CHAPTER XI
Duke of York Street
The ground on both sides of York Street
(now Duke of York Street) formed part of
the land granted freehold to the Earl of St.
Albans's trustees in 1665. South of the line of
Apple Tree Yard (formerly Angier Street) and
Ormond Yard (sometimes also called Angier
Street, or Blackamoor Street or Blackmoor Head
Yard) the street was flanked by the return frontages of the corner sites in St. James's Square. The
history of the buildings in this part of the street,
including York Street chapel, is described on pages
115–34. The ground to the north of Apple Tree
Yard and Ormond Yard probably formed part of
the plots of the corner houses facing Jermyn Street.
York Street was probably so named in honour
of James, Duke of York, who succeeded to the
throne as James II in 1685. It is first mentioned
by name in the ratebooks in 1686, (ref. 1) when there
were five houses on the west side and three on the
east; it is likely that some of these houses had been
built a few years earlier. (ref. 2) In 1720 John Strype
described York Street as 'a broad Street; but the
greatest part is taken up by the Garden Walls of
the late Duke of Ormond's House, on the one
Side, and on the other Side by the House inhabited by the Lord Cornwallis. So that towards
the Church there are not above two or three
Houses on each Side.' (ref. 3)
No. 1 Duke Of York Street
A considerable increase in the rateable value of
this house suggests that it was rebuilt in 1782. (ref. 1)
From 1788 until 1804 it was occupied by James
Ridgway, bookseller, (ref. 4) who in 1806 occupied a
shop in Piccadilly where he and his family remained until 1894 (see page 253). From 1813
until 1920 the house was occupied successively
by Henry Frost, turner and fancy brushmaker, (ref. 5)
and the firm of Frost and Norton, brushmakers. (ref. 6)
The house has a front of little interest, with a
modern shop-front below a two-storeyed face of
stock brick, probably of late eighteenth-century
date, containing two tiers of two windows set in
plain openings with flat arches of gauged brickwork.
The Red Lion Public House
A public house known as the Red Lion has
stood on the southern part of the site of the present
building since at least 1788. (ref. 7)
In December 1820 Janet Wimberley of
Brighton, spinster, granted to Henry Watts,
victualler, of the Red Lion, York Street, a thirtysix-year lease of two messuages on the west side of
the street. Watts covenanted to demolish the
existing houses, one of which he already occupied,
and erect one house in their place at a cost of at
least £1000. (ref. 8) The ratebooks show that rebuilding
took place in the following year. The freehold
was acquired by Meux's Brewery in 1907. (ref. 8)
The upper part of the Red Lion is a typical
house-front of the early nineteenth century, faced
with stock brick and containing two tiers of three
evenly spaced windows with the sashes set in plain
openings having flat arches of gauged brickwork,
the lower windows being framed by shallow roundarched recesses. The front face of the slated mansard roof contains two round-headed casement
dormers.
The interest of this building resides in the lateVictorian public house on the ground storey,
which has an elaborate front of five bays, each end
one a doorway with a Doric arch set against
Corinthian pilasters, the middle doorway being
framed in an eared classical architrave below a
console-flanked fanlight. Above the glass fascia is
a cast-iron railing of elaborately scrolled design.
The small interior has a ceiling of cigar-brown
lincrusta, the walls and partitions being formed in
light arcaded frames of polished mahogany, enclosing glass panels enriched in every possible way
with frosted, brilliant-cut and partly mirrored
arabesque patterns. It has been described and
illustrated in The Architectural Review as a 'perfect example, except for bomb damage, of the
small Victorian Gin Palace at its best'. (ref. 9)
Nos. 4–6 Duke Of York Street
Nos. 4 and 5 rebuilt
These houses (Plates 141b, 148c, figs. 49, 50)
were built by Benjamin Timbrell in 1735–6 as
part of the redevelopment of the Chandos House
site (see pages 122–3). Nos. 4 and 5 were rebuilt
as Bray House in 1933–4 by M. J. Dawson.
Figure 49:
No. 6 Duke of York Street, plans
From 1791 to 1821 No. 6 was occupied by
General Sir Charles Asgill, who was succeeded,
from 1822 to 1824, by General Sir Ulysses Burgh,
who was in turn succeeded, from 1825 to 1830,
by General Sir William Houston. In 1771
General George Boscawen was living at No. 4. (ref. 1)
No. 6 is the survivor of the row of three houses
of similar elevation, and consists of three storeys
above a basement with a garret in the roof. The
front (Plate 141b, fig. 50), plain but well proportioned, has four windows to each upper storey.
It is constructed of dull-pink brick with a stone
cornice and a parapet above, stone sills to the
square-headed window openings, and an architraved stone doorcase with a plain frieze and a
cornice supported on carved consoles. The light
railings to the front area are enriched at intervals
by groups of three uprights similar to those outside
Nos. 9 and 10 St. James's Square, but with an iron
overthrow. The rear of the house is built in the
same manner as the front but without a cornice.
The plan (fig. 49) is unusual, with a square
entrance hall open to the staircase at the back; a
slightly larger square front room to the right and a
large room behind it which projects more than six
feet from the back wall of the staircase. The
first-floor plan is similar but there seems to have
been a confusion of intention in regard to the room
above the entrance hall: the chimney-breast
would be centrally placed only if the room were
open to the landing although the existing partition
shows no sign of being any later than the rest of
the building.
Figure 50:
No. 6 Duke of York Street, elevation
The entrance hall is stone-paved and plainly
finished, the richest feature being the plaster cornice. There is a small cornice of wood at twothirds of the height of the room and a moulded
chair-rail between the simple architraves of the
openings. The front room has similar mouldings
but is lined with plain panelling to its full height,
with a raised panel above the chimneypiece. This
has an eared architrave, with egg-and-dart ornament and marble slips, and a cornice-shelf above,
now without its bed-moulding. The rear room is
much altered but the mouldings of the woodwork
are carved.
The staircase is the most distinguished feature
in the house (Plate 148c). The treads and landings
are of stone with shaped soffits, and an ornamental
iron balustrade supports the mahogany handrail,
its line echoed by the panelled dado. The firstfloor landing is panelled to two-thirds of its height
and the doorways have bolection-moulded architraves, suggesting a re-use of old material. The
two front rooms are much altered but appear never
to have been other than very plainly fitted: the
rear room retains some carved woodwork, slightly
less rich than that in the room below, and all three
rooms have enriched plaster cornices. The second
floor is fitted with the plainest type of rebated
panelling and box cornice.