CHAPTER XVIII
Leicester Square, North Side, and
Lisle Street Area: Leicester Estate
The whole of the ground on the north side
of Leicester Square, including Lisle
Street, Leicester Street, Sidney Place
(formerly Sidney Street) and Leicester Place,
was originally occupied by Leicester House and
its gardens (fig. 94 on page 417). The development of the western part of this area, originally
part of the garden of Leicester House (fig. 94,
A, B, K and the northern part of 1), took place in
the 1680's and is described on page 427.
The street numbers referred to below are the
present ones, assigned in 1902.
Leicester House
Demolished
Leicester House was built by Robert Sidney,
second Earl of Leicester, at some time between
1631 and 1635. It was demolished in c. 1791–2
and its site is now occupied, approximately, by
Nos. 7–15 Leicester Square and the ground on
either side of Leicester Place.
The original appearance of the house is largely
a matter of conjecture (see page 452) because the
graphic and documentary evidence available is
sparse. Lord Leicester, who claimed that the
house cost him £8,000 in 'buildinge and finishinge', (ref. 1) described it as a 'little House; which was
not built for a Levie, but only for a privat Family'. (ref. 2)
In perspective the description of it as a 'little'
house sounds ludicrous. The Sidneys were a
wealthy and courtly family, connected by lineage
and marriage to some of the most powerful
families in the kingdom, and their London house,
perhaps outwardly unpretentious, was certainly
one of the largest in the capital. Moreover, although not 'built for a Levie', it was certainly
furnished luxuriously, and was later considered
fitting for the lodging of a Queen.
The land on which Leicester House was built
was part of four acres in St. Martin's Field purchased by Lord Leicester in 1630 (see Chapter
XVII). The site chosen for the house itself was
at the northern, or upper, end of the four acres;
in front of it the land was all open, sloping away in
a southerly direction towards the Mews near
Charing Cross (Plate 1b). At that time the only
buildings nearby were the armoury house of the
Military Company on the north and the recently
erected mansion of Sir William Howard (Newport House (fn. a) ) on the east. Several of the documents
quoted below comment on the airy and healthy
position of Leicester House.
As the land purchased by Lord Leicester lay
within the common field, the enclosure of part of
it for building deprived the inhabitants of St.
Martin's parish of their Lammas common and
other ancient rights. The matter was resolved
by three members of the Privy Council appointed
by the King in 1630 to act as arbiters between
Lord Leicester and the parish. (ref. 4) They ordered
that a part of Lord Leicester's land (which thereafter was known as Leicester Field) should remain open for use by the parishioners (see page
432) and decided on the course of an enclosing wall
for the house and gardens. On the north side
there was already a wall separating Lord Leicester's land from the Military Ground and he obtained permission to heighten this in return for
keeping it in good repair and for an annual payment of a brace of bucks to the Military
Company. (ref. 5) (fn. b)
In August 1631 the King ordered the
Attorney General to prepare a licence for the
Earl of Leicester to build himself a house 'wth
necessary outhouses buildinges and gardens convenyent for his Lo:pps. use and habitacon', with
the proviso that 'the forefronts and all the utter
walls and windowes of the premisses bee whollie
made of brick and stone or one of them, the
forefronts to bee made in that uniforme sort and
order as may best bewtifie the place'. (ref. 6)
The building of Leicester House appears to
have been deferred for a while, perhaps because
of the Earl's absence from England in 1632,
when he was serving as ambassador in Denmark
and Holstein. (ref. 7) The first reference to its existence
is in June 1635 when the parish vestry ordered
that Lord Leicester be treated with for (? the
rent of) the Lammas ground 'which he hath
built uppon, and enclosed'. (ref. 8) It is in this year too
that the Earl's name first appears in the ratebooks. (ref. 9)
There is an oblique reference to a bricklayer
called Charlewood, who may have been responsible for some of the building work at Leicester
House; (ref. 10) he was possibly the Daniel Charlewood
who was concerned in the development of
Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1638. (ref. 11)
In May 1636 Lord Leicester was sent away
again, this time as ambassador to Paris, where
he remained until 1641. He took his elder sons,
Philip and Algernon, with him and left his two
houses, Penshurst and Leicester House, 'well and
sufficiently furnished with all manner of plate
and housholdstuff'. He also sent home from Paris
'many things of good valew as beds, divers peeces
of rich sylver plate as flowerpotts, plaques for
candles, basins, basquets etc., and many peeces
of stuffes, wrought velvet, damaske etc.' (ref. 12)
Two of the Countess's letters to her husband
show that the interior of Leicester House was
still unfinished at the time of Lord Leicester's
departure. On 26 September 1636 she wrote:
'I will tell you of our workes at London. The
great chamber, (fn. c) the antie roome, and the stears
are verie hansomlie treated affter a nwe waie,
which cost about 80 li. In the great chamber
thear is a good chemnie peese which cost —; …
I have apointed to have the stears, doors, windows
and corniche painted and a litle gillded; the balconie
is allso painted and gillt. The raile and balestor on
the tope of the house I have allso apointed [to be
painted], and the gaite is done. Then I have
apointed gillt leather to hange the stears and the
antie roome … Then must thear be a furniture
maid for the great chamber, … and that which
you have provided for the withdrawing chamber
will cost a good deall makeinge upe … The
smithes worke allso will take awaie sume [of the
money reserved for these purposes].' (ref. 13) Work was
still going on in the following spring. A letter
dated 2 April 1637 mentions that the workmen
had 'allready begune to finishe the uper Roomes'
but that they 'do not worke in the House, and
can bring no Danger [? infection from plague]
to us'. (ref. 14)
In 1639 Lord Leicester made a brief visit to
London (ref. 15) and shortly after his return to Paris was
joined by his wife. (ref. 16) Their solicitor, William
Hawkins, looked after Leicester House during the
Leicesters' absence. In February 1639/40 he
reported that the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
desired to occupy the house and that he had been
shown over it by John Myles, the caretaker. (ref. 17)
The Lord Lieutenant was Sir Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford, who had been
appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632 and
became Lord Lieutenant in 1640. (ref. 18) He was a
friend of the Sidneys and had visited Leicester
House accompanied by Lady Leicester's sister,
Lucy, the Countess of Carlisle. Lady Carlisle
wrote to her sister in Paris after this visit that 'he
desiers most to have his beads of damaske, and now
you will do hime a great favor in providing of them
as soone as you cane'. (ref. 19) Lady Leicester complied
and sent two beds from Paris, one of 'green
wrought velvet lined with satine, garnished with
gold and silver; thother of red damaske garnished
with silk'. (ref. 20) Strafford crossed from Ireland at
the beginning of April 1640 and made a slow
journey back to London in a litter because he had
gout in both feet and was weakened by ill health.
He arrived at Leicester House on 18 April. (ref. 21)
Strafford's illness persisted throughout his stay
there, for in July he was still unable to walk and
was carried around the 'high gravell walk' in the
garden in a sedan chair. (ref. 22) He left the house on
24 August. (ref. 23)
The rising hatred with which Lord Strafford
was now regarded made Lord Leicester uneasy for
the safety of his house, which had had to be guarded
for some days after rioters had attacked and
damaged Archbishop Laud's house. He was
therefore heartily relieved at Lord Strafford's
departure: 'Peradventure my house may scape
the better now that my Lord Lieutenant is gonn,
for I doubt the common people hath a greater
quarrel to him then they have to my house or
to me'. (ref. 24)
In 1641 Lord Leicester was recalled to
England. (ref. 25) He attended Charles I on his campaigns but his lack of sympathy with royal policy
eventually led to the King's distrust and he retired to Penshurst in 1644, thereafter taking no
active part in public affairs. (ref. 18)
About the time of Lord Leicester's retirement
to Penshurst an inventory of the contents of
Leicester House was drawn up (ref. 26) which provides
the earliest description of the interior. It lists the
items room by room, but unlike the eighteenthcentury accounts on which the plan in fig. 100
(page 449) is based, does not provide sufficient
information for a reconstruction of the layout.
It starts with nine rooms which may be inferred
to have been on the ground floor. They were the
great hall; the green ante-room (each with a picture over the chimney); Thomas Dimbleby's
chamber and another room; the drawing-room
'below' (furnished with three pictures over the
door and chimneys, five pieces of 'new Lanskep
hangeinge', carpets, chairs, stools, a table and an
ebony-framed looking-glass); the green 'cabinet'
(with nine pictures and three looking-glasses, one
in a silver and two in ebony frames); the Earl's
chamber 'below' (with a French bedstead, seven
pieces of 'new Lanskep hangeinges', two silverframed looking-glasses, five pictures, carpets,
chairs, etc., and a silver toasting-fork); the
Countess's closet (with a close-stool); and the
gentlewoman's chamber.
The next item in the inventory is 'the staircase
little place', presumably a reference to the foot of
a secondary staircase. Then follow nine more
rooms which can be attributed with some certainty to the first floor. The 'Antie roome above
stayeres' is succeeded by the great chamber 'above'
and the drawing chamber 'above'. Then comes a
group of rooms also mentioned in an inventory of
1670, all of which appear to have been the Earl's
private apartments; after the 'inwarde closette'
comes the Earl's chamber or bedroom, then two
little closets (one containing a close-stool with
pan), and finally the 'outward' chamber and another chamber next to it.
The inventory continues with a list of twelve
rooms occupied by the rest of the family and their
personal servants, but giving even less information
as to their position. Lord Lisle evidently had a small
suite of rooms consisting of a chamber (decorated
with seven pieces of hanging and two pictures),
a closet, and a little room 'within' (containing '1
Leather Close stoole and 1 panne'). Following
these was Mr. Tunbridge's chamber 'above' and
the apartments occupied by Colonel (Algernon)
Sidney—his chamber (hung with striped stuff and
with a picture over the chimney), his man's
chamber, and another room containing a leather
close-stool. Lady Lucy Sidney had only one
room, with table, chairs, a bed, and a 'Close stoole
in the Closett'. After Mrs. Bency's chamber come
the nurseries of Mr. Harry Sidney and the Lady
Spencer (both with striped hangings) and then the
maids' chamber adjoining.
The remainder of the inventory describes the
contents of a long series of rooms and domestic
offices, with no firm indication of their position.
The rooms listed, in order, are the little room 'on
the house toope', the passage by the wardrobe
door, the stairs going to the Earl's chamber, the
stairs by the buttery, the buttery, the wine cellar,
the beer cellar, the butler's chamber, the usher of
the hall's chamber, the lower hall, the passage
to the lower hall, the wet larder, the dry larder,
the laundry, the laundry maid's chamber and the
upper laundry. (fn. d)
After the upper laundry a heading indicates
that 'new buildings' were being entered, and these
consisted of Mr. Gage's chamber, Peter's chamber, the gardener's chamber, Mr. Sudbery's
chamber, the upper garret and the stair
foot.
There is no demarcation at this point in the
inventory to show the end of the new buildings
but there follows a group of rooms and offices
which were closely associated with each other.
They were: the clerk of the kitchen's chamber,
the preserving room, the chamber over the pastry,
a room next to it, the footmen's chamber, the
chamber over the coach-house, the kitchen boys'
chamber, the coachman's chamber, the inward
chamber, the stable, the boulting house, the upper
house of office, the wood house, the laundry court,
the pastry, the kitchen, the scullery, the passage
to the kitchen and the coach-house.
Occasional references show that many furnishings had already been removed to Penshurst
and at the end of the inventory is a list of goods
of all kinds stored in the room called the wardrobe
and on the great staircase; the wardrobe accommodated, among a great deal of furniture, 'one
Indian bow and arrows' and on the staircase stood
a great trunk and a sedan chair. (ref. 26)
Except during the years 1674–6 Lord Leicester
continued to pay the rates for Leicester House
until his death in 1677, (ref. 9) although he rarely visited
the house. In 1648 his daughter Mary died there
and his grandchild, Henry Spencer, died there in
the following year. (ref. 28) For much of this time
Leicester House was vacant. In 1650 Viscount
Lisle wished that the house 'had some good inhabitants' for he feared it might be taken over by
the army, which was seeking quarters for a thousand soldiers. (ref. 29) In March 1652 Lord Leicester
visited the house to view a 'great Eclipse of the
Sun'. (ref. 30)
In November 1660 Sir John Temple wrote to
the Earl asking if he would let Leicester House to
Godefroi, Comte d'Estrades, the prospective
French ambassador. (ref. 31) This request was evidently
refused, because d'Estrades occupied a house in
Chelsea during his stay. (ref. 32)
Lord Leicester made his unwillingness to let
quite clear in a letter which he wrote on 4 February 1661/2 when being pressed to allow Charles
II's aunt, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, to use
Leicester House: 'I had no Desyre nor Intention
to let my House; for, as old as I am, I do a little
consider my innocent Pleasure, and I think that a
pretty pleasant Place. I consider my Health and
the Ayre of the House. I consider my little privat
Business, and the convenient Scituation of the
House for it. I consider the Honor of wayting on
the King sometimes, when his Majestye will give
me Leave; and the Nearnes of the House to the
Kings Pallace'. He was persuaded, however, as
the request came from the King, and agreed to
loan the house for three months. (ref. 33) But the
Queen's health failed, unremedied by the 'Ayre'
of Leicester Field, and she died at Leicester House
on 13 February after only a week's residence. (ref. 31)
Lord Leicester, who had received £200 in
advance from his royal tenant, wrote 'It seemes
the Fates did not think it fit that I should have the
Honor, which indeed I never much desyred, to
be the Landlord of a Queene'. (ref. 35)
Thereafter his resolution to reserve Leicester
House for his own use weakened. It was let
again in 1668, to the French ambassador, Charles
Colbert, Marquis de Croissy, brother of Louis
XIV's minister, who arrived in England in
August and was conducted to Leicester House
with some ceremony. (ref. 36) In October he was visited
by Pepys (ref. 37) and entertained the Duke and Duchess
of York at 'a noble supper'. (ref. 38) Colbert left
Leicester House at some time before April
1670. (ref. 39)
The next tenant was Thomas Verbecq, a merchant, who in April 1670 took a lease of the house
for five months at a rent of £262 10s. (ref. 39) Attached to the lease was an inventory which contains more information than that of 1644,
although again not enough to permit a reconstruction of the plan. (ref. 40)
As in 1644 the inventory appears to start with
the ground floor, listing eleven rooms with forty-two casements between them. First mentioned
is the hall, a wainscoted room with a chimneypiece of Portland stone. It was presumably a
large room, for it had eight casements, and pairs
of folding doors led out of it to 'the Great Staire
Foote' and the parlour. A third door opened into
a range of ten rooms, all apparently interconnecting. Immediately adjoining the hall was
'The Chamber called my Lady's Outward
Chamber and Entry' (the late Countess's?),
hung with 'old Stript Stuffe' and having two casements. Then came 'my Lady's Chamber', a
wainscoted room with a marble chimneypiece
and four casements; and a wainscoted and painted
closet with two casements. From this closet a
door led into the 'new' bedchamber. This room
was also wainscoted, with a carved frieze and cornice, and had four casements and a black and
white marble chimneypiece. A second door communicated with another closet, and a third with
the 'new' drawing-room, which was wainscoted
like the last two rooms, and had four casements and
a 'Faire Marble Chimney peice of Tutch (fn. e) very
large, black and white'. Beyond this was a handsome closet, with four casements and a black and
white marble chimneypiece, the walls being
hung with Dutch gilt leather. Another door from
the new drawing-room led into the 'old' drawingroom. Here the wainscot and shutters to the six
casements were gilded, the cornice was green and
the chimneypiece of 'Rans' marble. (fn. f) From the
old drawing-room there was also a door into the
little dining-room. The cornice here was painted
green and gilded and there were two casements, a
chimneypiece of grey marble, and 'Glasse doores'
leading into the garden. Adjoining the little
dining-room was the last room of the group, the
ante-room, which was wainscoted and painted
green, and had a stone chimneypiece and two
casements.
