CHAPTER XXI
Leicester Square, West Side: Leicester Estate
The whole of the west side of Leicester
Field (fig. 94 on page 417), between the
open square and Colman Hedge Lane
(now Whitcomb Street) was developed under a
single building lease granted to Anthony Ellis
on 20 June 1670 for forty-two years at an annual
ground rent of £44. (ref. 1) Eleven houses were built
fronting the square (ref. 2) but they were certainly not
completed before Ellis's death in 1671. (ref. 3) Elias
Lock of St. Giles in the Fields, coachman, and of
Chevening, Kent, who had building leases in
Green Street, had a lease of No. 43; (ref. 4) Richard
Gaspole or Glaspole of St. Martin's and St.
James's, carpenter, had a lease of No. 45; (ref. 5)
Anthony Mathewes had a lease, probably of No.
46; (ref. 6) and in June 1674 Ellis's widow, Dorothy, (ref. 3) let
No. 53 to Lord Windsor. (ref. 7)
Like the east side of the square, the frontages
of individual houses were of varied width; No. 48,
which measured only eighteen feet, was the narrowest, and No. 49, with a frontage of thirty
feet, was the widest.
By the certificate of partition of 1788 all of
the ground on the west side of the square (plot 1
on fig. 94) was awarded to the Tulk family. After
the death of Lydia Tulk, widow of John Augustus
Tulk (I), in 1851, this plot and the rest of her
estate in the area was divided amongst her children
(see page 423).
In 1844 four of the houses on the west side of
the square were acquired by the Crown for the
formation of New Coventry Street (see fig. 81
on page 352).
Nos. 43–50 (consec.) Leicester
Square
Demolished
All of the ground on the west side of the
square, extending back to Whitcomb Street, is
now occupied by Fanum House, the headquarters of the Automobile Association. The
houses which formerly occupied this site are
described below.
No. 43
The original house on the corner of Spur
(now Panton) Street was known as the Sun
tavern from c. 1677 to 1692. (ref. 8) In January
1692/3 it was let by Elias Lock to Nathaniel
Greene, goldsmith, who occupied it, under the
sign of the Black Lion, (ref. 4) until 1696 or 1697. (ref. 2)
The house became a tavern again, probably about
1709, and, being joined in 1714 with the house
next door, continued under the sign of the Hoop
until 1739. (ref. 9) In that year it was demolished and
a new house was erected on the site in 1740
(see below). This was later occupied by Dr.
Noah Thomas, 1754–60, who became physician
to George III and was knighted in 1775. Sir
Joshua Reynolds, who lived on this side of the
square, painted his portrait. (ref. 10) Dr. Robert Bland, a
physician with an extensive practice as an
accoucheur, (ref. 10) lived here from 1809 until his
death in 1816. (ref. 2) He had previously lived at
No. 44.
No. 44
Before its union with No. 43 in 1714 the
original house on this site was occupied by a Dr.
