The Strand District Part 2

The houses at present standing at the south end of the square must have been built immediately after the destruction of Monmouth House, and possibly the materials of the older building were used in their construction. The Hospital for Women shows some traces of former grandeur in panelled rooms and decorative cornices. The hospital was only established in these quarters in 1851, so the house may have had fas.h.i.+onable tenants before.

On the same side is the Rectory House, which was probably built directly after the demolition of Monmouth House in 1773. Here there are to be found all the characteristics of an eighteenth-century building, including a decorative ceiling by Flaxman. In the south-west corner of the square there is the house in which is now the Hospital for Diseases of the Heart and Paralysis. This was at one time the headquarters of the Linnaean Society, before its removal to Burlington House. It contains some beautiful ceilings and cornices, and one room, now a female ward, is worthy of special notice. A very lofty arched ceiling of rather unusual construction is beautifully decorated, and the overmantel and fireplace are exquisite.

In the opposite or south-east corner of the square is the House of Charity. This was formerly the residence of Alderman Beckford, twice Lord Mayor of London in George III.'s reign, who was credited with being the only man of his day who dared tell the King the truth to his face.

His son was the author of "Vathek." The house is now a house of mercy, for the a.s.sistance of orphans, homeless girls, and all who, through no fault of their own, find themselves without a roof to shelter them or work to do. The charity is Church of England, and under the direction of a Warden and Council. The fine decorative wooden overmantels and doorways still remain, and the joints and edges of the panels are all carved, which gives a very handsome appearance to some of the rooms. The council-room ceiling is a large oval with the figures of four cherubic boys in relief, carrying respectively flowers, a bird, fire, and water, to represent the four elements.

One of the former famous houses in the square was Carlisle House. The walls were of red brick, and the date on the cisterns 1669, the date of the creation of the earldom of Carlisle. In its later days the house became notorious from its connection with Mrs. Cornelys, the daughter of an actor, who was born at Venice in 1723, and who, after a tarnished career in various Continental towns as a public singer, came to the King's Theatre, London, to take part in one of Gluck's operas. She took possession of Carlisle House, and projected a series of society entertainments, which proved a marvellous success. The square was blocked with the coaches and chairs of her patrons. In Taylor's "Records of my Life" it is stated she had as many as 600 persons in her saloon at one time, at two guineas per head. Foreign Ministers, many of the n.o.bility, scions of royalty, flocked to her rooms. She spent profusely and lavishly. The decorations were superb, the entertainments magnificent, in the ceremonious and rather affected style of the period.

In 1770 she was at the climax of prosperity. "Galas, masquerades, and festivals, all equally splendid, succeeded one another throughout the season" (Clinch); but after her sky-rocket ascent came the fall: fickle Fas.h.i.+on deserted her, and finally the house and its contents were announced in the _Gazette_ for sale. The Pantheon had proved too formidable a rival. In 1785 the property was in Chancery, and Mrs.

Cornelys died in the Fleet Prison in 1797. The banqueting-hall in Sutton Street, attached to Carlisle House by a covered way, was converted into the Chapel of St. Patrick, and where masqueraders had revelled priests heard confession. This also eventually disappeared, to make way for the present church, which is such a feature of the square; it stands at the corner of Sutton Street, and bears the name of its predecessor. It was opened 1893, and its campanile reaches a height of 125 feet. Within the porch is a beautiful marble group of the dead Christ, supported by an angel. The pictures inside are exceptionally valuable and beautiful, including paintings by Vand.y.k.e, Murillo, Carlo Dolci, Paul Veronese (attributed), and many others. On the opposite side of the street Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell's factory also covers a house owning historical a.s.sociations. No. 21 was the "White House," and 22, "Falconberg House," in former times. The latter was the residence of Oliver Cromwell's third daughter, Lady Falconberg, who died in 1712.

Sutton Street takes its name from the county seat of the Falconbergs. In this house Sir Cloudesley Shovel's body lay in state before its interment, after having been found cast up on one of the Scilly Islands.