The next item on the inventory is the 'Back
Staires Foote', followed by the groom of the
chamber's room and the 'Little Evidence' (i.e.,
muniment) room, their position unspecified. Then
come 'the Antiroomes to my Lords Lodgings one
paire of Staires high'—clearly the entrance to
the Earl's private suite of five inter-connecting
rooms on the first floor. The two ante-rooms are
followed by the Earl's bedchamber, which was
'borded about next the bottome and a Cornish
about the topp', suggesting that the upper part of
the walls may have been intended to have been
covered by hangings. Next to it was a closet and
another room. The Earl's apartments are
followed by the handsomely finished 'gallery',
evidently a room of considerable size with ten
casements, two balconies, and two pairs of double
doors. The walls were wainscoted 'Window Soyle
high round the Roome', and there was a cornice
at the top, the intervening space being hung with
leather 'guilded with F flowers de Luys and Coates
of Armes'. There was only one chimneypiece,
of black and white marble.
The inventory then continues with a further
series of four inter-connecting rooms, all clearly
on the first floor. They were the 'new' bedchamber, the withdrawing-room 'above', the
upper dining-room and the ante-room 'above'.
The walls were partly wainscoted, and the ceilings
of the first, third and fourth had 'fretwork'
ceilings. The dining-room also had a balcony.
As in the inventory of 1644, the rooms occupied by the rest of the family are next listed, their
relationship to the foregoing rooms being unexplained, although they were certainly on an upper
floor for 'the Staire head' is twice mentioned.
They comprised the apartments of Mr. (Henry)
Sidney and Colonel (Algernon) Sidney and
the nurseries, presumably occupied by Lord
Leicester's grandchildren.
After the nurseries come 'the Great Staires',
and then the domestic offices, starting with the
lower hall. This communicated by a door with
another hall (evidently different from the one
mentioned at the beginning of the inventory)
which contained three tables, six forms, a lead
pipe and a wooden trough. The other rooms
and offices are not strikingly different from those
listed in 1644 but the various yards are more carefully distinguished. The 'Back Yard' contained
the coach-houses and had 'a paire of Back Gates
with a Wickett'. From it led a 'doore to the
house of office in the Laundry yard', the latter in
turn having a door into the 'Great Court'. In
this were two porters' lodges and 'A Raile with
Barrister with Stopps before the Hall doore'.
Some of the offices were in fact excepted from
Verbecq's lease, namely, two rooms called the
wardrobe, on the south side of the house, the
lodgings over the coach-houses, one of the coachhouses next to the pump, and the little cellar on
the right hand going down to the lower hall out
of the laundry court. (ref. 39)
The inventory concludes with a description of
the gardens, which lay to the north and west
(Plate 2). In the centre of the formal garden
next to the house, set with pear, cherry and 'Jessemy' trees, was a stone statue of a woman
'treading on a Dolphin'. The terrace walk was
planted with apricot, peach and more cherry
trees, about forty-five pines and forty-three
cypresses, and there was a 'covered Seat with
Seates in it', and 'Three paire of Staires with twelve
little pedestalls'. 'Below' the house was an orchard
with mulberry, cherry, apple and pear trees and
two stone figures, one of Lucretia, the other of
Hercules. On one side of the orchard was a
'close' walk and on the other a kitchen garden,
lined with fig and lime trees. (ref. 40)
In 1672 John Evelyn dined at Leicester House
as the guest of Lady Sunderland, the wife of
Lord Leicester's grandson, Robert, second Earl
of Sunderland, who at this time was ambassador
in Paris. Evelyn and the company were entertained after dinner by one Richardson 'the famous
Fire-Eater, who before us devour'd Brimston on
glowing coales, chewing and swallowing them
downe'. (ref. 41)
Lady Sunderland's occupation of the house
appears to have been temporary and in August
1673 it may have been tenanted by Thomas
Osborne, Viscount Latimer, then Lord High
Treasurer. It was said that owing to ill health
he had removed from his lodgings at Whitehall and
intended to recuperate at Leicester House. (ref. 42)
From 1674 to 1676 Leicester House was taken
by Ralph Montagu, later first Earl, and afterwards
first Duke, of Montagu. (ref. 9) He had married the
widow of Lady Leicester's nephew, Joceline,
eleventh Earl of Northumberland, and at this date
was a Privy Councillor and Master of the Great
Wardrobe. In 1676 he was sent as ambassador
to Paris. (ref. 7)
On 2 November 1677 Robert, Earl of
Leicester, died at the age of eighty-one. (ref. 7) He was
succeeded by his son Philip, now third Earl, who
was rated for Leicester House from 1677 until
his death there in 1698. (ref. 9) The third Earl reduced
the extent of Leicester House garden by letting
the western part for building Lisle Street, Leicester
Street and the north part of Leicester Square. He
was also responsible for the erection of the shops
and the tavern in front of the courtyard of
Leicester House (see page 454).
He is described, a few years before his death,
in the memoirs of his neighbour, Lord Ailesbury,
as 'a most infirm man … and for his health was,
morning and afternoon, in his coach for air'.
Lord Ailesbury dined with him on Saturdays—
a day reserved for friends—'So he loved to be at
ease—and two of his most constant guests on the
Saturdays were Mr. Dryden and Mr. Wicherley,
professed Jacobites, but their company pleased
him'. (ref. 43)
By his will Lord Leicester bequeathed to his
son Robert the statues in Leicester House and
garden together with two-thirds of the pictures,
drawings, plate and household stuff; the other
third he left to one of his illegitimate
children. (ref. 44)
Between 1698 and 1700 Robert, fourth Earl
of Leicester, repaired and refurnished the house.
Over £2,000 was spent on repairs (fn. g) and nearly
£1,500 on chairs, tapestries, glasses, tables and
furnishing materials. (ref. 45) He died at the end of
1702, bequeathing certain pictures at Leicester
House (in his chamber, on the stairs, in the gallery
and in the drawing-room hung with green mohair)
to his family, and leaving the rest of the pictures,
with the furniture if necessary, to be sold to pay
his debts. (ref. 46) He was succeeded by his son Philip,
the fifth Earl, who sold some of his father's and
grandfather's effects in the following year, including 206 pictures, 107 drawings and prints
and 83 heads and figures of marble and other
materials. (ref. 47) In December 1703 he insured
Leicester House, described as a brick house in his
own possession, with kitchen, laundry, coachhouses, stables and other offices and apartments
adjoining, for £1,500. (ref. 48) He died in 1705, and
was succeeded by his brother. (ref. 7)
Although the fifth and sixth Earls were both
rated for Leicester House it is not certain that
they occupied it themselves. At some time before
1708 the house was let to the Imperial envoy,
Count Gallas. (ref. 49) In 1710 the new Tory Government began the secret negotiations which culminated in the Treaty of Utrecht and ended the
War of the Spanish Succession. Gallas did his
utmost to hinder the negotiations, but the plan
for Prince Eugène of Savoy to reinforce his embassy was discovered, and in October 1711 he was
informed that the Queen had forbidden him the
court. (ref. 50) In spite of the Government's efforts to
discountenance him, Eugène arrived in London on
16 January 1711/12. He drove immediately to
Leicester House and was visited on the same
evening by the Duke of Marlborough, his friend
and fellow-commander. The London multitude
gave Eugène a hero's welcome, in marked contrast to the cold and uncivil treatment offered
him by the Government. The Queen refused his
request to allow Gallas to take leave of her and
the Prince himself, his mission a failure, departed
from Leicester House on 17 March 1711/12. (ref. 51)
In 1712 or 1713 the sixth Earl of Leicester
let the house to John Leveson-Gower, second
Baron, and later first Earl Gower, who in 1712
married a daughter of the Duke of Kingston,
Lady Evelyn Pierrepont. (ref. 52) They occupied
Leicester House until 1717. (ref. 9)
Towards the end of December 1717 it was
reported that the Prince of Wales (later George
11) was moving to Leicester House and also
taking over Savile House next door. (ref. 53) On the occasion of the baptism of his son, George William,
in November 1717, the Prince quarrelled with his
father, George I, and was turned out of his apartments at St. James's Palace. He and the Princess
took temporary refuge at the Earl of Grantham's
house in Arlington Street, and on 23 January
1717/18 they removed to Leicester House,
which was rented to them for £500 per annum. (ref. 54)
It is unlikely that any alterations were made to
either Leicester House or Savile House before the
royal tenants moved in. The work which needed
to be done was probably carried out during their
absence in the country in the summers of 1718
and 1719. The Prince's surveyor for 'the New
Building and other Works' was Nicholas Dubois, (ref. 55) master mason of the Office of Works. (ref. 56)
The bills, signed by Dubois and settled by warrants
dated January 1719/20, amounted to nearly
£2,760, including £200 paid to himself and
£20 8s. 6d. for measuring to James Home, (fn. 55)
who a year later became his deputy in the
Office of Works. (ref. 56) The chief workmen employed by Dubois were Henry Lidgbird, bricklayer; John Spicer, carpenter; Robert Hearne,
joiner; Edward Tuffnell, mason; Thomas Knight,
blacksmith; William Wayte, plumber; Robert
Frith, plasterer; William Dissell, painter; and
Charles Capell, paviour. Smaller sums were paid
to a glazier, slater, another paviour, a 'cartaker'
and a 'Tynn Woman'. (ref. 55)
Savile House was linked to Leicester House
by a covered passage which was removed in
1727; (ref. 56) there is no evidence to suggest what
other alterations were made.
More work was done at Leicester House in
1720–1, and during this period Nicholas Dubois
was replaced as surveyor by Colin Campbell.
Several of the same workmen were again employed, but Tuffnell's place was taken by Edward Davenport, mason, and Spicer's by Thomas
Sayer, carpenter. (ref. 57) (fn. h) James Richards, master
carver of the Office of Works, received small sums
for work at the house in 1721–2, (ref. 58) and Roger
Morris and a plumber were paid in 1724 'for
Repairing the Old and laying down New Pipes
from Gerrard Street to Leicester House'. (ref. 59) The
only payment to Colin Campbell which has been
found is for £162 9s. in March 1724/5, for
examining bills. (ref. 60) In c. 1724 Campbell was included in a list of the Prince's warrant-holders, (ref. 61)
and in 1726 he described himself as the Prince's
architect. (ref. 62)
For ten years the Prince of Wales lived at
Leicester House, which became the centre for the
opposition party. When George I died on 11
June 1727 the Prince and Princess were at Richmond but they returned immediately to town and
on the following day the Prince was proclaimed
King at Leicester House gate. All the nobility in
town 'attended at Leicester House and had the
honour to kiss their Majesties hands'. (ref. 63) George
II and Queen Caroline remained at Leicester
House, for which they paid rent up to Christmas
1727, (ref. 64) until St. James's Palace was got ready for
them.
The sixth Earl of Leicester apparently resumed
occupation of Leicester House in 1728 and was
rated for it until his death in 1737. (ref. 9) He was succeeded by his brother Joceline, the seventh and
last Earl, who was also rated for the house, until
1742. (ref. 9) Some time before June of that year he
agreed to let the house to George II's eldest son,
Frederick, Prince of Wales, (ref. 65) but he died in
July 1743, and the lease was granted by his heirs,
Mary, Lady Sherard and Elizabeth Perry. (ref. 66)
Prince Frederick's relationship with the King
and Queen was even worse than George II's
had been with his own parents. Frederick had
been brought up in Hanover and did not return to
England until 1728. He was created Prince of
Wales in the following year and in 1736 was
married to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. The
pattern of events which followed his brother's
baptism was repeated on the even more notorious
occasion of his eldest child's birth. Shortly after
the christening of their daughter, Augusta, both
parents were turned out of St. James's Palace and
went to live at Norfolk House in St. James's
Square, although the Prince had already acquired,
and still owned, Carlton House in Pall Mall. (ref. 67)
In 1741 it was discovered that Norfolk House
was unsafe and after spending the winter in the
country, (ref. 68) the Prince decided to move into the
house which his father had formerly occupied in
Leicester Square.