Car(e)y, 1691–1700, (ref. 2) and by Joseph Chilcott,
surgeon, (ref. 11) 1706–13. (ref. 2) In April 1739 William
Godfrey of St. George's, Hanover Square, mason,
contracted with the then lessee, John Forster of
Gray's Inn, to demolish the Hoop tavern and
build two new houses, No. 43 and No. 44. They
were completed by 1740 and sub-let to Godfrey. (ref. 12)
Joseph Constantine Carpue, surgeon and
anatomist, and an associate of Dr. George Pearson at No. 52, (ref. 10) lived here from 1799 to 1805, (ref. 2)
and was succeeded by Dr. Robert Bland (ref. 10) from
1806 to 1808. (ref. 2)
No. 45
In 1680 (ref. 2) Sir John Reresby, second baronet,
of Thrybergh in Yorkshire, traveller and author,
became the tenant of the house on this site. (ref. 13)
As a Member of Parliament he supported the
unsuccessful Bill introduced in 1685 for a tax on
new buildings in London to raise money for
suppressing Monmouth's rebellion. (ref. 14) As a justice
of the peace he was responsible for arresting Captain Christopher Vratz, one of the assassins
hired by Count Königsmark to murder Thomas
Thynne. Königsmark's object in killing Thynne
was to win for himself the wealthy heiress whom
Thynne had recently married, the Lady Elizabeth
Ogle. Reresby found Vratz on the morning of
13 February 1681/2 'at the hous of a Swedish
doctor in Leicester Fields'. He afterwards
examined several suspects at his house in the
square. (ref. 15) Reresby occupied No. 45 until at least
1684, (ref. 2) and possibly until his death in 1689. (ref. 10)
From 1716 to 1720 No. 45 was an apothecary's (ref. 16) and from 1753 to 1772 the rates were paid
by an upholsterer. The house was being 'repaired' in the latter year. (ref. 2)
William Martin, an artist who frequently
exhibited at the Royal Academy, lived here from
1786 to 1793. (ref. 2) He was succeeded by (Sir)
Everard Home, the surgeon and brother-in-law of
John Hunter, (ref. 10) from 1794 to 1798. (ref. 2) The house
was occupied by St. John's Hospital for Diseases
of the Skin from 1865 until 1887, when it removed to No. 49 Leicester Square. (ref. 17)
No. 45 is shown during the period of the
hospital's occupation in a contemporary photograph. (ref. 18) It may well have preserved the carcase
and proportions of the earlier building illustrated
by Sutton Nicholls and Bowles (Plate 46), but
if so it had been considerably altered and the
doorway moved from the southern to the northern bay of the front. The photograph shows a
four-storeyed building with a stuccoed front,
three windows wide, of the early or mid nineteenth century. In the ground storey the windows
and doorway were flanked by fluted Ionic
pilasters, above which was a frieze and cornice.
The upper-storey windows had moulded architraves, those in the second storey with the addition
of friezes and cornices and, for the central window,
a triangular pediment on enriched consoles. There
were continued sills in the second and third
storeys, and above the fourth storey a moulded
cornice. This was finished with a blockingcourse, broken in the centre by a panelled pedestal
with flanking scroll-buttresses.
In 1902–3 No. 45 and No. 46 were rebuilt to
the designs of E. Wimperis and East for Thurston
and Company, billiard-table makers. (ref. 19) Many
famous players competed at Thurston's (latterly
the Leicester Square Hall) until the demolition
of the building for the extension of Fanum House
in 1956. (ref. 20)
No. 46
The earliest known occupant of this house was
Sir John Lanier (see also No. 50), 1679–84 (?).
The next occupier was William Windham or
Winder, 1694–1714, (ref. 2) perhaps William Wyndham of Dinton, Wiltshire. (ref. 21) Henry Scott, first
Earl of Deloraine and third son of the Duke of
Monmouth, lived here in 1716–29. (ref. 2) He was
gentleman of the bedchamber to George I. (ref. 10)
This house and No. 45 were rebuilt in 1902–3
(see above).
No. 47
This was one of the first houses on the west
side of the square to be completed; Sir John
Kirke occupied it in 1673–84 (?). (ref. 2) Colonel
Henry Cornwall, master of the horse to the
Princess of Orange and M.P. for Weobley
1702–7, (ref. 22) was rated for the house in 1691–6.
He vacated the house temporarily from 1697 to
1701, when it was occupied by Christopher
Leijoncrona, the Swedish envoy, who moved here
from No. 49. Colonel Cornwall returned in
1702 until his death in 1717, (ref. 2) when he was succeeded by his son, Colonel (later LieutenantGeneral) Henry Cornwall, (ref. 23) who remained until
1755. (ref. 2)
Sir Joshua Reynolds lived at No. 47 during the
years of his greatest fame, from 1760 until his
death here on 23 February 1792. He had previously lived in Great Newport Street (see page
346), but his increasing prosperity required larger
premises. On 3 July 1760 he recorded 'house
bought' in his pocket-book (ref. 24) and on 11 September
'Paid the remaining £1000 for the House in
Leicester Fields'. (ref. 25) The deed of assignment was
dated 2 September 1760; it was registered in
the Middlesex Land Register on 12 September. (ref. 26)
Reynolds paid £1,650 for the lease, which had
forty-seven years to run. (ref. 27)
The house had a frontage of twenty-eight feet
to the square and extended westward 104 feet to
Whitcomb Street, where there was a coach-house
and stables. (ref. 26) Reynolds subsequently acquired the
adjoining premises to the north in Whitcomb
Street. (ref. 28) Joseph Farington records that Reynolds,
finding the house 'though large and respectable,
still insufficient for his professional purposes, …
was obliged to be at the further expense of 1500 l.