A Spanish Amba.s.sador was among the later residents, and afterwards the house was for a time an hotel. In the large drawing-room the ceiling was painted by Angelica Kauffmann. The Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Bradford, and Speaker Onslow, were among its tenants. This house is now the offices of Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell. The painted ceiling was carefully taken down and saved from destruction by one of the heads of the firm. The chief articles of interest remaining are a handsome overmantel in one of the private rooms of the firm, and a curious ceiling. The former is of wood, and is varnished and painted in various tones of bronze and gold. The carving upon it is very elaborate and enigmatical. The panelled ceiling has some affinity with it, but has been modernized, and is not so interesting. The front of the house remains as it was, and claims to be the only original frontage in the square.

The centre of the square, when first laid out, was occupied by a fountain surmounted by a statue of Charles II. in armour, the work of Colley Cibber. Clinch in "Soho and its a.s.sociations" mentions a doc.u.ment of 1748, still extant, in which are recorded the subscriptions made by the inhabitants to replace the wooden palisades round the square by iron railings. This is headed by 300 from the Duke of Portland, and among the names are those of many t.i.tled and influential people, showing that fas.h.i.+on had not then migrated westward. It was on the doorstep of a house in the square that De Quincey sank dying of exhaustion and starvation during his first novitiate of London life, and he was only saved by his faithful companion Ann.

PART II

PICCADILLY AND ST. JAMES'S SQUARE

Returning from Soho Square to Piccadilly Circus, we find ourselves in the parish of St. James's, Piccadilly, which takes in all the now fas.h.i.+onable shopping locality of Regent Street, and is bounded on the east and south by St. Anne's, Soho, and St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and on the west by St. George's, Hanover Square.

St. James's parish was separated from St. Martin's in 1685, but before that epoch it had begun to have an existence of its own. Faithorne and Newcourt's map of London, 1658, shows us open ground from a double row of trees at Pall Mall to Piccadilly; Piccadilly is marked "from Knightsbridge unto Piccadilly Hall." Opposite the palace, at the foot of the present St. James's Street, are a few houses, including Berks.h.i.+re (now Bridgewater) House, and there are a few more at the eastern extremity of Pall Mall. At the north-eastern corner of what we call the Haymarket is the "Gaming House," and at the corners adjacent one or two more buildings. This is St. James's in its earliest stage, before the tide of fas.h.i.+on had moved so far westward. Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans, in the reign of Charles II. obtained a building lease of forty-five acres in St. James's Fields and projected the square, which became the nucleus of the parish.

_Piccadilly._--There is no authentic derivation for this curious name, though many fancy suggestions have been made. The most probable of these is that which connects it with the peccadilloes or ruffs worn by the gallants of Charles II.'s time. Pennant traced the name to piccadillas, turnovers or cakes which were sold at Piccadilla Hall, at the upper end of the Haymarket.

In Thomas Blount's "Glossographia" we read: "Pickadil ... the round hem or the several divisions set together about the skirt of a garment or other thing; also a kinde of stiff collar made in fas.h.i.+on of a Bande.

Hence perhaps that famous ordinary near St. James called Peckadilly took denomination because it was then the utmost or skirt house of the suburbs that way, others say it took its name from this, that one Higgins a tailor who built it got most of his estate by Pickadilles, which in the last age were much worn in England." There seems to be no other foundation than Mr. Blount's lively imagination for "Higgins a tailor."

There is as much confusion about the first date at which the name was used as there is about its derivation. Whether the hall took its name from its situation or the district from the hall will probably ever remain in doubt. The earliest occurrence of the name is in 1636, by which time the hall was built. The gaming-house was at a later time also known as Piccadilly, which has increased the confusion. Some writers have identified the hall and the gaming-house, but there seems to be no doubt that these were two separate buildings. The former was a private house standing at the corners of Windmill and Coventry Streets. The latter seems to have been built by Robert Baker, and sold by his widow to Colonel Panton, who built Panton Street. It was otherwise known as Shaver's Hall, and had a tennis-court and upper and lower bowling-green, and was a very fas.h.i.+onable place of resort. The secondary name probably emanated from the proprietor's former trade, but it is said to have stuck to the place after Lord Dunbar lost 3,000 at one sitting, when people said a Northern lord had been shaved here.

Sir John Suckling was among the habitues of the place, and his sisters will ever be remembered from Aubrey's pathetically humorous description of their coming "to the Peccadillo bowling-green crying for feare he should lose all [their] portions," as he was a great gamester.