In June 1742 the Earl of Leicester engaged
workmen under the carpenter, Benjamin Timbrell, to prepare Leicester House for the royal
tenants. (ref. 65) William Kent may have had some
hand in the alterations for he was the Prince's
architect at this time and had recently been
employed by him at Kew Palace. (ref. 56) He was paid
£300 in April 1743, but for what purpose is not
clear, the payment being described as a 'Free
Gift and Bounty'. (ref. 69) Timbrell later received a
present of £52 10s. 'for Supervizing the Repairing
and fitting up' of Leicester House. (ref. 70)
On 30 June 1743 the Earl of Leicester's agent,
John Howell, received from the Prince £580
for a year's rent from Michaelmas 1742 and £500
'towards paying the Workmen for finishing and
compleating the Repairs of Leicester House' for
the reception of 'Us and Our Family by the
Twenty Ninth Day of September next'. (ref. 71) The
alterations and repairs ordered were more lavish
than the purse to pay for them, and for some
£5,000 worth of work the workmen (fn. i) were prevailed upon to accept less than £4,000. (ref. 65)
The lease of the house to the Prince of Wales
was granted on 16 August 1743 for fourteen
years from Michaelmas 1742. (ref. 66) It was granted
by Lady Sherard and Elizabeth Perry, then joint
owners of the Leicester estate by virtue of the
death of the last Earl of Leicester. In the following year Elizabeth Perry, with the permission of
the Court of Chancery, used some of her South
Sea annuity stock to buy her sister's moiety of
Leicester House for £4,000. (ref. 72)
Although the first year's rent was paid and the
lease was signed in 1743, the Prince of Wales
must have moved into Leicester House at the
beginning of the winter of 1742–3, for payments
were made to a constable for attending there at
various occasions in November and December
1742 and in January 1743. (ref. 73)
The surviving royal household accounts reflect
the pattern of life at Leicester House during its
occupation by the Prince and his family (fn. j) and contain sufficient detail to provide at least an impression of the rooms on the first or principal
floor. Incidental references suggest that these
were eleven in number, four 'state' or reception
rooms at the front, six bedrooms and dressingrooms at the back and one waiting-room. The
account of Benjamin Goodison, cabinet-maker, (fn. k)
dated November 1742, appears to list eight of them
in their actual order, beginning with the first
reception room next to the great stairs and proceeding through the second and third rooms to the
'state' or audience room. Then, turning presumably to the back of the house, it lists the statebedchamber, the Prince's dressing-room, the
Princess's dressing-room, and the private bedchamber, returning finally to the great stairs. A
slightly later account from Goodison mentions a
'further' (elsewhere called the 'little') dressingroom and the Princess's closet, and these were
no doubt also back rooms. (ref. 87)
In each case Goodison refers to the number of
windows in the rooms, so that it is possible to
guess at their position in relation to Luyten's
paintings of 1752 (Plate 49). On this basis a
conjectural plan of the first floor has been prepared (fig. 100), the main dimensions being taken
from a late eighteenth-century block plan in the
Holland papers. (ref. 88) The block plan does not show
the projecting wing which appears in Luyten's
painting of the rear elevation, but this has been
included in the reconstruction because the
painting appears the more reliable source.
The four front rooms, which had eleven windows between them, were inter-connected.
Assuming, therefore, that there were no windows
in the side walls of the house, the great staircase
must either have been at one end of the front
range or slightly off-centre in the back range. The
former alternative would place the staircase rather
far from the main entrance, but it is supported by
an otherwise inexplicable reference of 1748 to
pulling down the 'gable' next to the great staircase. (ref. 89) If the staircase was in the front range, a
position at the east end seems the more likely,
leaving the audience room to occupy the projecting wing on the west.
The six back rooms probably lay at the west
end of the building, behind the other state rooms.
In the reconstructed plan Goodison's sequence has
been followed, the 'further' or 'little' dressingroom being treated as the easternmost room. The
Princess's closet has been placed next to the state
bedchamber, for the latter would have taken up
only two of the three windows in the projecting
wing.
Between them the six back rooms had eleven
windows in all, leaving unassigned three windows
at the east end of the rear elevation. One of these
perhaps belonged to the back stairs, which would
thus have been close to both the front and back entrances, and the others to the waiting-room described by Goodison as being for the use of the
Prince's pages. There is a reference to a staircase
adjoining one of the bedchambers on this floor,
but this has been taken to refer to a third staircase,
for which there is evidence in the accounts. (ref. 90)
In the plan this third staircase has therefore been
placed behind the Princess's closet in the rear projecting wing, where it would have been easily
accessible from the doorway that Luyten shows
in the front wing.
Figure 100:
Leicester House, conjectural first-floor plan
The finishings of the state apartments are not
described with any precision, but it is evident
that all had hangings on the upper part of the
walls, above a 'sub-base' or dado of wainscot. (ref. 91)
The four front rooms were hung in crimson,
the two easternmost in mohair and the two
westernmost in damask, the hangings being fixed
with large brass double lacquered nails and trimmed
with crimson figured lace and crimson worsted
lace. The windows had crimson lustrine curtains,
above which were wooden cornices 'all Carved
with feathers, Coronetts, festuons of Drapery,
and Other Ornaments'. (ref. 90) The three eastern
rooms are mentioned as having enriched cornices,
and ceilings compartmented or otherwise decorated, (ref. 92) and each of the three western rooms had
carved and gilt roses in the ceiling, from which,
presumably, hung the chandeliers. (ref. 93)
The first three state rooms seem to have been
furnished with increasing grandeur in progression
towards the westernmost room. In the first
room the stools and forms had walnut frames;
there was a pier glass with a pedimented frame
containing a carved and gilt crest, and over the
fireplace a large picture. In the second the furniture was gilded and there were two looking-glasses
and seven pictures, five small and two large. The
furniture in the third room, also gilded, consisted
of two pier glasses with candle branches, four
terms (pedestals), several stools and forms, and
two elbow chairs. There were also two large
pictures with gilded frames fixed to the walls, and
three others with elaborately carved and gilded
frames, one, over the fireplace, with a scroll pediment and crest, and festoons to the sides and bottom, and the other two, over the doors, with
ornaments all round and a crest on the top. (ref. 93)
The westernmost and largest apartment, which
had three windows, was the principal state room
or audience chamber, for it contained the 'state' or
canopy and two state chairs. Here, no doubt, the
Prince and Princess sat to receive visitors on
formal occasions. The canopy was of crimson
damask embroidered with the Prince's arms,
being supported by a carved wooden frame
finished with vases. (ref. 94)
The account of John Boson, carver, in
1742/3, gives considerable detail about the
woodwork in the room. An apparent reference
to the mouldings on the dado lists 79 feet 'Running of Cap and Base 6 Members enriching one
O.G. with 3 Leav'd Grass, One with 9 Leav'd
Grass, two Beads Beaded, One O.G. with 7
Leav'd Grass, ye Tore with Flowers'. The door
and window architraves had '3 Members Enrich't One O.G. with Attics One Do. with 7
Leav'd Grass Roped'. Dividing the room at some
unspecified point was a screen of Ionic columns,
supporting an entablature which included a 'Swelling Freeze with Piggs Ears Ribbon and Leaf
and was decorated with '4 Peices of Ornaments
… with his Royall Highness's Crest and Supporters'. The chimneypiece was equally elaborate, having 'Supporting Scrolls with fruit
flowers and Husks 2 ft. 11 Ins. Long', and a
frieze ornamented with fruit, flowers and foliage.
This had 'An Apollo's Head with Rays on the
Tablet 18 Ins. by 9 Ins', and above it was a
cornice enriched with '5 Leav'd Grass'. (ref. 95) On
the floor was a very large fine Turkey carpet. (ref. 90)
In 1742–3 the room is described as containing
two state and four other chairs, six long stools,
twenty-two short stools, six tables, six terms and
eight 'Gerindoes' or girandoles. All these items
were gilded, the chairs being covered in crimson
damask and the stools in mohair. Six pictures in
gilded frames are mentioned, and there was a
large pier glass, ornamented with gilded carvings
and fitted with candle branches. (ref. 94)
Leicester House was occupied by the Prince's
family only during the winter months. The
frequent references in the accounts to the shifting
of furniture suggest that the state rooms served a
double purpose, for private use as dining- and
withdrawing-rooms as well as for public and
ceremonial occasions. These last included birthday celebrations, balls, concerts, 'drawing-rooms',
public dinners, and performances of plays by the
royal children. Items in the accounts include
cutting four 'air holes' in the ceiling of the ballroom (? the large state room) for a ball; (ref. 96) supplying eighteen chairs for the state room for the
'Publick Diners'; (ref. 93) paying a porter for '4 turns
with things wanting for the Play'; making 'a
Large Carpitt for the Stage'; unloading a wagon
bringing 'Sceanes' from Cliveden; (ref. 97) and borrowing properties and seats from the Opera House. (ref. 98)
It is not stated how the walls of the state bedchamber were hung, but it may have been in green,
for the lustrine curtains, which were laced and
fringed, were of that colour. Above the windows
were 'Large Carved Cornishs' covered 'with
feathers, and Coronetts, festoones of Drapery,
and Other Carved Ornaments, trim'd with Lace,
and fringe'. (ref. 90) Mention is made of a carved and
silvered rose in the ceiling (ref. 93) and a bill of 1750 notes
that the paintwork was dead white. (ref. 99) The frames
to the looking-glass over the fireplace, two state
chairs, and the stools, were carved and silvered. (ref. 93)
The principal feature of the room was the state
bed in which the Princess's accouchements took
place. (ref. 97) This was of mahogany, the tester
surmounted by vases, and with it went a
mahogany-framed wire screen of eighteen leaves. (ref. 93)
Royal births, always with members of the royal
household present, were followed a few weeks
later by the Princess's reception of visitors in the
state bedroom. (ref. 100) The state cradle, used for
christenings, was lined with Indian quilting,
decorated with gold lace and fringe, and had a
cover of crimson lustrine. (ref. 90)
The dressing-rooms and the closet seem to have
been no less richly finished than the other state
apartments. The Prince and Princess's dressingrooms were hung respectively with crimson
velvet and green damask, her closet in crimson
and her 'little' (the 'further') dressing-room in
green silk and worsted damask. The two large
dressing-rooms especially were lavishly fitted with
gilded furniture covered with damask, and the
walls hung with pictures. In the Prince's
dressing-room, for example, there is mention
of a great gold couch covered with velvet and
gold lace, and 'bustos' over the pictures, one of
which was a Rubens. (ref. 101) The private bedchamber appears to have been hung with tapestry,
described as three 'large fine pieces'; these were
probably the three pieces purchased for £350 in
November 1742 from Priscilla MacEune (ref. 102)
of No. 18 Gerrard Street, (ref. 9) who elsewhere is
referred to as a milliner. (ref. 103) The room also contained a green damask bed, a settee and a variety
of other furniture, mostly gilded and covered in
green.
The great staircase was evidently of considerable size, for a plasterer's bill of 1755 refers to
ninety-two yards of washing and whitening done
on the ceiling and on the underside of the
landing. (ref. 92) The walls were papered and hung
with three large pictures in gilt frames, (ref. 104)
two of them painted by John Wootton (see page
448, n.). In the ceiling was a carved and gilt rose,
from which was suspended a great lanthorn with
a gilded crown on top. Additional lighting was
provided by other lanthorns on iron and gilt
'pillars', 'side' lanthorns (fixed to the wall?),
five pairs of double and one pair of single brass
branches, and ten wrought brass girandoles. (ref. 93)
Insufficient evidence is provided to reconstruct
the plan of the other floors, although there is a
reference to the twelve rooms 'below', presumably on the ground floor. (ref. 105) The entrance hall
receives hardly any mention, except for a bill of
1752 for 'Painting the 4 Columns in the Hall',
which suggests the room was divided by a
screen. (ref. 106)
The children's nurseries, which were probably
on the ground floor, were hung with yellow
damask. (ref. 90) The remaining rooms on both the
ground and attic floors were papered, the paper,
like the other hangings, being backed with brown
linen. (ref. 107) The account of Robert Dunbar in
1744 lists a number of patterns of paper, including
'Chints', 'embossed yellow Feather', 'Leicester
pattern', and 'Stuco Octagon'. (ref. 108)
A sidelight on the sanitary arrangements is
provided by the mention of fourteen closestools, twelve of wainscot (i.e. oak) and two, for
the young princesses, of carved mahogany; (ref. 93)
the 'necessary house' was clearly for the use of
servants only. The household was supplied with
water by two wells, situated at each end of the
house, one of which fed a pump in the garden. (ref. 92)
New River water was also piped by wooden trunks
from the nearby street, possibly Gerrard Street. (ref. 109)
The general impression is that the household
was uncomfortably crowded at Leicester House,
and some members had to be boarded out in the
neighbourhood, the maids of honour in Duke
Street, St. Alban's Street, Leicester Square and
Lisle Street and the pages in Gerrard Street. (ref. 110)
The yeomen of the guard were also housed outside the main building, for there is a reference in
1764 to sending six chairs out of Leicester House
to their apartment. (ref. 111) Some fifty-two yards of old
wainscot were refitted in this room in 1755 (ref. 112)
and comparison with the dimensions given on
the block plan in the Holland papers (ref. 88) suggests
that this may well have been the long low building which the views show on the east side of the
front court. It may also be identified with the
'two rooms called the Wardrobe' which the inventory of 1670 describes as being on the south
side of the house.
