Nos. 77–78 Pall Mall
There was a house on the site of No. 78 at least
as early as 1670. (ref. 191) It appears to have been rebuilt between 1720 and 1724 by Claudius Amyard, principal and serjeant surgeon to the
King, (ref. 192) but the extent of the rebuilding is
doubtful, for the rateable value of the house remained unaltered.
In the late eighteenth century a bow window
appears to have been inserted at the back of No. 78,
but it may have been removed by Sir Walter Stirling as part of the repairs which he carried out in
1800. (ref. 193)
(fn. a) It had certainly disappeared by 1840
when the house was leased to the second Marquis
of Ailesbury (then Earl Bruce). (ref. 195) Lord Ailesbury took a further lease of this and of the
adjoining house, No. 77, in 1862. By the terms
of the agreement, he was to spend not less than
£6000 during the following two years on the
'repairing' and 'improving' of No. 77, and on the
conversion of the two houses into one. (ref. 196)
No. 77, a much smaller house rebuilt in the
second quarter of the eighteenth century, had been
described in 1779 as a substantial brick building
with offices behind. (ref. 197) This house was now completely rebuilt as part of No. 78. It was finished in
brick and Portland cement, the most prominent
feature being a large two-storeyed bow window
overlooking Pall Mall (Plate 228a). (ref. 196) The new
house included a ball-room first used on 10 March
1863 for a ball to celebrate the marriage of the
Prince of Wales. (ref. 198) The entrance to the newly
enlarged house was through the then existing
doorway of No. 78 (ref. 199) and most of the ornamental
work on the façade probably dates from this
alteration. T. H. Wyatt was the architect
and the builders were Messrs. Holland and
Hannen. (ref. 196)
In 1882 the Dowager Marchioness of Ailesbury divided the property into two houses, in order
to provide accommodation for a member of her
family. A separate front door for No. 77 was cut
through the east side of the bow window on the
ground floor, and the space beyond partitioned off
to form a hall passage and front room. The
architect in charge of these alterations was Henry
Curzon of Lincoln's Inn Fields. He seems to
have built a glass conservatory over the portico of
No. 78 at the same date. (ref. 196)
When the Dowager Marchioness died in 1892,
she bequeathed her interest in Nos. 77–78 Pall
Mall to her nephew, Viscount de Vesci. (ref. 196)
The
lease was purchased from him in 1900 by the
Office of Works. The house was then offered to
the Crown for use as a grace and favour residence,
in exchange for Bushey House, Middlesex, which
had been granted by the Crown to the National
Physical Laboratory. (ref. 197) Alterations were undertaken in 1901 by the Office of Works to reconvert the two houses into one. The portico and
doorway of No. 78 were completely removed,
and a new doorway and porch were constructed in
place of the bow window on the ground floor of
No. 77. The first-floor bow window was not
affected by these alterations. By a royal warrant of
9 August 1902, the house was granted to Queen
Victoria's daughter, Princess Christian and her
husband. At this time it seems to have been known
as De Vesci House (ref. 197) but was renamed 'Schomberg House' in 1906. (ref. 200) This has led to much
subsequent confusion between Nos. 77 and 78
Pall Mall and the building of that name at Nos.
80–82 Pall Mall.
On the death of Princess Christian in 1923, the
house was assigned to her daughters Princess
Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise. A
few internal alterations were made by the Office
of Works at this time. In 1927 it was found that
the building structure had weakened, and some
strengthening was carried out. The house was
damaged during the war of 1939–45, and was
vacated by the two princesses early in 1947. The
property was retained for a time by the Ministry of
Works, and in 1950–1 was again divided, No. 77
going to the Oxford and Cambridge University
Club, and No. 78 to the Eagle Star Insurance
Company Limited. (ref. 197)
Alterations and repairs were begun at No. 77
for the Oxford and Cambridge University Club in
1951, and completed by June 1952. In 1953–4
the rear half of No. 78 was rebuilt.
Coney's street elevation of 1814 (pocket, drawing B) shows No. 78 as a four-storeyed house with
four flat-arched windows in each upper storey and
four segmental-headed dormers in the roof. The
ground storey had a round-arched doorway in the
bay east of centre, fronted by a porch. The upperstorey windows had sills supported by consoles and
those of the second storey had cornice-hoods. A
bandcourse marked the first-floor level and just
below the parapet was a cornice. It seems almost
certain that this drawing represents the existing
building, although its windows have been
decorated with architraves and aprons of Portland
cement, and balustrades have been substituted for
the parapet and the area-railing. A window has
replaced the doorway, but signs of the reconstruction are visible in the surrounding brickwork.
The present front of No. 77 is, by contrast, unmistakably mid-Victorian (Plate 228a). Its yellow
brickwork is almost concealed by an elaborate
two-storeyed bay window, the ground storey of
which serves as an entrance and is finished with a
Doric porch surmounted by a balustrade. The
upper storey, corresponding in height to both
upper storeys of No. 78, is a great Venetian window with a modillion cornice and a panelled
parapet at its head. Immediately above the crowning cornice is an ornate, pedimented dormer and a
large ogee cupola.
The first-floor front room (Plate 228b) is
typical of the interior decoration carried out in
1862–3 by T. H. Wyatt. It is divided into
three compartments by rich Corinthian columns
supporting brackets and a modillion cornice, each
compartment having an ornamented coved ceiling.