The name Piccadilly appears to have begun at the east end, near the circus, and spread over the whole, a fact which is in favour of its being derived from the house, not the name of the house from the locality.

Regent Street is Nash's great memorial. The conception is undoubtedly fine, namely, a vast avenue to lead from Carlton House to a country mansion to be built for George IV. in Regent's Park. Nash's great idea, the combining of many separate buildings into one uniform facade, is here seen at its best. At first a lengthy colonnade supported by columns 16 feet high ran on either side of the quadrant, but this darkened the shops, so it was removed. The street is famous for its shops, which line it from end to end; it has also the merit of being wider than most of the London streets.

The part of the parish lying to the east of Regent Street is quite uninteresting except for Golden Square, which has been well described by Hatton as "not exactly in anybody's way, to or from anywhere." The square is mentioned in both "Humphrey Clinker" and "Nicholas Nickleby."

Here Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, lived, 1704-1708, and Mrs. Cibber in 1746. Angelica Kauffman lived in the centre house on the south side for many years. It was in the vicinity of the square that the great burial-ground for the plague-stricken dead was formed in the reign of Charles II. It was chosen as being well away from the town. Pennant says: "Golden Square, of dirty access, was built after the Revolution or before 1700. It was built by that true hero Lord Craven, who stayed in London during the whole time: and braved the fury of the pestilence with the same coolness as he fought the battles of his beloved mistress, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia." It was in Golden Square that De Quincey took leave of Ann, whom he was never to see again.

Piccadilly Circus was formed at the same time as Regent Street, though it has been altered since. The Criterion Theatre and Restaurant are on the south-east side. On this site formerly stood a well-known coaching inn called the White Bear. One of Shepherd's charming sketches in the Crace Collection ill.u.s.trates the courtyard of the inn. Benjamin West, afterwards P.R.A., put up here on the night of his first sojourn in London. In the centre of the circus is a fountain in memory of the seventh Earl of Shaftsbury. This was designed by Alfred Gilbert, R.A., and consists of a very light metal figure of Mercury on a very solid aluminium pedestal.

In Piccadilly itself there is the somewhat gloomy-looking geological museum, with entrance in Jermyn Street, open free to all comers. The church of St James's, which comes shortly after, was built by Sir Christopher Wren at the cost of Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, and consecrated at first as a chapel of ease to St. Martin's. The first rector was Tenison, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Wren considered this one of his best works. He says: "In this church ... though very broad and the nave arched, yet there are no walls of a second order, nor lantherns, nor b.u.t.tresses, but the whole roof rests upon the pillars, as do also the galleries; I think it may be found beautiful and convenient, and as such the cheapest of any form I could invent."

The church is very wide in proportion to its length, and is said to seat 2,000 people easily. The reredos, a handsome piece of wood carving with a central group of the pelican in her piety, typical of Christ giving His life's blood for fainting souls, is the work of Grinling Gibbons.

The organ, in the western gallery, is supposed to have been the work of Bernard Schmidt and was built for the Roman Catholic Oratory at Whitehall, but was given to St. James's by Queen Mary, 1691.

The font which stands in the vestibule at the west end is a most excellent piece of work. It was carved from a block of white marble by Grinling Gibbons, and is about 5 feet in height. The shaft is the tree of life, round which is twined the serpent, while figures of Adam and Eve stand on either side. It is well worth going into the church to see this alone. The font originally possessed a cover, which was stolen in 1800, and is said to have been hung up in a spirit shop. In the church are many monuments hanging on the walls, and on the pillars. One or two of these at the east end are very c.u.mbrous, and many are heavily decorated, but none are worthy of note for any intrinsic beauty they possess. Walcott notes as the most important those of the eighth Earl of Huntingdon, 1704, and Count de la Roche Foucault, 1741. James Dodsley, the well-known bookseller, 1797, was buried here, also Haysman, the rival of Lely, and Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Campbell, K.C.B., 1847.

Among the entries in the register we have the burials of the two Vanderveldes, father and son.

In the old graveyard there are stones in abundance, one or two on the wall of the church, and many alternating with the flagstones over which the feet of the living carelessly pa.s.s.