After the winter season the Prince and his
family were accustomed to leave London to spend
the summer months at Kew or at Cliveden in
Buckinghamshire. Their departure for the
country heralded an enormous programme of
repairing, restoring and spring-cleaning at Leicester House, a necessary procedure judging from
the frequent references to vermin. (ref. 113)
It was on a visit to Kew early in March that
Prince Frederick caught the chill which preceded
his death at Leicester House on 20 March
1751. (ref. 114) Full mourning was observed at the house
for the ensuing six months, followed by another
six months' half-mourning. Two sets of mourning hangings and furniture, one for each halfyear, were provided by the Company of Upholders
at Exeter Exchange in the Strand. The bill for
the second set survives and shows that two of the
state rooms were hung with black cloth and black
curtains and two were hung with grey cloth and
grey curtains, with all the chairs and stools to
match. The staircase and hall were hung with
'Bays', and black-framed tables and lookingglasses with white-painted frames were exchanged for the gilded ones. (ref. 115) There is a bill
dated 1753 for taking 'the black Varnish off
4 brass lanthorn frames', regilding the feet of
terms 'that were black' and removing the black
from the lanthorns on the staircase. (ref. 116)
The Dowager Princess continued to live at
Leicester House after Prince Frederick's death. (ref. 9)
In 1756 George II offered her eldest son,
George, now Prince of Wales, an invitation to
live at Kensington Palace and an allowance of
£40,000 a year but 'The money was very
kindly received—the proposal of leaving our
lady-mother refused'. (ref. 117) Since 1751 the Prince
had been living at Savile House next door to
Leicester House, with his brother, Edward,
Duke of York. Later his younger brothers
William and Frederick lived at Nos. 28 and 29
Leicester Square. (ref. 9)
In October 1757 (Sir) William Chambers
was appointed by the Princess Dowager to be
her architect, although he began supervising
maintenance and repair work at Leicester House
in July 1757. He received his first quarter's
salary, £13 16s. 3d., in January 1758. (ref. 118)
After the marriage of her daughter Princess
Augusta in 1764 the Dowager Princess of Wales
left Leicester House. She appears to have moved
to Carlton House in about May 1764 (her warrants thereafter are dated at Carlton, or Pall
Mall, House) (ref. 119) and a great deal of furniture was
subsequently moved from the house in Leicester
Square to the house in Pall Mall. (ref. 120) The
Princess continued to pay rates and rent for
Leicester House, however, until Michaelmas
1767, (ref. 121) and her son, Prince Henry, Duke of
Cumberland, occupied it in 1767. (ref. 9)
From 1768 to 1774 Earl Harcourt's name appears in the ratebooks. Simon Harcourt, second
Viscount and first Earl, had been governor to
the Prince of Wales (later George III) in 1751–2
and envoy to Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761 to
arrange the King's marriage with Princess
Charlotte. During the period for which he was
rated for the house Lord Harcourt was ambassador in Paris, 1768–72, and viceroy of Ireland from
1772. (ref. 18) A newspaper report of 1771 said that
Leicester House had been repaired, several 'very
great alterations and additions' having been made,
to fit it for the 'winter residence' of the Prince
of Wales (later George IV) and his brother
Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; (ref. 122) no
confirmation of this has been found.
The end of Leicester House as a royal or noble
residence came in 1774. In that year it was taken
over by Ashton Lever, a gentleman from
Alkrington near Manchester. Lever was a
naturalist who had collected an enormous number
of natural history objects and exhibited them at
his home. (ref. 18) He brought the museum to London
and opened it at Leicester House in February
1775, (ref. 123) calling it, in allusion to its supposed
universal coverage of natural history, the 'Holophusicon'. Fossils, shells, birds, insects, reptiles,
fishes and monkeys were the principal contents.
They were displayed in two galleries running the
whole length of the house (obviously contrived
out of the principal rooms on the first floor), on
the staircase, in four rooms on the ground floor
and in an out-house, where 'the elephant and
zebra' stood. (ref. 124) The admission charge to the
public varied over the years, at one time being
5s. 3d. and later 2s. 6d. Subscribers paid two
guineas for an annual ticket. (ref. 125) The receipts in
1782 were £2,253. (ref. 126)
Lever was knighted in 1778. (ref. 18) In 1784–6 he
disposed of his collection by lottery. James
Parkinson was the holder of the winning ticket,
but the museum continued at Leicester House
until Sir Ashton's death in 1788. (ref. 127) Parkinson
then transferred it to the specially built Rotunda at
No. 3 Blackfriars Road. (ref. 128)
Lever's secretary, Thomas Waring, (ref. 123) continued to be rated for part of Leicester House until
1791. Waring had taken up archery about 1776
as a relief for 'an oppression upon his chest
(arising principally from sitting too closely to his
desk)' and his example had been followed by
Sir Ashton Lever. They shot in the garden of
Leicester House and being joined by several
friends formed the Toxophilite Society in 1780
or 1781. Waring became treasurer of the
society, which held its meetings at Leicester
House until his departure in 1791. (ref. 129)
In 1783 Elizabeth Perry, one of the co-heiresses of the seventh Earl of Leicester and since
1744 sole owner of the freehold of Leicester
House, died heavily in debt. In 1789 her estate
in Leicester Square was sold by auction in several
lots (see page 422). Leicester House was bought
for £17,700 by George Lempriere, esquire, of
Highlands, near Ilford. (ref. 130) The 'interior parts'
of the house were removed in the winter of
1789–90, (ref. 131) and the house was demolished in
c. 1791–2. (ref. 9)
Architectural Description of the Exterior
Architecturally Leicester House presents a
number of difficult problems, the solution of which
is not assisted by the paucity of graphic records.
There is no reliable illustration of the building at
all before Sutton Nicholls's view of the square in
c. 1727 (Plate 48a), and the only detailed views
are those of Vertue in 1748 and Luyten in 1752
(Plates 48b, 49). No plan of the house is known
to exist, except for the very rough block plan of
the late eighteenth century among the Holland
papers. (ref. 88) (fn. l)
The pictorial representations on seventeenth
and early eighteenth-century maps of London
provide an additional source of information, but
this is often conflicting and unreliable. A particular problem is posed by the earliest of these
drawings, that on Faithorne and Newcourt's map
of 1658 (Plate 1b). There the house is shown as a
series of irregular buildings grouped round a
courtyard, the south range being almost entirely
taken up by a massive gatehouse. This is totally
unlike the double-pile house illustrated by Sutton
Nicholls, and is particularly puzzling in the
absence of any documentary evidence for a rebuilding. Courtyard houses, moreover, were
virtually out of fashion by the 1630's, and it is
reasonable to conclude that the drawing is simply
a map-maker's symbol. It receives some support,
however, from the drawing on Hollar's map of
1675 (Plate 47a). Although poorly executed,
this seems intended to show a more complex
building than a double-pile, as one can see by
comparing it with the representation of a known
double-pile like Clarendon House. The two
drawings of the house in the 1660/1 plan of the
Military Ground are very difficult to interpret.
A point of interest about them, however, is that
they also show a wide round-headed gateway in
the centre of the building (Plate 8a). Both Ogilby
and Morgan's map of 1681–2 (Plate 47b) and
Blome's parish map of c. 1690 (Plate 47c) show
the house as a double-pile, even though it still
differs markedly from the one illustrated by Sutton
Nicholls in c. 1727. In fact, a house bearing even
the most general resemblance to the latter does not
appear on a map earlier than that of Morden and
Lea in c. 1700 (Plate 47d).
The appearance of Leicester House in the
period between c. 1727 and 1753 is well shown
in the contemporary paintings and engravings
(Plates 48, 49). These agree on the general lines
of the building, although Luyten's painting of
1752 is a more accurate and detailed representation than those by Sutton Nicholls and Vertue.
If this was the building originally erected in the
1630's it might well have been refronted. Its style
has an austerity more usually found in the second
half of the seventeenth century, and it completely
lacks the elaborate moulded brick detail characteristic of what Sir John Summerson has described as 'Artisan Mannerism'. (ref. 132)
The house was brick-built, (ref. 133) containing two
storeys above a semi-basement. The main block
had a front ten windows wide, with the doorway
in the sixth bay from the east, and at the west end
was a projecting wing three windows wide. The
front was finished with a modillioned eavescornice, and in the roof was a row of dormers with
triangular pediments. Sutton Nicholls shows the
first-floor window over the doorway and that at
the west end to have had balconies, but these
are not shown in the later views and must have
been removed. Vertue and Luyten, on the other
hand, show all the windows with eared brick
architraves, and though these are not shown by
Sutton Nicholls they can hardly have been added
since his time and must have been omitted because
of the smaller scale of his engraving.
None of the views suggests that there was ever
an east wing to provide the balanced composition
that one would expect in a building of this type,
although two wings are shown in Morden and
Lea's map of c. 1700 (Plate 47d). If there was an
east wing it must have been demolished very
early in the eighteenth century, for an anonymous
map of c. 1710 shows the outline of the house with
only the one wing. (ref. 134)
A number of other features shown by Vertue
and Luyten are not in Sutton Nicholls's engraving,
and these were probably among the alterations
made for Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1742–3.
The steps up to the main doorway have been
covered by a Doric porte cochère, three bays deep
and one bay wide, finished with a triangular
pediment. The first-floor window above this
porch has been given a moulded architrave and a
cornice on carved consoles, all presumably of
stone, and in the east bay of the wing a new doorway has been similarly treated. Flanking the front
columns of the porch is a pair of obelisk lampstandards, and at the east end of the front is a
third, lighting the way to the stable-yard. Probably these were the three thirteen-foot 'lamp posts'
mentioned as being installed in an account of
February 1743/4. (ref. 135)
The back elevation, for which Luyten's second
painting provides the only evidence (Plate 49b),
had a mainly early or mid eighteenth-century
appearance by 1752, also probably due to the
alterations of 1742–3. In the painting all the
windows are shown with architraves and cornices
of stone, and there is a broad sill-band in each
storey. Curiously, though, the band in the second
storey is broken beneath each window. In the
ground storey the original doorway, distinguished
by a flight of steps leading up to it and a cornice
on consoles, had been blocked. The window
immediately to the east of it seems to have been
converted into a doorway, this being approached
from the steps by a short balustraded balcony.
Leicester House Stables
The stables of Leicester House lay in the northeast corner of the gardens alongside the boundary
wall which separated the Leicester and Salisbury
estates (fig. 94 on page 417). In the early part of
the eighteenth century they were approached by a
passageway leading from Leicester Square along
the east side of the Standard tavern. (ref. 136) When
Frederick, Prince of Wales, took Leicester House
in 1743, the brick wall between his property
and Lord Salisbury's was pierced by a door giving
access to the passage leading to the former French
chapel which stood on the other side of the wall
(shown on Rocque's map, Plate 4). This passage
communicated with Little Newport Street and
thus gave the Prince's servants easier access to
Newport Market. The Earl of Salisbury's
lessee, John Horne, father of John Horne Tooke,
objected to this high-handed action and after a
lawsuit he had the door blocked. Having established his rights he wrote to the Prince offering
to have the door re-opened, and the Prince
accepted. (ref. 137) In due course the opening was
enlarged and gates were erected to serve as an
entrance for carriages into the stables. (ref. 138)
It appears that when Leicester House was
demolished some of the stables survived and were
incorporated into the eastern extension of Lisle
Street (Plate 5, between Nos. 2–3 Lisle Street)
laid out in 1792–5. In Two Centuries of Soho
there is a reproduction of a photograph of the
White Bear Yard livery stables at No. 25A
Lisle Street. (ref. 139) As the outside staircase shown is
clearly of late seventeenth- or early eighteenthcentury date and this part of Lisle Street was not
built until 1792–5, the claim by the author that
the buildings may represent part of Leicester
House stables is very probably correct. On a
plan drawn about 1788 the site of No. 25A is
marked as 'stables etc. let out'. (ref. 138) The yard was
let, with the stables and coach-houses, together
with the use of the gateway into Lisle Street, on
1 June 1793 by Thomas Wright to William
Brooks. (ref. 140) The stables and coach-houses were
sub-let to separate tenants thereafter but certainly
by 1831, and possibly by 1818, they had become
livery stables and survived as such until 1906. (ref. 141)
The name of the yard seems to have been derived
from a nearby public house, the White Bear at
No. 30 Lisle Street.
The Shops and Taverns in front of Leicester House
Some of the views of Leicester House show
several small buildings in front of the courtyard
wall (Plates 46, 48a). These were single-storey
shops, built of timber, which were erected in
1694–5 during the time of the third Earl of
Leicester. (ref. 142) Originally there were eight, six
on the west side of the gate to the courtyard, and
two on the east. (ref. 9) In 1736 they were leased by
John, sixth Earl of Leicester, to Sir Thomas
Reade, in trust for Thomas Sidney, the illegitimate
son of John's younger brother Thomas. (ref. 143) In
1743 the Prince of Wales paid compensation to
the tenant of one of the shops, which was demolished in order to make an opening for bringing
sedan chairs into the courtyard. (ref. 144) In 1767 the
Prince's widow gave up this passageway and paid
£50 for the reinstatement of the shop. (ref. 145)
By 1786, when Thomas Sidney's leasehold
term expired, the eight small shops had been
amalgamated into four (fig. 94 on page 417,
C1–4). They were sold in 1789 as part of lot 1
of Elizabeth Perry's estate (see page 422), and
demolished in c. 1794. (ref. 9) Three houses with shops
in front (Nos. 7–9 Leicester Square, Plate 51a,
right) were erected on the sites of C1–3 and let
to the former tenants. (ref. 146) C4 was pulled down to
make way for Leicester Place and a new house
and shop were erected on what was left of its site
(now incorporated in Nos. 10–15 Leicester
Square).
