P., d. 1900; 49, Earl of Selborne; 54, Lord
Windsor; 105, Winston Churchill, M.P.; 113, Right Hon. Akers Douglas,
M.P. In Carlos Place, so renamed in 1892 instead of Charles Street
(1727), lives: No. 1, Sir George Chetwynd, Bt., 1896. Its prolongation,
Duke Street, rebuilt in 1889 in red brick, dates from about 1770, and
was named probably after the Duke of Cumberland. In that year a lying-in
hospital stood in the street; opposite a small square is the King's
Weigh House Congregational Chapel, a large building erected in 1891.
Blocks of artisans' dwellings occupy the small streets round about.
In Gilbert Street are St George's, Hanover Square, District Schools,
which replaced the old schools in South Molton Street. The building was
erected in 1888 by Caroe on a site given by the Duke of Westminster, and
cost £5,000. These schools were incorporated in 1818 with General
Stewart's schools in South Street.
Davies Street is very narrow at its northern end, where it forms a
prolongation of South Molton Lane, an old street known in 1708 as Shug
Lane. It takes its name either from Miss Mary Davies, who is said to
have lived in an old house still standing at the corner of Bourdon
Street, or from Sir Thomas Davies, to whom Hugh Audley left his
property. Here is the new church of St Anselm, built in Byzantine style,
from designs by Balfour and Turner, at a cost of £20,000, and opened in
February, 1896, to replace Hanover Chapel, Regent Street. At No. 8 are
the Westminster Public Baths and Washhouses.
In Bourdon Street is St. Mary's Church, a chapel of ease to St.
George's, built for £12,000 by the Duke of Westminster in 1881 to
replace St. Mary's Church in Park Street. The building, from designs by
Blomfield, is in medieval style. Adjoining is St. George's Workmen's
Dwellings Association.
In Grosvenor Street (1726) lived: Countess of Hertford, 1740; Lord
North, 1740; Sir Paul Methuen, 1740; Miss Vane, mistress of Frederick,
Prince of Wales; Lord Crewe, 1784; Marquis Cornwallis, 1793-98; No. 13,
William Sotheby; William Huskisson; at 16 was formerly the Royal
Institution of British Architects; 17, Samuel Whitbread, 1800; 28, Sir
Humphry Davy, 1818; 48, Earl St. Vincent, d. 1823; 72, Dr. Matthew
Baillie, d. 1823; 6, Sir E. Ashmead Bartlett, M.P., d. 1902; 25, William
Allingham, surgeon; 50, Earl Carrington; 59, Right Hon. James Lowther,
M.P.; 72, Sir James Reid; and many others.
Brook Street was first called Little Brook Street, and afterwards Lower
Brook Street. It takes its name from the Tyburn, which flowed down the
course of South Molton Lane and Avery Row, by Bruton Mews to the bottom
of Hay Hill, and through the gardens of Lansdowne House to Shepherd's
Market. It then crossed Piccadilly at Engine Street, and flowed through
the Green Park to Buckingham Palace.
In Brook Street is Claridge's (formerly Mivart's) Hotel. Here lived: No.
25 (now 72), Edmund Burke; Sir Henry Holland, 1820-73; 63, Sir William
Jenner; 74, Sir William Gull; 57 (now 25), Handel, the composer; Lord
Lake, d. 1808; Welbore Ellis, Lord Mendip, d. 1802; Mrs. Delany; 20,
Gerald Vandergucht, engraver, and his son Benjamin Vandergucht, painter;
Thomas Barker, painter; 25, Rev. Sydney Smith; 30, Sir Charles Bell, d.
1832; 34, Sir Thomas Troubridge, 1809; 63, Sir John Williams, physician;
66, Sir B. Savory, Bart.; 74, Lord Balcarres; 84, Sir William Broadbent,
physician; 86, Lord Davey, P.C., F.R.S.
In South Molton Street, on the wall of No. 36, is an inscription: "This
is South Molton Street, 1721." At No. 17 lived William Blake, poet and
painter, in 1807. The St. George's Schools, at No. 53, were removed in
1889 to Gilbert Street, and the building sold for £2,500.
In Woodstock Street lived: Dr. Johnson, 1737; Prince Talleyrand, 1793;
Dr. Parr, 1814. Running out of it are Sedley Place, so named in 1873
instead of Hanover Place, and Blenheim Street, up to 1760 called Pedley
Street.