for a detached gallery, painting rooms, and such
other conveniences as his extensive concerns
required'. (ref. 27) James Northcote, who was for some
years one of Reynolds's assistants, (fn. a) states that
Reynolds 'added a splendid gallery for the exhibition of his works, and a commodious and elegant
room for his sitters'. This 'painting room was of
an octagonal form, about twenty feet long, and
about sixteen in breadth. The window which
gave the light to this room was square, and not
much larger than one half the size of a common
window in a private house, whilst the lower part
of this window was nine feet four inches from the
floor. The chair for his sitters was raised eighteen inches from the floor'. (ref. 29) James Paine the
elder 'designed and executed' a handsome chimneypiece for Reynolds (Plate 129d), and it may
be that he also superintended the alterations
described above. (ref. 30)
When these additions had been completed the
rateable value of the premises was raised from
£80 to £100, (ref. 2) and 'Mr. Reynolds gave a ball and
refreshments to a numerous and elegant company
on opening his gallery to the public'. (ref. 29)
To this house came many hundreds of the sitters
whose portraits Reynolds painted during the next
thirty years. Here 'at his own fireside' Reynolds
first suggested to Dr. Johnson the establishment of
The Club (ref. 31) (which later met at the Turk's
Head, Gerrard Street, see page 388), and here he
entertained his friends—Burke, Goldsmith, Garrick, Fanny Burney and Boswell, as well, of
course, as Johnson himself. (ref. 32)
Reynolds died on 23 February 1792. By his
will he bequeathed the bulk of his estate, including
the lease of his house, to his niece, Mary Palmer, (ref. 33)
then aged forty-one, who had kept house for him
for many years and who, very shortly afterwards,
on 25 July 1792, married Murrough O'Brien,
Earl of Inchiquin. (ref. 34) The Earl was some sixty-six years of age and 'celebrated rather as a bon
vivant than a fashionable, and for many years had
the reputation of being a six-bottled man'. (ref. 35)
For his Countess, however (after fifteen years of
marriage), there was 'not such another man in
the world: He is the best man in it. In trifles He
is irritable in the extreme; but in everything of
moment calm and firm; bearing what may happen
with fortitude.' (ref. 36)
Lord Inchiquin, 'with the air of a nobleman',
is said to have 'added to the painter's paintingroom'. (ref. 37) In 1800 he was created Marquess of
Thomond. (ref. 34) He and his wife lived at No. 47
until 1806, when, the lease having only a few
more months to run, they removed to Great
George Street. The house in Leicester Square
was left 'ready furnished to be let' for £500 for the
remaining fifteen months of the lease, (ref. 38) and the
ratebooks for 1807 show that Sir William Scott
(later Lord Stowell), a distinguished lawyer who
had been a friend of Dr. Johnson and an executor
of his will, (ref. 10) occupied the house during this year
only.
The Thomonds' removal from Leicester
Square was evidently occasioned by the terms
demanded by the ground landlord, John Augustus
Tulk (I), for the renewal of the lease, which
expired at Michaelmas 1807. (ref. 39) In August 1807
Lady Thomond, by then safely installed in No. 31
Great George Street, told Joseph Farington 'that
Fulk [sic], the owner of their late House (Sir
Joshua's) in Leicester Square, asks £300 a year
rent for it, also that the property tax upon that
shall be paid by the tenant; also that £500 shall be
laid out in repairing the House at present; and
that it shall be painted throughout once in every
2 years or 2 years and a half'. (ref. 36) The Marquess of
Thomond died shortly afterwards, on 10 February 1808, but his widow survived him until
1820. (fn. 34)
The house was now put to commercial use,
for the next occupants, from 1808 to 1823, were
Peter Welcker and Company (later Welcker and
Wehnert), tailors and drapers. (ref. 40) From 1825 to
1827 the occupant was John Rebecca (ref. 2) (architect
and son of Biagio Rebecca) (ref. 41) who evidently made
some alterations to the premises. (ref. 42) In 1828 he was
succeeded by the Western Literary and Scientific
Institution.