The building shown on the right-hand side
of Leicester House courtyard in Sutton Nicholls's
and Bowles's views (Plate 46) was erected between
1684 and 1691 (ref. 9) on part of the laundry garden.
It was called the Standard, (ref. 147) and later, the Royal
Standard, (ref. 143) tavern, and there were evidently
two shops in front. (fn. 9) (fn. m) The building is shown on
fig. 94 (on page 417) as C5, 6 and 7. It seems to
have continued in use as a tavern and shops until
1792, when the Standard tavern was removed to
the north-west corner of Lisle Street and Leicester
Place. The old Standard tavern does not appear
to have been rebuilt at this time but was at least
remodelled to form three shops. (ref. 148)
The piece of land between C6 and C8 on fig.
94 was originally the entrance to the stables of
Leicester House. (ref. 136) The history of the piece of
land marked C8 is described on page 471.
The Opera House Project
The certificate of partition of the Leicester
estate (see page 421) was confirmed by the Lord
Chancellor on 28 January 1789. (ref. 149) On 17
June of the same year the King's Theatre or
opera house in the Haymarket was destroyed by
fire. Within a few weeks Giovanni Gallini, the
manager and mortgagee of the theatre, had decided that the legal and financial tangles in which
the opera house had become involved would
prevent its being rebuilt on its old site. (ref. 150) (fn. n)
The impending sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate
was advertised in The London Gazette on 18–21
July 1789, and Gallini appears to have immediately realized that a very fine site might be available there. By August 1789 he and his agent,
R. B. O'Reilly, had submitted to the Lord Chamberlain (the Marquess of Salisbury) a scheme for
the erection of a new opera house on the north
side of Leicester Square, provided that they
'received the encouragement of a Patent' permitting the performance of opera there. (ref. 151)
Richard Bray O'Reilly was a law student at
Lincoln's Inn, whose 'early and constant passion'
had been the study of architecture. Early in 1789
he had fallen in with Gallini, and immediately
became his legal adviser. (ref. 152) At the end of August
or early in September he was informed that the
proposal for a new opera house in Leicester
Square was 'likely to be approved of' by the Lord
Chamberlain, and with this encouragement he
went abroad 'to take a more particular view of the
principal Theatres on the Continent'. (ref. 153) In
Paris 'a new Theatre in the Palais Royal, just
finishing by Monsieur [Victor] Louis', attracted
his attention, and before going on to Italy he commissioned Louis to prepare plans for the new
opera house in London. But upon his return to
Paris O'Reilly found that Louis's plan was 'upon
a scale nearly as large as the Colloseum at Rome,
to which it is similar in its form', and he therefore
decided to adhere to the plans which he had already submitted to the Lord Chamberlain. (ref. 154)
Back in London, O'Reilly found that the proposal for the new opera house in Leicester
Square 'had met with the Royal approbation' on
20 November, but that the land must be purchased
before the royal patent could be granted. (ref. 155) The
sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate had, however,
taken place in the previous week; Leicester
House and its gardens, stables and ancillary premises had been bought for £17,700 by George
Lempriere, described as of Highlands, near
Ilford, esquire, while Savile House, together with
two houses on the south side of Lisle Street and
another two on the north side of Leicester
Square, had been bought for £5,300 by John
Carbonell of Hinde Street, Manchester Square,
esquire. (ref. 130) These two lots together comprised
about five-sixths of the ground on the north side
of Leicester Square.
Some of the purchasers recorded by the Chancery Master at the sale were bidding on behalf
of other people to whom the conveyances were
subsequently made, and it is almost certain that
Lempriere and Carbonell were acting for, or in
conjunction with, James Stuart Tulk (II), who
already owned the other three sides of the square
and would therefore be likely to wish to round
off his estate by acquiring the north side. (fn. o) Another probable agent of Tulk, John Wigg, acting
on behalf of Robert Golden, the surveyor who
appears to have been Tulk's representative in the
partition of the estate in 1788, bought for £550
the easternmost house on the north side of Lisle
Street (Nos. 11–13), adjacent to Leicester House
and Savile House. (ref. 130) The total outlay for the
three lots was £23,550.
Encouraged by 'the Royal approbation' for the
proposed new opera house, O'Reilly on 16
December 1789 agreed on behalf of Gallini and
himself to purchase from Tulk and his associates
all of their ground on the north side of the square
for £31,550, of which O'Reilly engaged himself
personally to pay £8,000 within one month. (ref. 161)
O'Reilly was now very deeply committed, and
Gallini, 'wavering and unsettled as he had ever
been, and intent upon any prospect of immediate
gain', (ref. 162) decided to abandon him. According to
O'Reilly, Gallini 'now made demands so exorbitant in their nature, and some exceptions so
trivial in themselves, that it soon appeared his
intention was to get rid of me as soon as he
possibly could, expecting by that means to become
sole possessor of the Patent. After repeated delays and excuses, he at length positively refused
either to sign the agreement, or assist me in the
payment of the money I was bound for. Thus
was I left, burthened with upwards of 30,000 l.
8,000 l. of which were shortly to be discharged,
exposed to ruin'. (ref. 163)
In this precarious situation, O'Reilly unexpectedly turned the tables on Gallini. The Lord
Chamberlain, to whom he applied for help,
'represented my situation' to George III, who
'was graciously pleased to extend to me solely that
favour in which it was intended Mr. Gallini should
have participated'. Fortified by this promise
of a patent to himself alone for the performance
of opera for thirty-one years, O'Reilly paid the
£8,000 which was due and on 18 January 1790
he 'concluded the purchase' of the ground in
Leicester Square. (ref. 163)
The news that there was to be a new opera
house in Leicester Square appears to have been
made public early in January, when The London
Chronicle contained several articles on the subject.
The proposed building was said to have a frontage of 180 feet and a depth of 326 feet, (ref. 164) but
the ground for which O'Reilly had contracted
included almost the whole of the north side of
the square, and extended north as far as, or almost
as far as, Gerrard Street. Detailed descriptions
of the designs for the new opera house were
published, and it was stated that 'The designs are
Mr. Reilly's. The operative architect he employs, is another of our countrymen, Mr. Soame'
(sic). (ref. 165) The designs which (Sir) John Soane
made for the theatre survive at his museum, (ref. 166)
and are described below.
Meanwhile opposition to the grant of a patent
to O'Reilly was mounting. William Taylor, the
penniless and irresponsible proprietor of the
King's Theatre in the Haymarket, was proceeding with plans for building a new opera house
on the old site, and on 8 December 1789 he had
protested to the Lord Chamberlain against the
injustice of the proposed patent for the rival
theatre in Leicester Square. (ref. 167) The Marquess of
Salisbury replied that the new patent was already
'so far engaged' that it was 'totally useless to
trouble his Majesty' with Taylor's complaints.
Undeterred by this rebuff Taylor enlisted the
support of the proprietors of Covent Garden and
Drury Lane Theatres, of his own numerous
creditors at the King's Theatre, and even of his
former enemy Gallini. (ref. 168) On 3 April 1790,
although still in his normal state of penury, he
arranged for the foundation stone of his new
theatre in the Haymarket to be laid. (ref. 169)
By this time the King had signed a warrant
for the grant to O'Reilly, and the patent had
passed through the offices of the Lord Chamberlain, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
State for the King's Sign Manual, the Signet and
the Privy Seal, and only required the Lord Chancellor to affix the Great Seal. (ref. 131) In January
1790 a caveat had been lodged (probably by
Taylor) against the proposed patent, (ref. 165) and the
case was heard before the Lord Chancellor, Lord
Thurlow, in April.
The question to be decided was what representation the Lord Chancellor should make to the
King about the proposed grant. (ref. 170) Lord Thurlow stated that 'a very strong case indeed must be
made out to induce him to put the Great Seal to
the present Patent; namely, the pretensions and
qualifications of the person proposed, his ability
to carry it into effect, and above all, that those
persons, who were the proprietors of the present
Opera-house, could not reinstate their Theatre,
and carry it on, as usual, in the hope at least of
recovering the large sum of money which very
probably they had embarked upon the faith of an
establishment of many years existence'. (ref. 171) The
nature of the advice which Lord Thurlow later
tendered to the King is not known, but O'Reilly's
counsel evidently failed to satisfy Thurlow on
these points, for the patent was not granted.
To have granted it to O'Reilly would have been
most unjust to the numerous creditors of the
King's Theatre in the Haymarket, but O'Reilly's
failure re-established Taylor's position, which he
maintained, to the great detriment of opera in
London, until 1813. (ref. 169)
O'Reilly, committed to the purchase of the now
useless ground in Leicester Square, 'saw no prospect but impending ruin'. (ref. 172) He therefore took a
lease of the Pantheon in Oxford Street at the
enormous rent of 3,000 guineas, and on 30 June
1790 the Lord Chamberlain granted him a fouryear licence for the performance of Italian opera
there. (ref. 169) After extensive alterations had been
made the Pantheon was opened for opera on
17 February 1791. Heavy losses were incurred
during the ensuing season and in consequence
O'Reilly 'retired to Paris in order to avoid his
Creditors'. (ref. 169) (fn. p)
Designs for the Opera House in Leicester Square
Among the Soane drawings in Sir John Soane's
Museum is a folder containing a single plan for
the intended opera house, together with two sets
of finely rendered elevations and perspective
views giving alternative designs for the exterior
(Plates 28a, 29b, 29c). Neither design properly
relates to the plan, but in the London Museum
there is an oil painting of a building which fully
conforms (Plate 28b). The plan envisaged a
very large building covering an island site extending from the north side of Leicester Square to the
south side of Gerrard Street, bounded east and
west by proposed new streets. The handsome and
ceremonious layout, arranged on a north-south
axis, is similar in many ways to that of the Grand
Théâtre at Bordeaux, built in 1775–80 from the
designs of Victor Louis, and it is at least possible
that the plan in the Soane folder might have been
evolved by Louis since he was approached for a
design by O'Reilly, who claimed the credit for
the general conception. (fn. q)
A giant order of plain-shafted Ionic columns,
sustaining an entablature and a balustrade decked
with statues, forms a colonnade of eleven bays
screening the main front. In each bay is an arched
opening, the middle five forming the main
entrances to the opera house, the flanking pair
containing shop fronts, and each end arch opening
to an arcaded piazza extending along the east,
north and west sides of the building, in front of a
series of shops interspersed with doorways to the
opera house. The front entrance hall, divided by
columns into three aisles of three bays, leads to a
large square central hall where a double staircase
rises to the first tier of boxes, and openings on
either side admit to the grand staircases serving
the upper tiers. An immense auditorium is
fringed by an ovoid horseshoe having forty-one
boxes in each tier, and the deep stage is provided
with an apsed back wall serving for a sky dome.
One of Soane's exterior schemes shows a symmetrically designed building of yellow stone,
having corner pavilions each of three bays with
two rusticated storeys surmounted by a plain
attic and crowned by a hemispherical dome
raised on a low drum. Between the four pavilions
extend colonnades of fluted Corinthian columns,
rising for the height of two storeys, below a recessed attic continuing that of the pavilions but with
the cornice surmounted at bay intervals by pedestals
bearing trophies and statues. There are five bays
to the north and south colonnades, and thirteen
to the east and west. The second scheme has an
arcaded ground storey of coursed masonry
extending right round the building, forming a
basement to Corinthian colonnades extending
between three-bay corner pavilions, and screening
recessed walls containing two tiers of windows.
The architrave and frieze of the crowning entablature are broken by figure-subjects in panels
above the pavilions, but the cornice continues
unbroken across each front. The body of the
building rises to form a recessed attic stage,
finished with a bracketed entablature below a
low-pitched roof.
Amongst the Sandby drawings at Windsor
Castle there is a design for a theatre or opera
house in Leicester Square (Plate 29a). Thomas
Sandby's drawing shows a wide-fronted building
of stone, dressed with a plain-shafted Ionic
order, the columns being spaced to form a portico
of eleven bays extending between single-bay
pavilions, dressed with paired pilasters. The wall
face inside the portico is divided into two storeys,
the lower a rusticated arcade, the upper having a
series of sash windows within plain architraves.
The middle arch contains the theatre entrance and
the rest frame shop fronts and mezzanine windows.
The end pavilions are similarly treated, but the
arch appears to open to a loggia extending along
the side of the building, and the first-floor window has a balustraded apron and a corniced architrave. The entablature of the colonnade is
surmounted by a balustrade, but the pavilions are
heightened by attics, having a panelled face
between paired dwarf pilasters, and a low
pyramidal roof. Behind the roof over the colonnade rises a low drum and saucer dome, the width
of five bays, perhaps denoting the position of a
circular foyer.
Later History
Shortly before O'Reilly's departure to Paris
the land which he had engaged to buy from
Tulk and his associates was conveyed to John
Needham of Gray's Inn, esquire, (ref. 158) who was
probably acting on behalf of O'Reilly's creditors. (ref. 174) The conveyance was dated 11 and 12
April 1791, and the parties involved were
Elizabeth Perry's trustees and mortgagees, Tulk
(and his associates Lempriere, Carbonell and
Golden), O'Reilly, and Needham. (ref. 158) Within a
year Needham sold the ground to Thomas Wright
of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, esquire. (ref. 175)
Thomas Wright was a banker in the firm of
Wright, Selby and Robinson. He lived in Henrietta Street in the house adjoining his office, but in
1815 he also had a country house at Fitzwalters,
near Brentwood, Essex. (ref. 176) The greater part of
Leicester House had been empty since 1788, (ref. 9)
and the leases of the shops in front of the house all
expired in 1793 or 1794. (ref. 177) Wright was therefore able to redevelop this part of his property
at once, but the lease of Savile House did not
expire until 1806, (ref. 177) and no redevelopment took
place here for some years.