In Sackville Street, just opposite to the church, Sheridan died.

There are various other public buildings of more or less interest before we come to Burlington House. No less than three mansions stood here in the times of the later Stuarts. These belonged to Lord Chancellor Clarendon and Lords Berkeley and Burlington, of which the latter name has alone survived.

The third Earl was an architect, and added several embellishments to his mansion, including a stone frontage and a colonnade taken down in 1868.

Handel was a guest at Burlington House for three years from 1715. After the death of Lord Burlington in 1753 the t.i.tle became extinct. Among the memorable scenes witnessed by the house was a brilliant ball and fete, given by the members of White's Club to the allied Sovereigns in 1814.

Lord George Cavendish, who bought the house in 1815, considerably altered the interior of the building, and built the Burlington Arcade in 1819. He was afterwards created Earl of Burlington. In 1854 Government bought the house and garden. The University of London, now in Burlington Gardens, temporarily occupied the building, and the societies occupying Somerset House were offered quarters in Burlington House. In 1866 the mansion was leased to the Royal Academy, and fundamental changes began.

On the east side of Burlington House are the Geographical and Chemical Societies, and on the west the Linnaean. In the courtyard, the Royal Society is in the east wing, and the Royal Astronomical and the Society of Antiquaries in the western.

On the site of the Albany, now fas.h.i.+onable "chambers" for unmarried men, were formerly three houses united into one by Lord Sunderland, the third Earl, chiefly remembered for his magnificent library, which, when the earldom of Sunderland was merged in the dukedom of Marlborough in 1733, formed the nucleus of the Blenheim Library. The brother of the great Fox held the house for a short time, and from him it pa.s.sed to Lord Melbourne, to whom its rebuilding was due. The architect was Sir W.

Chambers, and the ceilings decorated by Cipriani, Rebecca, and Wheatley.

It was from the Duke of York and Albany, uncle of George III., that the name is derived. However, he did not live here long.

St. James's Hall is well known for its popular concerts, which bring first-rate music within the reach of all. In St. James's Hall the first public dinner was held on June 2, 1858, and was given under the presidency of Mr. R. Stephenson, M.P., to Sir F. P. Smith in recognition of his services in introducing the screw propeller in our steam fleet.

Charles d.i.c.kens gave his second series of readings here in 1861.

Pa.s.sing down Duke Street, on the south side of Piccadilly, we come to Jermyn Street. Sir Walter Scott stayed at an hotel here in 1832, on his last journey home. Sir Isaac Newton was also a resident, and the poet Gray lodged here.

In King Street are Willis's Rooms, once Almack's, at one time the scene of many fas.h.i.+onable a.s.semblies. The rooms were opened in 1765, and a ten-guinea subscription included a ball and supper once a week for three months. Ladies were eligible for members.h.i.+p, and thus the place can claim to have been one of the earliest ladies' clubs. Walpole writes in 1770 to George Montagu: "It is a club of both s.e.xes to be erected at Almack's on the model of that of the men at White's.... I am ashamed to say I am of so young and fas.h.i.+onable society." The lady patronesses were of the very highest rank. Timbs quotes from a letter of Gilly Williams: "You may imagine by the sum, the company is chosen, though refined as it is, it will scarcely put old Soho [Mrs. Cornelys] out of countenance."

The place steadily maintained its popularity. Captain Gronow in 1814 says: "At the present time one can hardly conceive the importance which was attached to getting admission to Almack's, the seventh heaven of the fas.h.i.+onable world." The large ballroom was about 100 feet in length by 40 in width, and the largest number of persons present at one time was 1,700. It is often mentioned in the contemporary fiction dealing with fas.h.i.+onable society; indeed, the whole of this neighbourhood was the theatre for much of the gay life of the eighteenth century.

St. James's Square is redolent of old memories. It was, as has been stated, built by Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans. The square seems to have been a fas.h.i.+onable locality from its very foundation, and, curiously enough, has escaped the fate of so many of its compeers, and still continues aristocratic.