In the mid-1820's adult education was a popular subject in radical circles. Dr. George Birkbeck had founded the London Mechanics'
Institution (now Birkbeck College) in 1824.
Two 'other educational societies, of a somewhat
higher grade' had emanated in 1825 from this
foundation, the City of London Literary and
Scientific Institution and the Western Literary
and Scientific Institution. (ref. 43) The latter was
established on 11 July 1825 under the auspices of
Sir Francis Burdett, John Cam Hobhouse,
Francis Place, Henry Drummond (who in the
same year founded the chair of political economy
at Oxford), the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird (a friend
of Byron, Hobhouse and Burdett) and Sir
Anthony Carlisle (a prominent surgeon), as well
as of Birkbeck himself. (ref. 44) The poet Thomas
Campbell is said to have been the president. (ref. 43)
The object of the institution was 'the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge among Persons engaged in
Commercial and Professional Pursuits'. This
was to be achieved by the establishment of a
library, classes for languages and science, and
'Lectures on the most interesting and important
subjects in Literature and Science'. Members'
annual subscription was two guineas. (ref. 45)
The institution occupied No. 47 from 1828
until 1852. (ref. 40) Considerable alterations were made
to the interior arrangement of the premises by
J. B. Papworth, but the elevation of the lecture
theatre, which fronted Whitcomb Street, appears
to have been designed by George Godwin,
junior, (ref. 46) who in 1834 was a member of the
committee of management. (ref. 45)
After 1852 the premises were again used for
commercial purposes. From 1856 to 1859
Charles Goodyear, 'inventor of vulcanization of
india rubber', and Company, merchants, were the
occupants. From 1859 until 1937 the premises
were occupied by Puttick and Simpson, the
auctioneers, who are said to have built a large
auction-room at the back, probably replacing the
lecture theatre. (ref. 47) In 1937 the house and back
buildings were demolished for the extension of
Fanum House. (fn. b)
Architectural Description
The house is first illustrated in Sutton Nicholls's
view of the square in c. 1727 (Plate 46a). This
shows what must have been the original late
seventeenth-century building, containing a basement, three storeys and a garret, and having a
front three windows wide. There were bandcourses above the ground and second storeys, and
the front was finished with a modillioned eavescornice. By the date of Bowles's view of 1753
(Plate 46b), however, the front had evidently
been refaced and a fourth storey had replaced the
roof-garret. The front at this time appears to
have been entirely plain, with simply a parapet
at the top, the only decoration being a doorcase
consisting of two pilasters supporting an entablature. Apart from this, there is no other reliable
illustration of the exterior of the building until
the photograph taken shortly before its demolition in 1937. (ref. 50) This merely confirms the evidence
of Bowles's view as to its general proportions and
shows that it had been remodelled in stucco during the early or mid nineteenth century (Plate
50b).
No plan was made of the house at the time of its
demolition and information about the interior
layout comes entirely from ground- and first-floor
plans of 1841 and 1826 respectively, preserved
among the Papworth drawings at the Royal
Institute of British Architects. From these it is
easy to identify the plan of the original house,
consisting of a single front and back room with a
projecting closet-wing at the rear and the staircase lying beside the back room on the south. The
nineteenth-century alterations seem to have been
confined largely to the rear of the site, and photographs in the Greater London Council's collection
show that a substantial amount of early eighteenthcentury work remained until 1937. The entrance
hall (Plate 126c) was lined with raised-and-fielded, ovolo-moulded panelling in two heights,
finished with a moulded dado-rail and, at the top,
a full entablature with a modillioned cornice.