East of New Bond Street, Hanover Square, four acres in extent, was built
as a fashionable place of residence in 1716-20. It was to have been
called Oxford Square, but the name was changed in honour of the house
of Hanover. A few of the old houses still remain, notably Nos. 17 and
23, but most of them have been rebuilt at various times, and are not in
any way remarkable. The centre is enclosed and planted with trees, and
at the southern end stands a bronze statue of Pitt by Chantrey, erected
in 1831 at the cost of £7,000. The principal houses are: No. 3, the
offices of the Zoological Society, established in 1826, and removed here
in 1846; those of the Anthropological Society; 4, a large handsome
building erected in 1774 by Sir George Gallini, and opened by him as the
Hanover Square Concert and Ball Rooms. Here J. C. Bach, son of Sebastian
Bach, gave concerts from 1785-93. The concerts of Ancient Music and
those of the Philharmonic Society also took place here. In 1862 the
rooms were redecorated and styled the Queen's Concert Rooms, but were in
1875 disposed of to the Hanover Square Club, established in that year.
No. 10 was formerly the Brunswick Hotel, but has been rebuilt as
chambers.
No. 12, formerly the offices of the Royal Agricultural Society, now
those of the Shire Horse Society and Kindred Associations.
No. 13, Harewood House, was built by W. Adam for the Duke of Roxburghe,
and purchased in 1795 by Lord Harewood, in whose family it remained
until 1894, when it was sold to the Royal Agricultural Society,
established in 1838 for the improvement of agriculture.
No. 15 now forms part of the Orthopædic Hospital in Oxford Street.
No. 16 in 1845 was occupied by the Royal College of Chemistry,
established in that year, and afterwards removed first to Oxford Street,
and in 1835 to the School of Mines, Jermyn Street.
In No. 17 Mrs. Jordan is said to have lived under the protection of the
Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV. In 1864 it became the home of
the Arts Club, established in that year for persons interested in art,
literature, or science. The house contains a fine painted ceiling by
Angelica Kaufmann, and some marble mantelpieces of Italian workmanship,
but is soon to be demolished.
No. 18 is the Oriental Club, founded in 1824 by Sir John Malcolm for
persons who have resided or travelled in the East. The present house, on
the site of one occupied by Lord Le Despenser 1771-81, was built in 1827
by the Wyatts, and contains some good portraits of Lord Clive and other
distinguished Anglo-Indians.
No. 20 is the offices of the Royal Medical, Pathological, and Clinical
Societies, established 1867.
No. 21 was the site of Downshire House from 1793. It was before that
date the property of the Earl of Hillsborough. Here, in 1835, lived
Talleyrand, then French Ambassador; after him, Earl Grey. It has been
rebuilt, and is now a bank, above which is the New County Club, located
here in 1894.
No. 32 was the home of the Naval and Military Club from 1863-65.
At No. 23 lived Lord Palmerston, father of the Premier, in 1806, and the
Duchess of Brunswick, daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales, d. 1813.
Other inhabitants: the present No. 20, Field-Marshal Viscount Cobham,
1736-48; George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, d. 1735; Ambrose Phillips,
poet, d. 1749. At the present No. 10: Admiral Lord Rodney, 1792-96;
Admiral Lord Anson, 1762; "Single Speech" Hamilton, 1765; Percival Pott,
surgeon, 1777-88; Thomas Campbell, poet; Sir James Clark, physician,
1841.
The streets round Hanover Square are mainly broad, well built, and lined
with shops. Hanover Street and Princes Street were built about 1736. In
the latter Sir John Malcolm died in 1833. Swallow Place and Passage
recall Swallow Street, which was cleared away to make Regent Street in
1820.
In Regent Street stood, until recently, Hanover Chapel, with two towers,
designed by C. R. Cockerell, and built in 1824 at a cost of £16,180.
The Ionic portico was imitated from that of Minerva Polias at Priene. In
the interior was a painting of "Christ's Agony in the Garden," by
Northcote, presented 1828 by the British Institution.
Harewood Place was closed at its northern end by gates until 1893, when
all gates and private bars were removed throughout the district. In
Tenterden Street, No. 4 in 1776 became the residence of the Herberts,
Earls of Carnarvon, who still own the property. It, with Nos. 5 and 6,
is now occupied by the Royal Academy of music, founded in 1822 by the
Earl of Westmoreland. Among eminent pupils have been Sterndale Bennett,
Sir G. A. Macfarren, Sir J. Barnby, Mackenzie, Sir A. Sullivan, and
Goring Thomas. At the end of Tenterden Street is Dering Street, so
called in 1886 instead of Union Street.