The workmans.h.i.+p of all the houses was solid and durable, and as soon as they were built they were occupied. A catalogue of the names of the early inhabitants would occupy much s.p.a.ce: t.i.tled men, men eminent in letters, science and political life, thronged the arena. The proximity to the Court was a great attraction. The centre of the square was at first left in a neglected condition, a remnant of the "Fields" on which the houses had been built, and it served as a base for the displays of fireworks which were given after the taking of Namur and the Peace of Ryswick.

In 1726 a Bill was pa.s.sed in Parliament for the cleansing and beautifying of the square, which had become a disgrace to the neighbourhood, being a mere offal-heap. An ornamental basin was constructed and the square paved, and a bronze equestrian statue of William III., clad, according to the ludicrous custom of a bygone time, in Roman habit, was erected in 1808, on a pedestal which had been built for it in the centre of the basin years before. The water in this basin is a.s.sociated with at least one historic scene, for in the riots of 1780 the malcontents threw the keys of Newgate into it, where they remained undiscovered for many years. The basin was finally drained in 1840, trees were planted, and the garden laid out. Among the historic a.s.sociations is one of a memorable night, when Dr. Johnson and Richard Savage paced round and round the square for lack of a lodging, and pledged each other, as they separated, to stand by their country.

Norfolk House stands on the site of that of the Earl of St. Albans, which he built for his own use in the south-east corner, he afterwards removed to the mansion on the north side. In the Earl's first house the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, afterwards Cosmo III., lodged, when on a visit to London in 1669. Frederick, Prince of Wales, rented the old house before Carlton House was prepared for his reception, and here George III. was born. The old house still stands behind the newer building.

Next to Norfolk House is London House, attached to the See of London since about 1720.

Next to this, at the south corner of Charles Street, is Derby House, with handsome iron veranda and railings running round it. It was built by Lord Bellasis, and one of the earliest occupants was Aubrey de Vere, twentieth Earl of Oxford. Dasent says there is some reason for supposing it to have been occupied by Sir Robert Walpole between the years 1732-35. It was bought by the Earl of Derby about the middle of the present century. All the houses on this side of the square are of dull brick, in formal style, with neither beauty nor originality. The next, at the northern corner of Charles Street (now the West End branch of the London and Westminster Bank), was known as Ossulston House until 1753, and belonged for a long period to the Bennet family. It covered two numbers, of which one was occupied by Lord Dartmouth, Lord Privy Seal under Lord North's Administration, and is now the bank, and the other was bought by the second Viscount Falmouth, and is now occupied by the seventh Viscount of that name.

No. 3 has pa.s.sed through the hands of many t.i.tled and distinguished owners, and is at present the property of the Duke of Leeds. It was occupied by the Copyhold Inclosure and the t.i.the Commission Office, now the Board of Agriculture.

No. 4, in the corner, belongs to Lord Cowper, and No. 5 to the Earl of Strafford.

The next two belong to Lord Avebury and Earl Egerton.

No. 8 has had many vicissitudes. It was for a time occupied as the French Emba.s.sy, later by Sir Cyril Wyche, President of the Royal Society, also by Monmouth's widow, Josiah Wedgwood, and by many intervening tenants of distinction. After the occupancy of Wedgwood, the second Earl of Romney was here for eight years, until 1839, and then the house became successively the home of the Erectheum Club, of the Charity Commissioners, the Junior Oxford and Cambridge Club, Vine Club, York Club, Junior Travellers' Club, and at present it is the Sports Club. Ormond or Chandos House, which took up three numbers at the west corner of York Street, has a history. It was built by Lord St. Albans in place of his first house in the south-eastern corner of the square, and pa.s.sed into the possession of the Duke of Ormond, the only man who was four times Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Entertainments on a large scale took place during this period. Perhaps the most interesting fact in the history of the house is that a meeting of n.o.blemen and gentlemen was held here in 1688, at which an address of welcome to the Prince of Orange was drawn up, in which he was besought to carry on the Government until a Convention could meet. The Spanish Emba.s.sy was here in 1718. The Duke of Chandos bought the mansion a year later, and in 1735 it was pulled down, and the present three houses built on its site. These three houses have been well tenanted, especially the centre one, No. 10, which can boast the successive occupancy of Pitt, Lady Blessington, the great Earl of Derby, and Mr. Gladstone. Here old link-extinguishers still remain on the posts before the door.