Gerrard Street Area: The Military Ground, Macclesfield Street

Macclesfield Street

Macclesfield Street derives its name from the earldom of Charles, Lord Gerard. It first appears in the ratebooks in 1685, with four names recorded for the east side and seven for the west. No original houses now survive. The street was partially rebuilt in 1729–30 and some vestiges of this rebuilding still remain at Nos. 2 and 3 (Plate 66d) where John Jeffreys granted leases to John Meard in 1730. (fn. 1) The most interesting house of this period, however, was No. 9 which, with other houses at the north end, was demolished for the formation of Shaftesbury Avenue.

William Sherlock, miniature painter and engraver, lodged at Peter Welcker's music-shop in Macclesfield Street (No. 1, on the corner of Gerrard Street) in c. 1764, (fn. 2) and Frederick Engels lodged at No. 6 in c. 1849–50. (fn. 3)

The following artists gave their addresses as being in Macclesfield Street in exhibition catalogues:

William Birch, enamel painter, 1792, 1794; Richard Dagley, painter, 1798; G. Farington, painter, 1782; Thomas Hearne, painter, 1785–1793, 1806; Daniel O'Keefe, miniature painter, 1782–3; Henry Ross, miniature painter, 1814; Mrs. Henry Ross (formerly Miss Maria Smith), painter, 1814; Sir William Charles Ross, miniature painter, 1813, 1815–16; Francis Sartorius, painter, 1782, 1791; John N. Sartorius, painter, 1778–9.

No. 9 Macclesfield Street

Formerly No. 23 King Street. Demolished

In 1712 the house on the south-east corner of King Street and Macclesfield Street was taken by Edward Scarlett, senior, who opened an optician's shop there under the sign of 'The Archimedes and Globe'. He enjoyed royal patronage and was Master of the Company of Spectacle Makers. (fn. 4)

In 1729 the house was rebuilt and leased to Scarlett by John Jeffreys. (fn. 5) The new building was L-shaped and had frontages to both King Street and Macclesfield Street; the entrance to the house and the one to Scarlett's shop were both in the Macclesfield Street side.

A watercolour drawing of 1874 by Frederick Shepherd (Plate 67a) shows that, except for the shop front, it was a very plain brick building of four storeys, all above the ground floor having two windows in the King Street front, two in the Macclesfield Street front and one in each face of the south-west projection containing the shop.

A drawing by J. W. Archer in 1858 (Plate 67b) and a photograph taken in 1883 (fn. 6) illustrate the handsome shop front. Solidly constructed of wood, probably deal, it was composed of three bays towards the street and one bay in the northfacing return. The bays were divided by Ionic columns (those at the angles having square shafts) rising from a high pedestal and supporting an entablature. The pedestal, which was returned into the central bay, had a moulded skirting, a plain die, and a cornice-capping. The columns had moulded bases, plain entasised shafts, and angle-voluted capitals. The entablature was composed of an architrave with two fascias, a pulvinated frieze enriched with laurel-garland, and a modillioned cornice. Stone steps, flanked by wrought-iron railings, rose to the entrance in the central bay. The shop door, with two raised-andfielded panels below a glazed light, was framed by a doorcase consisting of an ovolo-moulded architrave, carved with egg-and-dart ornament, eared at the head and surmounted by a leaf-ornamented ogee frieze and a triangular pediment. In each flanking bay was a window with top and bottom sashes of four panes, and the wider window in the return bay was also sashed. The house doorway, in the recessed part of the front, had a six-panelled door surmounted by a 'cobweb' fanlight of metal, slightly recessed in a tall straight-headed opening dressed with a stepped architrave of wood. The design of the shop front suggests the employment of an architect well versed in the Palladian idiom, and it is significant that there are very similar designs included in the volume of drawings by James Paine in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The shop continued in use as an optician's until 1830. (fn. 7) The house was demolished about 1886 for the formation of Shaftesbury Avenue.

No. 10 Macclesfield Street

Demolished

The house on the south of No. 9 was let by John Jeffreys in 1729 on a building lease to John Ladyman of St. Anne's, glazier. (fn. 8) It is shown in the drawing by Frederick Shepherd, already referred to (Plate 67a), with a plain brick front of three storeys, three windows wide. The doorway was dressed with Doric antae, supporting a fascia or name-board that extended across the two windows of the ground floor, which had presumably been used as a shop. The house was demolished for the formation of Shaftesbury Avenue in 1883–6.

No. 11: The Macclesfield Public House

The Macclesfield occupies the site of an earlier public house called the Horse and Dolphin, which eventually gave its name to the former East Military Mews. The licensee in 1690 was William Roberts. (fn. 9)

In 1729 John Jeffreys granted the Horse and Dolphin on a building lease to William Twiss, victualler. (fn. 10) The house may not have been completely rebuilt at this time, but only altered in order to combine it with the house adjoining it on the north. (fn. 11) The enlarged Horse and Dolphin survived until the formation of Shaftesbury Avenue. It was altered in 1886 (fn. 12) and rebuilt in 1890. The architects were Saville and Martin and the builders Guild and Brand. (fn. 13) At the same time the name of the public house was changed to the Macclesfield. (fn. 14)