Flanking the entrance to the stair compartment
was a pair of Corinthian pilasters. The first two
flights of the staircase had been rebuilt in stone,
with an iron 'crinoline' balustrade, but above that
the wooden dog-legged flights of the early eighteenth century remained. Up to at least the halfspace landing above the first floor these had cut
strings decorated with carved step-ends, each
step carrying three turned balusters with square
waist-pieces (Plate 126d). Upon them rested the
moulded handrail, which was ramped up at the
landings over fluted column-newels. The compartment had a panelled dado to match that in the
hall, with upper panels on the landings, and
attached to the dado were fluted pilasters echoing
the newels of the staircase. Presumably this work
was done when the exterior was altered, before
1753.
There seems to have been no trace of work by
James Paine, and the lower flights of the staircase
were probably rebuilt in the early nineteenth
century, despite a tradition that they were designed
to accommodate the hooped skirts of Sir Joshua
Reynolds's female sitters. Photographs of the
ground- and first-floor front rooms in 1937
show undistinguished early or mid nineteenthcentury finishings. The chimneypieces contained
re-used fragments of later eighteenth-century
work, but these could easily have been imported.
According to a note made in 1937 (ref. 51) some old
wallpaper, possibly of eighteenth-century date,
was found on the south wall of the first-floor front
room beneath layers of later papers, canvas and
battens. It was of 'a pine-apple pattern … the
portions covered by battens appeared to have
retained their original colours:—a light bluish
grey background covered with almost white spots
between the design, which was medium blue'.
One other feature of note in this part of the
building was a semi-circular wooden structure in
the form of an exedra, placed on the first-floor
landing and framing the entrance to the front
room (Plate 126d). It consisted of four slender
pilasters supporting an entablature with a frieze
of rosettes. The spaces between the columns
contained later work in 1937, but a drawing of
1898 (ref. 52) shows an early eighteenth-century panelled door recessed within the centre bay and the
flanking bays occupied by panels with voluted
decoration in the austere Grecian manner.
Above the cornice was a blocking-course, finished
at either end with a piece of scrolled ornament and
broken in the centre by a wide pedestal-block
with a moulded cap. It is tempting to attribute
this to Papworth, but the drawings in the Royal
Institute of British Architects provide no supporting evidence, and it is worth noting that it
had stylistic affinities with the auction-room
supposedly erected by Puttick and Simpson in or
after 1859.
The plans show that the whole of the rear part
of the site, together with the house immediately
north of it in Whitcomb Street, was occupied by
the theatre of the Western Literary and Scientific
Institution. The closet-wing of the original
house had been extended westwards to link up
with it, and opposite this a further link had been
provided by erecting at first-floor level a passage
carried on columns. Papworth was evidently in
charge of the alterations from the start, for the
first-floor plan, entitled 'For the Literary and
Scientific Institution', bears his initials and is
dated 1826. But this scheme was clearly not
carried out, for it does not correspond with a
drawing of 1832 (ref. 53) showing the theatre as built.
There are no finished drawings for the executed
scheme, but several rather scrappy sketches, undated and unsigned, are certainly intended for it
and are in Papworth's hand. Although a note on
one of the sketches refers to alterations made by
John Rebecca, it is likely that these were made
during his own previous occupancy of the building
and not as an associate of Papworth. The lecture
theatre was on the first floor, having plain walls
finished with a moulded cornice, from which
sprang the deep cove of the ceiling, pierced by
wide semi-circular windows (Plate 44b). This
ceiling did not cover the whole area of the room
and was carried on the east and north sides by a
series of iron columns. Rows of seats sloped down
in tiers towards the platform, which lay at
the north end in what had originally been a
separate house.
For some unexplained reason Papworth did not
design the Whitcomb Street front to this theatre,
for the design for it among the Papworth drawings,
dated 1838–9, is inscribed 'G. Godwin Junr.
