Nos. 33–34 Soho Square: Parkwood House
The southern range of the west side of Soho
Square originally comprised six houses, later
numbered 32 to 37. By June 1680 Richard
Frith and William Pym had leased the southernmost of these, No. 32, to Thomas Pitcher, and
the ratebooks suggest that he may also have had
an interest in No. 33. (fn. a) By the same date they
had also leased three other houses in the range to
Cadogan Thomas of Lambeth, timber merchant.
Two of these leases were for forty-nine years
from the previous Lady Day at rents of £12 each
plus ten shillings for the upkeep of the garden;
there was no provision for a peppercorn rent
during the first year of the leases, which may
suggest that the houses were already virtually
finished. (ref. 3) It has not been possible to identify
the individual positions of these houses; their
subsequent history is described separately below.
The first known occupant of No. 33, Lady
Castle, was living here in 1691. She was succeeded by William Paston, second Earl of Yarmouth (later at No. 26), 1693–6, and by Lord
Walden, ? Charles Hay, later third Marquis of
Tweedale, c. 1703. (ref. 33) The house may have been
renovated or partially rebuilt in about 1765,
when the Portland family granted a new lease
without fine to Captain John Harrison, who
lived here from 1764 to 1766. (ref. 21) From 1772 to
1788 the house was occupied by Charles Penruddocke, Wiltshire landowner and M.P. (ref. 33) It
was demolished in 1950.
Early inhabitants of No. 34 were Sir Thomas
Broughton, second baronet, c. 1691–1710; Sir
Henry Hoghton or Houghton, fifth baronet,
M.P., 1710–11; Other Windsor, second Earl of
Plymouth (previously at No. 27), 1712–15, and
Colonel Montague, 1716–29. This house and
the adjoining No. 35 were probably renovated or
partially rebuilt in 1734–5 by Captain Edmund
Strudwick, to whom in December 1730 the Portland family had granted a new lease of both houses
for sixty-five years from Michaelmas 1734. (ref. 320)
Later inhabitants included Sir John Tyrwhitt,
sixth baronet, M.P., 1743–5; Dr. Cadogan, ?
Dr. William Cadogan, physician to the Foundling
Hospital, 1760–2, and John Frederick Desbarres,
military engineer, 1782–3. (ref. 33)
In 1811 (Sir) Charles Bell, the surgeon and
anatomist, took No. 34 in anticipation of his
forthcoming marriage. He was very pleased with
the house, especially with 'the walk in the drawing-room looking down on the green and trees of
the square'. Four years later, however, these
sylvan attractions did not detain him at home
when the news of the victory at Waterloo arrived
in London. He rushed off at once, exclaiming to
a pupil, 'Johnnie! how can we let this pass?
Here is such an occasion of seeing gun-shot
wounds come to our door. Let us go'. He subsequently produced a series of detailed drawings
of the wounds he had examined on the battlefield. No. 34 Soho Square remained his home
until 1831 when he moved to Brook Street,
Mayfair. (ref. 321) The house was subsequently occupied from 1893 to 1936 by the Beaufort Club.
Both No. 33 and No. 34 were demolished in
1950 for the erection of the present building,
Parkwood House, which was designed by Leslie
Norton. (ref. 322) Its appearance is similar to that of
Twentieth Century House, but here there are
two storeys in the roof (fig. 3).