Wright extended Lisle Street eastward across
the garden of Leicester House to join Little Newport Street, and a new street called Leicester
Place joined the extension of Lisle Street with
Leicester Square.
Between March 1792 and June 1795 he
granted some thirty leases of plots on the curtilage
of Leicester House, mostly for terms of ninetynine years or slightly less. (ref. 178) Many of these
leases were witnessed by Henry Smallpeace Fox
of Arundel Street, Strand, surveyor, who may
have been responsible for the new layout. Seventeen of the leases were granted to William
Brooks of Castle Street, St. George's, Bloomsbury,
builder or stone mason, who in June 1795 mortgaged sixteen of these leases to Wright's firm for
£15,000. (ref. 179) In his will, proved in May 1808,
William Brooks appointed Wright and Fox as
two of his executors, and referred to them as 'my
good friends'. (ref. 180)
The subsequent history of the individual plots
on Wright's estate is described in the following
pages.
Nos. 1–4 (consec.) Leicester
Square
This block of shops and offices, with the Ritz
Cinema (opened in 1937) in the basement at the
east end, was erected in 1936–8 to the designs
of the firm of Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie. (ref. 181)
Leicester House, as it is called (although it
occupies a different site from the original
Leicester House), was one of the first West End
buildings to reflect, however crudely, the influence of Eric Mendelsohn. A canopy shelters
the shop fronts, below a smooth stone face with five
tiers of metal windows forming continuous bands
extending across the Leicester Square front and
round the quadrant corner into Leicester Street.
Above the parapet are two recessed storeys, with a
concrete canopy projecting between them.
The first houses on this site were built in
about 1683–4 on part of Leicester House garden.
Their elevated position (see Plate 48a) probably
accounts for the popular name of 'The Terrace',
which was applied to this part of the square in the
eighteenth century. (ref. 182) The original leases of all
four houses expired on Lady Day 1724 and were
therefore presumably granted for the same
terms. (ref. 183) The lease of No. 4 was granted on
1 December 1683, at the nomination of Richard
Frith, bricklayer, to Henry Burman, citizen and
salter of London. (ref. 184) Frith's associates, to whom
Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, were let, were Rowland Reynolds, senior, and Richard Campion,
both carpenters. (ref. 185)
No. 1
Occupants have included: Lady Proby, 1691–1692, (ref. 9) probably the widow of Sir Thomas, first
baronet of Elton Hall, Huntingdon; (ref. 186) Vere
Fane, fourth Earl of Westmorland, 1693; (ref. 187)
Sir John Harper, or Harpur, fourth baronet of
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, (ref. 186) 1703; (ref. 9) and Elizabeth Smith, at 'The Plume of Feathers', who
supplied the Princess of Wales's household, (ref. 188)
1760–70. (ref. 9)
At the sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate in
November 1789 No. 1 Leicester Square and the
adjoining house in Leicester Street were bought
(as lot 6) by the occupant, Robert Harvey Gedge,
linen draper, for £770. (ref. 189) A trade card issued in
1830 by R. Pace and Son, builders and architects
of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, contains engravings
of twenty-seven buildings which 'are a part of
their designs which they have executed'. One of
these engravings shows a four-storeyed corner
building inscribed 'Messrs. Gedges 1788, Leicester
Square'. (ref. 190) The upper storeys have entirely plain
fronts to Leicester Square and Leicester Street,
five and four windows wide respectively, and in the
ground storey of each front is a pair of bowfronted shop windows. This could easily be the
original house shown on the eighteenth-century
views (Plate 46), refaced and with a fourth
storey in place of the roof garret, except that the
views indicate that the front to the square was
formerly only four windows wide. The ratebooks,
however, contain no suggestion that the premises
were rebuilt at this time and it is possible that
Pace's drawing was reversed in making the engraving. If this had happened, the return front,
which was four windows wide, would really have
been that facing the square and it would have been
reasonable to assume that the work undertaken in
1788 involved no more than a remodelling.
Directories show that the Gedge family, described as calico printers and wholesale linen
drapers, remained at No. 1 until 1809, but the
ratebooks show them there until the 1850's.
From 1837 onwards Henry Bickers, bookseller
(later Bickers and Son) had a shop at No. 1 for
many years, but from 1852 until 1872 Stagg and
Mantle, the linen drapers at Nos. 2–4, also had
premises at No. 1. (ref. 191)
No. 2
Occupants have included the Countess of
Sunderland, wife of Robert Spencer, second Earl,
politician and nephew of the third Earl of Leicester, (ref. 18) 1687(?)–92, and her husband, 1693; (ref. 9)
Dr. (later Sir) Edward Hannes, physician to Queen
Anne, (ref. 18) 1703–10; (ref. 9) Sir Alexander Cumming,
baronet, of Culter, Aberdeen, M.P. for Aberdeenshire, (ref. 186) 1710–14; (ref. 9) and Sir Philip Parker
(see also No. 25), 1715–33. (ref. 192)
At the sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate in
November 1789 No. 2 was bought (as lot 7) by
the occupant, Joseph Fisher, goldsmith or silversmith, for £720. (ref. 193) He remained there until
1812; from 1834 until the erection of the present
building in 1936–8 No. 2 formed part of the
premises of Messrs. Stagg and Mantle (from
1927 Stagg and Russell), silk mercers or linen
drapers. (ref. 191)
Nos. 3 and 4
Occupants of No. 4 have included (ref. 9) Sir John
Bland, fourth baronet, of Kippax Park, Yorkshire,
M.P. for Pontefract, (ref. 186) 1700; and George Lewis
Scott, mathematician, sub-preceptor to Prince
George (George III), 1752–80. (ref. 18)
At the sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate in
November 1789 Nos. 3 and 4 were bought as
part of lot 2 (which also included Savile House)
by John Carbonell, wine merchant, for £5,300. (ref. 130)
Carbonell was probably a business associate of
James Stuart Tulk (II), and these two sites
formed part of the ground which on 16 December
1789 R. B. O'Reilly and Giovanni Gallini
agreed to buy for their projected opera house.
After the collapse of this scheme these two sites
formed part of the ground conveyed to John
Needham, who was probably acting on behalf of
O'Reilly's creditors (see page 458). Stagg and
Mantle (later Russell) occupied No. 3 from
1842 and No. 4 from 1858 onwards until the
erection of the present building in 1936–8. (ref. 194)
Nos. 5 and 6 Leicester Square: Savile House
Formerly Ailesbury House. Demolished
Savile House occupied part of the site of the
Empire Theatre and Ballroom. The original
house had a frontage of some forty feet to
Leicester Square and its curtilage included a large
stable-yard with an entrance from Lisle Street.
The site was let on 14 November 1683 to
Thomas Juxon of Mortlake, gentleman, for
fifty-nine years at a rent, beginning on Lady
Day 1684, of £20 per annum. (ref. 195) The house was
probably the combined work of several builders
who took leases of Leicester House garden at this
period; Richard Frith, bricklayer, Robert Drinkwater, carpenter, and Cadogan Thomas, timber
merchant, were certainly concerned in its
erection. (ref. 196)
The house is shown in Sutton Nicholls's view
of the square in c. 1727 (Plate 48a), at which
date it still seems to have remained unaltered. It
was a building of more ample proportions than its
neighbours, with two lofty storeys almost equal
to their three. The front was five windows wide
and bounded by raised quoins, the ground storey
being finished with a raised bandcourse and the
second storey with a modillioned eaves-cornice.
The ground floor was at a higher level than that
of the adjoining houses, so that the front door
could be approached by an imposing flight of
steps, flanked by railings which swept up from the
front of the area in graceful curves.
Whether Thomas Juxon had occupied the
house himself or was acting as an agent is not
known. It is possible that the house was originally
ordered by Thomas Bruce, second Earl of Ailesbury, who was a friend of the then Lord Leicester. (ref. 197) Lord Ailesbury was occupying the house
in January 1686/7 (ref. 198) and in July 1688 Juxon and
William Bridges of London, mercer, with Frith,
Drinkwater and Thomas, released their interests
in the house to him for £3,700. (ref. 199) Moreover, in
1688 Drinkwater was employed by Lord Ailesbury
to make 'draughts' for his country house (Houghton) at Ampthill. (ref. 56) (fn. r)
Lord Ailesbury's occupation of the house in
the square was intermittent. He was groom of the
bedchamber to James II, and one of the handful of
noblemen who offered their services to the King
after the Prince of Orange had embarked for
England. (ref. 7) In his memoirs he recalls a night at the
beginning of the interregnum in December 1688
when he was awakened 'by the noise of drums,
trumpets, and kettle drums. On rising, my servant
came in, and he told me that they were bawling
before my house because it was not illuminated,
for that the Irish were cutting all the throats
of the Protestants, I ordered them to illuminate
but not to suffer any one to come into my chamber,
that I might take my rest.' (ref. 200)
A few days later Lord Ailesbury accompanied
the King on his final flight from the realm, but
turned back at Rochester at James's request. (ref. 201) His
loyalty to James II made him suspect in the years
that followed and several times he went into
concealment, twice in 1691 hiding in Madam
Maynard's house in Soho Square (No. 19). (ref. 202) In
1691–3 his house in Leicester Square was occupied
by Evelyn Pierrepont, fifth Earl of Kingston,
and he himself took a house in Lisle Street. (ref. 9) In
1693, after a visit to James II in France, Lord
Ailesbury returned to Ailesbury House and
spent the summer months there, occasionally
visiting his neighbour, Lord Leicester, in
company with Dryden and Wycherley, both
'professed Jacobites'. (ref. 203)
The Earl of Ailesbury continued to spend
some time at the house and it was here that he
was arrested in March 1695/6 on a charge of
high treason. He was sent to the Tower where he
remained for a year. Thereafter he was not
much in town and left England for good in
January 1697/8. (ref. 204)
The Marquess of Carmarthen is said to have
entertained Peter the Great at Ailesbury House in
1698. (ref. 205) This may well be true, but there are
no ratebooks for this year to confirm his occupation. Peregrine Osborne, styled Marquess of
Carmarthen, and later, on his father's death,
second Duke of Leeds, was at this time a rearadmiral. (ref. 7) Peter the Great was often in his company during his three-months' visit to England,
and contemporary newspapers refer to the Czar
calling on the Marquess (who had hurt his leg
at the fire in Whitehall Palace), on 13 January
1697/8, and being 'Treated' by him in a splendid
manner on 1 February 1697/8. (ref. 206) It must be
noted, however, that on the first of these occasions
the Earl of Ailesbury had not yet left the country,
neither does he make any reference in his
Memoirs to Peter the Great, nor to Carmarthen's
occupation of his house.
In January 1699/1700 the house was sold to
Henry Seymour or Portman, (ref. 196) a kinsman of
Lord Ailesbury, who had assumed the name of
Portman on inheriting the estates of the sixth
Baron Portman. (ref. 7) He occupied the house until
1717. (ref. 9) In December 1717 it was announced
that 'Mr. Portman Seymour' had offered to sell
Ailesbury House to Lord Holdernesse for the
use of the Prince of Wales, who was moving into
Leicester House. (ref. 53) The house was assigned,
however, to Richard Hill, the statesman and
diplomatist, acting on the Prince's behalf. (ref. 207)
Portman received £6,000 for the house and its
furniture, and £847 11s. 6d. for 'a Silver Fountaine and Silver Cistern'. (ref. 208) It seems likely that
'the New Building and other Works' carried out
at Leicester House by Nicholas Dubois and continued under Colin Campbell included alterations
to Ailesbury House, the two houses being linked
together (see page 447). After the Prince of
Wales had come to the throne as George II in
1727, the house was assigned at his direction by
Hill's executors to Queen Caroline. (ref. 207)
In June 1729 Sir George Savile of Rufford,
seventh baronet, agreed to purchase the house
from the Queen and took his wife and sister to
view it. (ref. 209) He entered the house in 1730 (ref. 9)
when the Queen assigned the existing lease to
him for £3,000 and Lord Leicester granted him
a new lease. (ref. 199) Water from the York Buildings
Company was provided under an agreement
dated 19 January 1729/30 at a cost of four pounds
per annum, (ref. 210) and new furniture was augmented with pieces from the family home at
Rufford. The parlour, which took up the whole
width of the house, was provided with walnutframed chairs with black leather bottoms, and
there were four tables (including one for cards,
and one for tea). The window curtains were of
blue mohair, and at least five family portraits, sent
from the Savile family's house in Golden Square,
hung on the walls. The chief bedroom and dressing-rooms were also hung with blue, but in damask; and, for Sir George's comfort, there was a
large wheel chair and '3 Blue Cushions of
Sharge for the Gout'. (ref. 211)
In 1733 Sir George employed John Packer of
St. Marylebone, joiner, to alter the house 'according to the Draughts made by Mr. James Gibbs
Surveyor'. (ref. 196) The effect of this alteration on the
exterior of the house is shown in Bowles's view
of the square in 1753 (Plate 46b). A third
storey of the somewhat disproportionate height
of ten feet was added, and the flat top of the new
hipped roof was enclosed by a railing, behind
which stood a small cupola. The quality of the
work suggests that Gibbs's share in it was largely
nominal.
Inside, the dining- and drawing-rooms were
refurbished with new wainscot panelling, 'Fretwork' ceilings, Corinthian cornices and two new
chimneypieces, the first of white and veined marble
and the second of 'Statuary' marble. Plaster heads
of famous men were inserted in the ceilings,
Shakespeare, Milton, Newton and 'Doctor
Clarke' (probably Newton's disciple, Samuel
Clarke, D.D, died 1729) in the drawing-room,
King Alfred, the Black Prince, William III and
the Duke of Marlborough in the dining-room.