Arct'. This shows a front almost identical with
that in the drawing illustrated on Plate 44a. The
ground storey is designed as a screen of Doric
pilasters supporting an entablature, the bays
being occupied by a pair of shop fronts with the
entrance to the theatre between them. This had a
heavily rusticated head with an emphasized
keyblock, the entablature breaking at either side
of it to support a blind semi-circular arch with a
moulded archivolt. The lofty upper storey had a
plain rusticated face broken only by a plaque
advertising the name of the institution. Flanking
it were raised pilaster-like strips, above which was
an entablature with a richly bracketed cornice.
This carried a patterned balustrade with a plain
middle section forming a pedestal for the royal
coat of arms. Godwin's drawing adds only a few
more details; rosettes below the capitals of the
columns in the ground storey and a slightly different version of the coat of arms flanked by two
busts.
It is not known to what extent the building
was altered by Puttick and Simpson when they
took it over in 1859. However, their sale catalogue of 30 April 1861 (ref. 54) published an engraving
of a vast room, described as the auction-room,
which they said had been 'Built on the site of the
famous octagon painting room of Sir Joshua
Reynolds'. The same room is shown in J. P.
Emslie's drawing of 1898. It was extremely lofty,
having round the top of the walls a frieze of tall
panels bearing Rococo decoration. At one end
of the room was a great recess flanked by square
columns of an indeterminate order, these carrying an entablature with a frieze of rosettes and a
dentilled cornice. The ceiling was flat and divided
by deep beams into compartments, some of which
seem to have been glazed by 1898.
Sir Joshua Reynolds's residence here was formerly commemorated by a plaque erected by the
Society of Arts in the 1870's. This plaque was
removed when the house was demolished in 1937,
and another one was erected on the new building by
the London County Council in 1947. Ten years
later this plaque was temporarily removed during
the further extension of Fanum House, and was
replaced in 1960. (ref. 55)
No. 48
Like No. 47, this was one of the first houses on
the west side of the square to be finished. It was
probably let to Edward Symes, (ref. 56) who occupied it
in 1673–6. Later inhabitants included: (ref. 2) Sir
Thomas Mackworth of Normanton, fourth
baronet, M.P. for Rutland 1721–7, (ref. 57) 1724;
William Nevill, Lord Abergavenny, sixteenth
Baron, (ref. 34) 1726; Lady Abergavenny, 1728–31;
Jeremiah Davison, the portrait painter, who died
here, (ref. 58) 1741–5; Edward Penny, portrait and
historical painter, (ref. 10) 1746 ?, 1750–6; and James
Christie, 1776–1814. This was probably the
James Christie who in 1821 described himself as a
tailor, late of Leicester Square but then of Newman Street, and who died in 1825 aged eighty-six. (ref. 59) Some confusion has apparently arisen between him and James Christie, the auctioneer.
But, as the latter occupied a house in Pall Mall
from 1768 until 1803, and died in that year, (ref. 60)
it seems certain that the James Christie who lived
in Leicester Square was not the auctioneer. (fn. c)
No. 49
This house appears to have been completed in
1675. It was rented from Michaelmas 1693 to
1696 by Christopher Leijoncrona, the Swedish
envoy, who also occupied Nos. 47 and 50. (ref. 2) In
1696 the house was taken over by the envoy's
compatriot, Michael Dahl, the fashionable portrait painter, (ref. 10) who lived here until 1726. (ref. 2)
William Cumberland Cruikshank, anatomist,
who attended Dr. Johnson in his last illness and
was described by him as 'a sweet-blooded man', (ref. 10)
lived here from 1789 until his death in 1800. (ref. 2)
He was succeeded by his son-in-law and pupil,
Honoratus Leigh Thomas, surgeon, (ref. 10) who lived
here until 1805, when he removed to No. 12
Leicester Place, where he remained until 1844. (ref. 2)
In 1887 St. John's Hospital for Diseases of the
Skin moved here from No. 45. In 1904–5
the old house was demolished and rebuilt for the
hospital to the designs of Treadwell and Martin.