At the southern end of the Square George Street was built about 1719,
and at first named Great George Street, in honour of George I. It is
wide at the Square end, but grows narrower till Maddox Street is
reached. Its chief feature is the Parish Church of St. George, designed
by John James, begun in 1713 and consecrated in 1724, one of Queen
Anne's fifty churches. The style is Classical, the body plain, but
having a Corinthian portico of good proportions, and a clock-tower 100
feet high. The interior contains a good Jesse window put in in 1841. In
1895 the building was redecorated, repaired, and reseated, and the old
organ by Snitzler, put up in 1761, was replaced by a Hope Jones electric
instrument. This church has been long celebrated for fashionable
marriages. Among those in the register are:
1769. The Duke of Kingston to Miss Chudleigh, she being already married
to Mr. Harvey, afterwards Earl of Bristol. She was afterwards tried and
convicted of bigamy.
1771. Richard Cosway, R.A., to Maria Hatfield.
1793. H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex to Lady Augusta Murray. The marriage was
declared void under the Royal Marriage Act.
1791. Sir William Hamilton to Emma Harte (Nelson's Lady Hamilton).
1797. The Earl of Derby to Miss Farren. The ceremony took place in
Grosvenor Square.
1849. Mr. Heath to Lola Montes.
1880. Mr. J. W. Cross to George Eliot.
Among the Rectors of St. George's were Charles Moss, D.D., 1759-74,
afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells; and Henry Courtenay, 1774-1803,
made Bishop of Exeter in 1795.
At the bottom of George Street is Limmer's Hotel, formerly a noted
resort of sporting men, rebuilt and enlarged in 1876. No. 25 is a
handsome stone-fronted mansion, built in 1864 for Earl Temple. In 1895
it was in possession of the Duchess of Buckinghamshire. In a house on
the same site lived John Copley, the painter, and his son, Lord
Lyndhurst, d. 1863.
Other inhabitants: No. 3, Madame de Staël; 7, Admiral Sir Edward Hawke;
8, David Mallet, poet, 1758-63; Sir William Beechey, R.A.; Sir Thomas
Phillips, R.A., d. 1845; 9, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1803; 13, Lord
Chancellor Cowper, 1723; 15, Sir George Wombwell, afterwards for a short
time the Junior Travellers' Club; Earl of Albemarle, 1726; Lord Stair,
1726; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, d. 1762; Sir Thomas Clarges, 1726;
Colonel Francis Charteris, 1729; Lord Shelburne, 1748.
Maddox Street was built by the Earl of Burlington in 1721, and named
after Sir Benjamin Maddox, the ground landlord (d. 1670). It contains a
museum of building appliances established in 1866 in connection with the
Institute of British Architects. Mill Street is so called from a mill
which stood near the corner of Hanover Square; near it is Pollen Street;
both are unimportant. Conduit Street, completed about 1713, is so called
from the city conduit which carried water from the Tyburn to Cheapside.
It was built for private residences, which have now been transformed
into shops. On the south side, where is now a tailor's, stood, until
1877, Trinity Chapel, a plain, red-brick building built by Archbishop
Tenison, in 1716, to replace the old wooden chapel which James II. had
originally set up on Hounslow Heath, but which was brought to, and left
at the top of, Old Bond Street about 1691. Four-fifths of the income
derived from the three houses on this site are devoted to the
maintenance of the district churches in the parish, the remainder going
to the parish of St. Martin's. The share of St. George's parish now
amounts to a capital sum of £5,075, and an income of £1,600.
At No. 9, once the town house of the Earls of Macclesfield, are the
offices of the Royal Institute of British Architects, established 1835,
and other kindred societies.
At the Princess of Wales' Tavern, now demolished, David Williams started
the Royal Literary Fund in 1772.
In this street lived: Duke of Wharton, 1725; Charles James Fox, b. here
1749; Boswell, 1772; Wilberforce, 1786; Delmé Radcliffe, d. 1832; Balfe,
composer; No. 36, Sir William Farquhar, physician to William Pitt; 37,
George Canning, 1802-03, after him Dr. Elliotson (the house has since
been rebuilt); 39, Sir Astley Cooper, surgeon, d. 1841.