Curious alterations took place in Sir George's
dressing-room where the specification provided
for 'a Sliding Pannel to be made to Slide up and
down over the Fire Place with the Contrivance
as Directed to put up Guns and Pistols there
And a Close Cupboard in the Side of the Chimney as Directed And also a Sliding Pannel …
in the End of the Room opposite to the Fire
Place with the Contrivance as Expressed in the
Draught for a Bed to be placed there'. (ref. 196)
Packer covenanted that none of his workmen
should work by candlelight, on pain of forfeiting
twenty shillings (half of the forfeit to go to the
informer and half to the parish poor) and that he
would bring out all shavings to be burnt every
Saturday night. The sum of Packer's contract
was £1,337, £35 being deducted for old
materials. (ref. 196)
The elder Sir George Savile died in 1743 and
was succeeded by his son, the famous politician,
who, as M.P. for Yorkshire from 1759 to 1783,
was a leading reformer and one of the most
respected members of the House—'a pattern of
excellence in a British senator'. He was an advocate of religious toleration and parliamentary
reform and spoke in favour of the Americans
during the War of Independence. (ref. 212) His most
famous measure was the Roman Catholic Relief
Act, which led to the Gordon Riots in 1780,
when Savile House was sacked.
On the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in
1751 Savile gave up his house in Leicester
Square for the two elder sons of the Dowager
Princess, who remained next door at Leicester
House. Prince George stayed at Savile House
until his accession in 1760 (ref. 9) and his brother the
Duke of York remained there until 1763, when
he removed to the new house in Pall Mall designed for him by Matthew Brettingham.
The Office of Works altered and maintained
the house during its occupation by the royal
Princes. John Vardy was the clerk of the works,
and the serjeant-painters, John Thornhill and
William Hogarth, were also employed there.
One of the alterations carried out in 1751 was
the provision of a covered way between Savile
House and No. 41 Lisle Street, the house
occupied by the Bishop of Norwich, preceptor
to the Prince of Wales. (ref. 213)
Savile House was repaired in 1764 and Sir
George Savile resumed occupation. His introduction of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill which
passed in 1778 made him an obvious target
during the Gordon Riots. On the night of 5
June 1780 'a large mob of riotous persons' forced
an entry to Savile House 'and gutted it of best part
of the furniture, which they piled up in the street,
and set fire to'. On the morning of 7 June the
mob returned, 'intoxicated with the wines and
spirituous liquors they had plundered', and attacked
'the shell'. (ref. 214) Sir George declined to avail
himself of the financial aid offered by the Government to those who had suffered in the riots, (ref. 215)
so that there is little more evidence of the extent
to which the house suffered. When the contents of
the house were sold after Sir George's death in
June 1784 the catalogue included two plaster
figures, one of Shakespeare and the other of
Milton, possibly survivors from the drawingroom ceiling. Also included were a collection of
firearms, some mathematical instruments and a
few pictures. (ref. 216)
Sir George had never married and the bulk of
his property, including the house in Leicester
Square, was left to his nephew, Richard
Lumley, who assumed the name of Savile. (ref. 217)
The house was empty in 1785 and from 1786
to 1805 it was occupied by Thomas Willows, (ref. 9) a
carpet manufacturer. (ref. 218)
At the sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate in
November 1789 Savile House was bought (as
part of lot 2) by John Carbonell, wine merchant,
for £5,300. (ref. 130) This lot also included Nos. 3
and 4 Leicester Square, and formed part of the site
of the intended opera house (see above). After
the collapse of this scheme Savile House, with
other adjoining land (but not, apparently, Nos. 3
and 4), was sold to Thomas Wright of Henrietta
Street, Covent Garden, esquire. (ref. 175) The leases then
in being all had some years to run (ref. 219) and the site
was therefore not redeveloped at once.
In 1804 Thomas Wright sold the whole curtilage to Thomas Willows for £9,000, of which
Wright advanced £6,000 by a mortgage on the
property. (ref. 218) In 1805 Willows agreed to grant a
fifty-year lease of part of Savile House to John
and Herbert Broom of Kidderminster, carpet
manufacturers, (ref. 220) and in the same year he and
the Brooms granted a sub-lease of a shop in this
part of the house to a 'Staffordshire warehousman'. (ref. 221) In 1806 Mary Linwood of Leicester,
spinster, and the Brooms acquired an interest in
the mortgage. (ref. 222)
Mary Linwood (1755–1845), artist in needlework, was already famous for her worstedembroidery copies of paintings. In 1798 (ref. 18) and
later years she had exhibited her work at the
Hanover Square Rooms (ref. 223) and now wished to
acquire permanent premises in London. In June
1806 she, Willows (now described as a dealer
in carpets) and the Brooms signed articles of
agreement with Samuel Page of King's Road,
Bedford Row, builder, (fn. s) for the alteration of
Savile House. (ref. 224) The buildings were 'in a
decayed state', and it was therefore agreed that
'part of the said house and premises should be
pulled down and rebuilt upon a different plan' by
Page (ref. 225) in accordance with plans and specifications
prepared by Page and George Boyd, surveyor.
The agreement provided for the exchange of
certain parts of the building between the various
parties, and for different rights of access. (ref. 224)
Page's outlay in the building works was to be
secured by mortgaging the house to him, and he
was to sub-lease parts of it to Mary Linwood,
Willows and the Brooms. (ref. 226)
The extent of the rebuilding is not clear, but
it is evident from a comparison of Bowles's
engraving of 1753 (Plate 46b) with the watercolour drawing of c. 1840 reproduced on Plate
32a that at least the carcase of the original house
was retained. In c. 1840 the front of the house
had the same number of windows in each storey
as in 1753, and the same lofty storey-heights in
relation to No. 4. The third storey, however,
had been reduced in height and the roof rebuilt.
The most interesting feature of the building at
this period was the Doric colonnade decorating
the ground storey. This was probably of wood,
consisting of six columns carrying an entablature
with a triglyphed frieze. Richardson's watercolour of 1871 (Plate 32b) shows fluted columns
and indicates, incidentally, that the design was
far more accomplished than the earlier drawing
would suggest. The bays between the columns
were occupied by wide round-headed openings,
the western two containing doorways and the
remainder windows. Twin flights of steps rose
to the doorways, and below the windowed bays
projected a high semi-basement containing a wide
shop front. Page completed the rebuilding in
1809, and claimed that the cost had been
£13,290. (ref. 225)
Mary Linwood opened her exhibition at Savile
House on 14 March 1809. (ref. 227) (fn. t) The display,
which consisted of 'between sixty and seventy
exquisite copies, in needle-work, of the finest
pictures of the English and foreign schools', (ref. 229) was
housed in a long gallery and several ancillary
rooms on the first floor at the back of the house. (ref. 224)
A contemporary description states that 'On
entering the door from Leicester-square, and
ascending a magnificent staircase, of what was
formerly the splendid residence of Sir George
Saville, we enter the principal room, a fine
gallery, of excellent proportions, hung with scarlet
broad cloth, and gold bullion tassels, and Greek
borders. On one side of this room are hung the
pictures, and there is a guard in front, to keep
the company at the requisite distance, for properly
viewing them. In the piers and windows are
sofas and settees, to match the hangings of the
room, for the accommodation of the visitors; and,
at the upper end, a splendid throne and canopy of
sattin and silver (Plate 32c).
'Turning to the left, through the door near the
throne, a long obscure passage prepares the mind,
and leads to the cell of a prison' where was
exhibited Miss Linwood's copy of James Northcote's picture of Lady Jane Grey on the eve of her
execution. In another room were copies of two
rustic scenes by Gainsborough, and 'returning
into the gallery on the window side, we enter a
tasteful room, or boudoir, hung similarly with
broad-cloth, etc. to the gallery, which is properly
devoted to a single picture', Carlo Dolci's 'Salvator
Mundi'. (fn. u) Other artists whose works were
represented included Reynolds, Opie, Morland
and Correggio. The price of admission was two
shillings and sixpence. (ref. 231)
The rest of the house was at first occupied by
the Brooms and their partner J. Harris, and by
T. Willows, all of whom were in the carpet trade.
They evidently sub-let part of their premises,
for after about 1814 there are numerous advertisements for miscellaneous entertainments at Savile
House. In that year there was 'The Astronomical
Panorama' under the Linwood Gallery, (ref. 232) and
in 1815 'Miller's Mechanical and Beautiful
Picturesque Representations', with a musical
accompaniment. (ref. 233) In 1823 the 'Saville Rooms'
were 'opened for readings, recitations and lectures, also for Evening Concerts' (ref. 234) and in 1830
there was a bazaar. (ref. 235) At the time of the Reform
Bill crisis two year later the National Political
Union had its offices at Savile House, (ref. 236) and
there was also an exhibition of Etruscan and
Grecian antiquities. (ref. 234)
Meanwhile, Page in 1818 had filed a bill of
complaint in Chancery alleging that nearly
£15,000 was still owing to him; in 1841 the case
was still proceeding, Page having unsuccessfully
appealed to the House of Lords in 1837. (ref. 225) The
firm of Broom, Harris and Company appears to
have come to an end shortly after Harris's
death in 1830, (ref. 225) and in 1833 Page's name
appears in the ratebooks, together with Mary
Linwood.
Page evidently continued to sub-let part of
the premises, for in 1833 Sampson's 'Mechanical
and Picturesque Theatre of Arts' was advertised
there, (ref. 237) as well as the 'Saville Palace Wine,
Concert and Exhibition Rooms'; a visitor to the
latter 'elegant establishment' was 'agreeably
astonished to find a company of the most refined
description' (ref. 238) In the basement was a wine cellar
known as the Royal Wine Shades, on the eastern
part of the ground floor was a shop occupied by a
firm of invalid chair makers, while upstairs, from
1836 to 1855, was William Green's pistol
repository and shooting gallery, where Edward
Oxford had practised before attempting to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840. (ref. 239)
Mary Linwood and her exhibition remained at
Savile House, impervious to the surrounding bedlam, until her death in 1845; her collection was
sold by auction on 23 April 1846 and realized
less than £1,000. (ref. 240) Until its destruction by fire
in 1865 Savile House then became the home of a
wide range of ephemeral forms of entertainment.
Until 1848 the Linwood Gallery, now converted into a theatre and known as the Walhalla,
was used by Madame Warton for her poses plastiques, which The Morning Post described as 'both
classical and beautiful'. (ref. 241) In 1848 the Walhalla
was redecorated to the designs of Mr. Hurwitz 'for
a public drawing room' (ref. 242) and re-opened as the
Salle Valentino, where two thousand dancers could
'enjoy the fashionable Quadrille, the graceful
Polka, or the exciting Galop'. (ref. 243) By 1852 the
Salle Valentino had become the Théâtre des
Variétés or Leicester Music Hall, (ref. 244) where and
in other parts of the building exhibitions of
fencing, wrestling, antique armour, panoramas,
clairvoyance, magic and ventriloquy all found a
stamping-ground. (ref. 245) In the words of a contemporary, 'The establishment became so divided by
different interests, that few could tell whether it
was a theatre, a wine vaults, a billiard-room, a
coffee-shop, a gunsmith's, or a Royal Academy;
or, if they could, they never knew, amidst the
ascending and descending steps, and doors and
passages, which one must take to get any where
… A confusion of sounds further tends to
bewilder the visitor: the noise of everything is
heard every where else. The click of billiardballs, the music of poses plastiques, the thwacking
of single-sticks, the cracking of rifles, and the
stamping of delighted Walhallaists, all mingle
with each other; and it is only by taking refuge
in the lowest apartment, which partakes of a
coffee-room, a cabin, and a cellar, that you will
find repose.' (ref. 246) (fn. v)
Savile House was destroyed by fire on 28 February 1865. The fire started in the basement,
where a workman searching for a leak of gas
'incautiously took a lighted candle with him, and
was applying it along the crevices of some wainscoting when a loud explosion took place'. The
flames spread so rapidly that very soon nothing
but the bare walls remained. The Prince of
Wales and the Duke of Sutherland came to see the
fire, and after borrowing a fireman's helmet,
His Royal Highness 'inspected the conflagration
from different points of view'. (ref. 248)
Nos. 5 And 6 Leicester Square: The Empire Theatre
By June 1865 plans for rebuilding Savile
House had been prepared by the firm of Nelson
and Innes, (ref. 256) but the District Surveyor successfully contended that the designs did not conform
with the Metropolitan Building Acts (ref. 257) and the
scheme was abandoned. In the winter of 1869–
1870 the Denmark Theatre and Winter Garden
Company Limited (fn. w) was formed for the purpose of
establishing a theatre, winter garden, club and
restaurant on the site. (ref. 258) This project also came
to nothing, and the house remained in ruins for
several more years (Plate 32b). In 1874 the
vestry of St. Anne's suggested that communications between Oxford Street and Leicester
Square might be improved by extending Dean
Street southward across Gerrard and Lisle
Streets and over the site of Savile House. (ref. 259)
In 1878 The Alcazar Company Limited was
incorporated for the establishment of a 'Grand
Theatre of Varieties, Restaurant and Café.'
Alexander Henderson was to manage the theatre,
and contracts were entered into for the purchase
of the site, which had been enlarged by the
acquisition of three houses in Lisle Street, (ref. 260) and
which was apparently cleared of its ruins in
1879. (ref. 261) Plans for the new building were made
by Edward L. Paraire of Oxford Street, (ref. 260) but
this scheme also proved abortive.
In October 1880 The Builder reported that
'A large circular building is at present in course
of erection at the rear of the north side of Leicester-square, … which is intended for panoramic
purposes'. The architect employed by the
French company which sponsored this venture
was M. L. Dumoulin of Paris, and the general
contractors were Messrs. Cubitt and Company.