Old and New Bond Street form a continuous thoroughfare, in which are
situated some of the most fashionable shops in London. Though somewhat
narrow, and architecturally uninteresting, it has always been a
favourite society promenade, and when first built was "inhabited by the
nobility and gentry" (Hatton). New Bond Street dates from about 1716,
and occupies part of the site of Conduit Mead (twenty-seven acres), the
property of the City of London. Of the houses the following are
interesting:
No. 135, the Grosvenor Gallery, the chief of the many picture-galleries
in Bond Street. The house was erected in 1877 for Sir Coutts Lindsey,
Bart., and contains a lending library and until recently the Grosvenor
Club (proprietary, social and non-political). The doorway, by Palladio,
was brought from Venice, and the front is by Soames.
Nos. 15 and 16 are Long's Hotel, much frequented by Sir Walter Scott; it
was rebuilt and enlarged in 1888.
At No. 18, now a jeweller's, was Steven's Hotel, fashionable during the
Regency, and afterwards a haunt of Lord Byron's.
At No. 169, on the west side, was the Clarendon Hotel, formerly the town
house of the Dukes of Grafton, and afterwards the residence, about 1741,
of the elder Pitt. The hotel was closed in 1877, and replaced by a row
of shops.
Inhabitants: Swift, 1727; Mrs. Delany, 1731; Lords Craven, Abergavenny,
and Coventry, 1732; George Selwyn, 1751; Dr. Johnson, 1767; Thomson,
the poet; No. 141, Lord Nelson, 1797; 146, Sir Thomas Picton, 1797-1800;
147, Mrs. and Miss Gunning, 1792; 148, Lord Camelford, 1803-04; 150,
Lady Hamilton, 1813.
Old Bond Street, and the adjoining Stafford Street, Albemarle and Dover
Streets, occupy the site of old Clarendon House, the grounds of which
covered nearly 30 acres, granted to Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, by Charles
II. The house, described by Evelyn as a noble pile, was erected in 1664,
and after being leased, in 1670, to the Duke of Ormonde, was sold in
1675 to the second Duke of Albemarle, who parted with it to Sir Thomas
Bond for £20,000. The latter, in 1686, built Bond Street, the west side
of which was first called Albemarle Buildings. Residents: 1708, Lords
Coningsby, Abingdon, and Anglesea; 1725, the Duke of St. Albans,
Countess of Gainsborough; 1741, Duke of Kingston; 1753, Countess of
Macclesfield; at the present No. 41, in 1768, died Laurence Sterne;
Pascal Paoli, 1761; Boswell, 1769; No. 24, 1791, Sir Thomas Lawrence,
R.A., afterwards the offices of the Artists' Benevolent Institution,
founded 1814, the Artists' Orphan Fund, and the Arundel Society for
promoting the knowledge of Art, established 1848. These have now been
removed.
Halfway down on the west side is the Royal Arcade, a short passage
leading to Albemarle Street, containing shops, with a handsome entrance
at each end. It was opened in 1883.
In 1820, on the east side, stood another arcade, communicating with the
Burlington Arcade, and named the Western Exchange. It failed, and was
closed.
In Stafford Street a stone let into the wall of a public-house had the
inscription: "This is Stafford Street, 1686." At the corner of Albemarle
Street, in 1852, was the Stafford Street Club, formed by Roman
Catholics.
Albemarle Street, Grafton Street, and Dover Street contain handsome
houses, the residences still of many of the aristocracy. The former was
built in 1684-1708 by Sir Thomas Bond, and named after the Duke of
Albemarle. Its chief houses are: No. 21, the Royal Institution,
established by Count Rumford in 1799, for "diffusing the Knowledge and
facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions
and improvements," etc.; has a stone front, with a row of half engaged
Corinthian columns, designed by Louis Vulliamy, and erected in 1837. It
contains a lecture-theatre, reading-room, and library of 50,000 volumes.
Members are elected by ballot, and courses of lectures are delivered on
science, philosophy, literature and art. Eminent men connected with the
Institution: Faraday, 1830; Murchison, Lyell, Sedgewick, Whewell,
Tyndall, Huxley, Lord Rayleigh, Professor Dewar. The President of the
Society is the Duke of Northumberland.
Opposite is St. George's (proprietary) Chapel, a plain building,
celebrated for its musical services.
No. 7 is the Royal Thames Yacht Club, instituted in 1823 for the
encouragement of yacht building and sailing on the river Thames. It was
formerly Grillion's Hotel. Here Louis XVIII. lodged in 1814, and
Grillion's Club, formed 1813, had its meetings. The Roxburghe Club
dinners also took place here.
No. 13 is the Albemarle Club, established in 1875, admits both sexes as
members. Messrs. R. and J. Adam lived here in 1792, and the house was
afterwards the Pulteney Hotel.
No. 22 is the office of the Royal Asiatic Society, founded in 1823, the
British Association for the Advancement of Science (1831), the London
Mathematical Society (1865), etc.
No. 23 was in 1808 the Alfred Club, which was succeeded by the
Westminster Club, which shortly failed.
No. 41, the Amphitryon Club, was established 1870; it was celebrated for
the excellence of its cuisine, and the high scale of its charges.
No. 43, the Junior Conservative Club, was established in 1889.
No. 50, the publishing house of John Murray, was removed here in 1812.
His private house next door was, between 1812 and 1824, the resort of
Byron and other literary celebrities.
The noted opposition club, the Coterie, formed in 1763, also met in this
street.
Other inhabitants: Lords Portmore, Poulet, and Orkney, 1708; Duke of
Rutland, Viscount St. John, 1725-41; Marquis of Granby, 1760; Lord Bute,
1764; Zoffany, artist, 1780; C. J. Fox; Richard Glover, 1785; Byron,
1807; No. 26, Sir James Mackintosh, 1811; 41, Hon. Hedworth Lambton;
41a, Earl of Sandwich.
Grafton Street was named after the Duke of Grafton, who, with Lord
Grantham, bought the site in 1735. It was first called Ducking Pond Row,
and in 1767 Evans Row.
No. 4, the New Club (proprietary), social and non-political, was
established with a view to providing a club conducted with economy in
administration. Here lived Lord Brougham (1849) till his death. The Turf
Club afterwards occupied it until 1877.
No. 7 is the Grafton Galleries, where periodical exhibitions of pictures
are held.
No. 10 is the Green Park Club for ladies, established in 1894, and
removed here in 1896.
Other inhabitants: C. J. Fox, 1783; No. 24, Mrs. FitzHerbert, 1796; 11,
Admiral Earl Howe, d. 1799; his daughter, the Marchioness of Sligo, and
her husband; Lord Stowell, after 1813; 16, Lord Stowell up to 1813;
Marquis Cornwallis, 1801; 20, Right Hon. George Tierney, 1809; 11, Sir
Dyce Duckworth; 24, Viscount Cranborne, C.B., M.P.; 23, Oswald
Partington, M.P.
Dover Street, built in 1686, was called after Henry Jermyn, Earl of
Dover, who died here 1708.
At the top of Hay Hill was Ashburnham House (Earl of Ashburnham), a
plain square building in a courtyard. It was occupied by the Russian
Embassy in 1851. Now Nos. 28 and 29 are the premises of the Sesame Club
for ladies.
No. 37, a stone-fronted house, is the town house of the Bishops of Ely,
built in 1772, and granted by Government in exchange for Ely Place.
No. 34, the Bath Club, opened 1895, contains swimming and other baths
for both sexes, gymnasium, etc. It has also an entrance in Berkeley
Street.
No. 35, the Empress Club for ladies, is on a scale of great
magnificence.
No. 36 was the Hogarth Club for gentlemen associated with the arts,
founded as the Artists' Club at the Turk's Head, Gerrard Street; removed
here from Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, in 1888.
The Literary Club met in 1785 at Le Telier's in this street.
Other inhabitants: John Evelyn, 1699-1706; Marquis of Wharton; Harley,
Earl of Oxford; Dr. Arbuthnot, 1714-21; Pope, 1729; Bolingbroke, 1730;
Sir William Wyndham, 1731; Archdeacon Coxe, b. 1741; No. 23, Lady Byron,
1841; 29, John Nash, Architect; 35, Samuel Whitbread, M.P., d. 1815; 33,
Earl of Mexborough, 1895.
The steep descent of Hay Hill was so called from a farm in the
neighbourhood, which, perhaps, took its name from Tyburn (the "Ayburn,"
the "Eia Burn"), which flowed at the foot. Here in 1554 Sir Thomas
Wyatt's head was exposed, and three of his companions hung in chains. In
1617 Hay Hill was granted to Hector Johnstone for services to the
Elector Palatine. By Queen Anne it was granted to the Speaker of the
House of Commons, who sold it for £200 and gave the proceeds to the
poor. It afterwards came into the hands of the Pomfret family, and was
sold prior to 1759 for £20,300.