The principal entrance was along a wide corridor
from the north side of the square. (ref. 262)
The Royal London Panorama opened on 28
March 1881 with a representation on 15,000
square feet of canvas of the Charge of the Light
Brigade. (ref. 263) A year later, however, it was an
nounced that the building was to be converted
into a theatre to be known as the Pandora, from
designs prepared for the Pandora Theatre Company by Thomas Verity, the architect of the
Criterion Restaurant and Theatre. Building
work began in the summer of 1882, but in the
spring of 1883 the Pandora Theatre Company
entered into liquidation, building was suspended
and the property changed hands yet again. (ref. 264)
According to The Building News, work was subsequently resumed under the supervision of
different architects, J. and A. E. Bull, the façade
to Leicester Square which had been erected for
the panorama evidently being retained. (ref. 265) Edwin
Sachs, however, writing in 1897, assigns the
design of the building to Thomas Verity. (ref. 266)
In February 1884 it was announced first that the
new theatre was to be called the Phoenix, (ref. 267)
and then the Queen's, (ref. 260) but when it opened
on 17 April 1884 with a performance of
Hervé's operetta Chilperic it was as the
Empire. (ref. 268)
Thomas Verity's plans for the Pandora
Theatre, submitted in April 1882 to the Metropolitan Board of Works, (ref. 269) show how he proposed
retaining the southern two-thirds of the large oval
shell of brickwork built in 1880–1 for the Royal
London Panorama. (fn. x) The northern five bays
were demolished to make way for the wide proscenium and stage, and the auditorium was
formed inside the remaining horseshoe of seven
bays. A ring of cast-iron columns was introduced
to support the raking girders of the two shallow
tiers, the first containing three rows of seats in
front of a range of loges. The second tier, with
four rows, was overlooked by a wide promenade,
above which was a gallery of seven rows, rising
behind the columns of an arcade supporting the
oval conical ceiling. An interesting feature of
Verity's section is that it shows the auditorium
decorated in the Chinese style with fretted balcony fronts and arch spandrels, and a tiled roof
with upturned eaves bracketed out from the
gallery arcade and sloping back to meet the plain
ceiling which was, presumably, intended to represent the sky. This use of an exotic style was
probably inspired by the success of the Moghul
interior of the Eden Theatre in Paris, or by the
Saracenic of the Alhambra nearby, but Verity's
Chinese scheme with its exterior effect seems to
anticipate the 'outside-in' atmospheric interiors
that were so popular in the American and British
super-cinemas of the late 1920's.
After the failure of the Pandora Company, the
unfinished building was completed more or less
in accordance with Thomas Verity's plans (fig.
101). The changes were mainly ones of rearrangement, such as the enlargement of the pit
and omission of a promenade at stalls level, this
feature being transferred to the first tier. The
plans and section given by Sachs (ref. 270) show that
there were nineteen rows of seats in the stalls and
pit, three in the first tier, three in the second,
and eight in the gallery. Instead of the Chinese
scheme originally envisaged, the lavish decorations were mainly in the Second Empire taste
(Plate 36). The very handsome foyer in the
same style, providing a secondary entrance from
Leicester Street, was added by Frank Verity and
opened on 6 July 1893.
Burlesque, musical extravaganza and opera
were produced at the Empire, but the theatre did
not prosper (ref. 260) and after redecoration to designs
of Messrs. Romaine-Walker and Tanner (ref. 271) it
re-opened on 22 December 1887 as the Empire
Palace of Varieties under the joint direction of
George Edwardes and Augustus Harris.
The long series of spectacular ballets for which
the theatre now became famous soon placed the
Empire among the leading variety houses of the
world. (ref. 260) 'To its Victorian or Edwardian patrons,
men about town, gallants from Ouida or Kipling,
the Empire Theatre was the most celebrated
rendezvous in the world. It bordered on
Bohemia and was almost a club. Its social amenities, if such they could be called, included the
notorious Promenade, where ladies of the town
consorted with the dandies of the time and
shocked the entire nation'. (ref. 272) In 1894 the London County Council, as a condition of the
renewal of the music and dancing licence, insisted
on the alteration of the promenades, which the
Council had been informed had been 'the habitual
resort for prostitutes in pursuit of their traffic'. (ref. 273)
Ballet at the Empire reached its zenith in the
ten-year reign of Adeline Genée, which began in
1897.<In 1905 the theatre was expensively altered and redecorated.> But with the success of the Diaghilev
ballet in London revue gradually supplanted
ballet at the Empire. The last of the specially
produced ballets was presented there in 1915 and
the company was then disbanded. (ref. 274) After the
war revue and musical comedy were presented,
but the old success was not recaptured, (ref. 260) and the
last performance at the Empire as a theatre took
place on 22 January 1927. (ref. 275)
The new cinema was erected for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer on a site enlarged by the acquisition of several houses in Lisle Street and
Leicester Place. The architect was Thomas
W. Lamb of New York, in association with
with Frank Matcham and Company; the contractors were the Anglo-Scottish Construction
Company Limited.
Figure 101:
Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, plan in 1891. Redrawn from a plan in the possession of the Greater London Council
Figure 102:
Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, plan in 1927. Redrawn from a plan in the possession of the Greater London Council
Figure 103:
Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, plan in 1961. Redrawn from a plan in the possession of the Greater London Council
Figure 104:
Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, sections in 1927 and 1961. Redrawn from plans in the possession of the Greater London Council
The original Empire Theatre had been planned
on a north-to-south axis with the stage north of
the auditorium, but the new Empire, built on an
enlarged site, was orientated with the stage on the
east (figs. 102, 104). Designed by one of the
leading American theatre specialists, it introduced transatlantic standards of size, magnificence and luxury to London, in a spaciously
planned building, provided with such features as
smoking-rooms, cosmetic-rooms, rest-rooms and a
large tea-room.
The Portland stone front to Leicester Square,
still surviving but quite concealed by electric
signs, is a more scholarly composition than most
theatre exteriors. It is, in fact, a large-scaled
adaptation of the Venetian-arched motif used by
Ammanati for the upper loggia in the second
court of the Villa di Papa Giulia, Rome. In the
recessed wall behind the central arch and trabeated
side openings are windows set within rich frames
of polychrome terra-cotta.
From Leicester Square a deeply recessed screen
of six double doors led through an oblong lobby
into the large and lofty grand foyer. Here the
walls were lined with a high dado of walnut
panelling, surmounted by an order of scagliolashafted Corinthian columns and pilasters, spaced
to form bays containing arched pseudo-windows
glazed with mirrors. Opposite the entrance
screen was a marble and metal staircase, with a
wide flight descending centrally to the stalls foyer,
between parallel flights rising to an apsed landing,
where doors led into the large oblong tea-room,
formed within the void below the circle. The
huge auditorium, containing stalls seating for
2,000 and a circle holding 1,500, was sumptuously decorated in the High Renaissance style.
The elliptically arched proscenium, its deep reveal
rich with delicate arabesques, was flanked by
concave splayed walls, each decorated with
grotesque-ornamented panels and Corinthian
pilasters flanking a large arch dressed with
elaborate draperies, concealing an organ loft.
A high dado of walnut panelling extended round
the walls, below panels of gold brocade set in rich
plasterwork painted in warm tones of brown,
ivory and rose, and enriched with much gilding.
The large stage was fully equipped for theatrical
performances, and rising platforms were provided
for the orchestra and organ console.
The new cinema was opened on 8 November
1928 with the film of Sir Arthur Pinero's
Trelawney of the Wells. (ref. 260) The later decline in
cinema attendances, and the return to popularity
of dance-halls, led to the closure of the Empire in
May 1961, and its reconstruction to form, within
the roofed shell, a large dance-hall of two storeys,
with a platform and revolving stage, below a
cinema of the stadium type seating 1,336, designed for long-run presentations of films on a
panoramic screen (figs. 103, 104). The entrance
front was retained, but the original foyer was remodelled to form twin entrance halls, the west
one serving the cinema, which was opened in
December 1962, and the east leading to the
dance-hall, opened in March 1963. The work
was carried out under the direction of George
Coles, the theatre architect.
Nos. 7–9 (consec.) Leicester Square: Queen's House
This site formed part of the curtilage of
Leicester House and incorporated some of the
shops which stood in front of the house (see page
454). At the sale of Elizabeth Perry's estate in
November 1789 it was bought (as lot 1) by
George Lempriere, who was probably a business
associate of James Stuart Tulk (II). (ref. 130) Lot 1
formed part of the site of the intended opera house,
and after the collapse of this venture, it and other
adjoining ground was sold to Thomas Wright
of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, esquire, (ref. 175)
who redeveloped much of his estate between
1792 and 1795 (see page 458).
On 19 January 1795 Wright granted three
leases of the three new houses and shops at
Nos. 7–9 (Plate 51a) to William Brooks,
mason. (ref. 276) The houses backed on to Duncan
Place, a short cul-de-sac leading off the west side
of Leicester Place which has now been built upon.
The premises continued to be used for the most
part as shops until 1869, when No. 9 became the
Hôtel de Paris et de l'Europe. (ref. 194) In 1856 Seale,
Low and Company, bankers, added No. 7 to their
premises in Leicester Place and rebuilt the latter
in the 'Early Decorated style' to the designs of
John Billing. (ref. 277) They remained at No. 7 until
1870. (ref. 194) Both Nos. 7 and 8 were later taken
over by the hotel and the whole site redeveloped. (ref. 194)
The present building bears the date 1897, and
was designed by Messrs. Saville and Martin. It
was originally known as the Queen's Hotel, and
opened in 1899. (ref. 278) In 1936 the upper floors
were converted to office use, and the Monseigneur
News Theatre was constructed on part of the
ground floor. (ref. 279) The building, which is now
called Queen's House, has an elaborately composed
and floridly ornamented exterior, stylistically
classifiable as early French Renaissance. It is
built of Portland stone, now painted, with
polished red granite shafts to the numerous
columns that are introduced in all storeys but the
fourth. The ground storey of the Leicester
Square front, arcaded and dressed with a Corinthian order, projects from the main face of four
storeys, where polygonal buttresses form three
divisions. Each side division contains a splaysided bay window feature, rising through three
storeys, and finishes with a two-storeyed gable.
The middle division has a first-floor bay window
set in an arched recess, and above the colonnaded
fourth storey is a scroll-pedimented dormer. Out
of the high French roof rises a hexagonal cupola,
flanked by ornate chimney-stacks. The gabled
return face to Leicester Place combines features
from the three divisions of the main front, but
the rest of this elevation is more simply designed.
When first opened as a hotel, the ground floor
contained a buffet and the grand dining-hall, the
latter richly decorated with marble pilasters,
paintings on walls and ceiling, and an onyx balustrade to the musicians' gallery. Downstairs was
the grill-room, and on the first floor, besides a
suite of masonic rooms, were drawing-, readingand coffee-rooms, decorated in the Louis XV,
Empire and Louis XVI styles respectively. The
upper floors contained nearly a hundred bedrooms
and private sitting-rooms. (ref. 280)
Nos. 10–15 (consec.) Leicester Square: Victory House
This site formed part of the curtilage of
Leicester House. The Royal Standard tavern
and several shops stood here, but after the collapse
of the scheme for an opera house (see page 458),
the site was bought by Thomas Wright of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, esquire. (ref. 175) Only
two leases from Wright have been traced, one for
No. 14 in 1796 and the other for No. 15 in
1806, and in neither case is there any suggestion
of rebuilding. (ref. 281) There were shops here, several
occupied by linen drapers or silk merchants. (ref. 194)
In 1846 No. 14 was taken by William Hampton
as a furnishing warehouse, and in the following
year the establishment was described as Hampton
and Russell, upholsterers. (ref. 194) In 1852 Nos. 14
and 15 were rebuilt to the designs of John Matthews (ref. 282) and three years later Hampton and
Russell acquired the whole range from No. 10
to No. 15. (ref. 194) In 1857 alterations and improvements were carried out to the design of the same
architect. (ref. 283) In 1867 the firm became known
as Richard Russell, and remained at Nos. 10–15
until 1879. The building was subsequently used
as a Post Office for some years. (ref. 194)
The present building was erected in 1898–9 to
the design of Walter Emden as the Hôtel de
1'Europe, (ref. 284) the frontage line to Leicester
Square being set back. (ref. 285)
Except for the ground storey, which has been
refashioned in the 'Spanish Patio' style, Emden's
front remains substantially unaltered. Designed
in a free version of the early French Renaissance
style, it is built of buff and cream-coloured terracotta. Cornices, ornamented bands, and stringcourses define the five storeys, and pilaster-strips
divide each front into five bays. In the Leicester
Square front, the middle three bays contain a
diverse assortment of windows, and above the
central bay rises a gabled dormer. From each
angle of the front projects a polygonal oriel, and
above each end bay rises a two-storeyed attic, finished with a square dome. Pedimented dormers light
the two storeys in the steeply pitched slate roof.
As the Victory Hotel the building was acquired
in 1922 by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and renamed
Victory House. (ref. 284) The northern part of the
building occupies the site of Charles Dibdin's
Sans Souci Theatre in Leicester Place, which is
described on page 481.
No. 16 Leicester Square: Le Centre Charles Péguy
The piece of land marked C8 on fig. 94
(page 417), described in 1700/1 as abutting north
on Leicester House laundry and west on the
drying yard, was let in 1719 to a victualler. (ref. 27)
At the time of the sale of Elizabeth Perry's
estate in 1789 there was a public house on the
site, (ref. 286) which was probably the Feathers referred
to by J. T. Smith as a rendezvous for local
artists. (ref. 287) The site eventually became the
entrance to Burford's Panorama. The panorama
was closed in 1864 and the site has since been
occupied by the Roman Catholic Church of
Notre Dame de France and its ancillary educational and social establishments. The Centre
Charles Péguy is a club for young French men
and women in London. Access to the church is
from Leicester Place, and the history of both the
panorama and the church is described under that
street on page 482.