In December 1935 the hospital removed to its
present premises at No. 5 Lisle Street (see page
473) and the building in Leicester Square was
demolished shortly afterwards for the extension
of Fanum House. (ref. 17)
No. 50
Lieutenant-General Sir John Lanier, a supporter of William III, who had previously lived
at No. 46, moved here some time before 1691. (ref. 2)
He died in 1692 from wounds received in battle in
Flanders, (ref. 10) leaving a personal estate, including the
house in Leicester Square, valued at £20,000. (ref. 64)
Leijoncrona, the Swedish envoy, who also occupied Nos. 47 and 49, occupied the house for the
summer of 1693 and again from 1702 until his
death in 1710. (ref. 65) During the intervening years (ref. 2)
Colonel Villiers lived here, 1694–7 (?), followed
by Major-General Henry Lumley, M.P., brother
of the first Earl of Scarbrough, (ref. 10) (?) 1700–1.
From 1711 to 1719 (ref. 2) Francis Seymour Conway,
first Baron Conway of Ragley, Warwickshire,
was the tenant. (ref. 34)
For several years thereafter No. 50 was occupied by a branch of the Pelham family. Henry
Pelham, of Stanmer, M.P., clerk of the pells,
and uncle of two prime ministers (the Duke of
Newcastle and his brother Henry Pelham)
appears to have taken No. 50 in 1720; he died in
1721 and was succeeded by his son, Thomas
Pelham (I), M.P., who died in 1737. The
latter's sister, Elizabeth, married Thomas
Pelham (II), son of Sir Nicholas Pelham, her
great-uncle. Thomas Pelham (II) occupied the
house from 1739 to 1743 and was succeeded by
his son-in-law, Edward Cressett, Dean of Hereford and Bishop of Llandaff, in 1744. The
house was let in 1745–6, and an unidentified
member of the family (—Pelham, esquire) was
rated for it in 1747–8. From 1749 to 1751
Richard Temple's name is given in the ratebooks.
He was presumably the Hon. Richard Temple
who married Harriet, daughter of Thomas
Pelham (I), although he died in 1749. (ref. 66)
Later occupants included (ref. 2) Lieutenant-General
Daniel Webb, colonel, in turn, of three different
foot regiments, (ref. 67) 1761–74; John Greenwood,
auctioneer, 1785–96; Captain (later Admiral)
John Schenck, 1797–1802, and John Masey
Wright, who exhibited at the Royal Academy
and who worked for Henry Aston Barker in the
preparation of panoramas, 1803–5. (ref. 10)
The house was one of those subsequently
acquired by the Crown in connexion with the
formation of New Coventry Street. After the
street had been formed this site was left with a
return front extending the whole distance between
Whitcomb Street and Leicester Square; the house
was therefore not completely demolished, but
was remodelled to the designs of Charles
Mayhew. (ref. 68)
Nos. 43–50 (consec.) Leicester
Square: Fanum House
The Automobile Association was founded in
1905, its first offices being in Fleet Street. In
1909 it removed to Nos. 66 and 68 Whitcomb
Street, within the island site which it still occupies. Rebuilding of the northern end of the block
began in 1923 to the designs of Andrew Mather.
Two more houses, including the St. John's
Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, were demolished
in 1936 for the first southward extension, and
No. 47, formerly Sir Joshua Reynolds's house,
was demolished in 1937. The final extension
southward to Panton Street took place in 1956–9,
the architect being Leonard Allen with Gordon
Jeeves as consulting architect. (ref. 69)
The exterior of Fanum House demonstrates,
all too effectively, the mistake of applying the
conventional Palladian ordonnance to an office
building containing, above its lofty ground storey,
eight storeys of uniformly moderate height. The
masonry of the ground storey is plain, that of the
next floor is coursed with horizontal jointing,
and above it rises a Corinthian order of columns
and pilasters embracing three storeys. The main
entablature is surmounted by two attics, and the
steeply sloping roof of pantiles contains two tiers
of large dormers. Shallow breaks divide the front
into a three-bay centre, flanked by wings of four
bays and slightly recessed end features of two bays.
The splayed corners of the front are carried up to
form clock turrets, finished with concave roofs
of copper (Plate 52a).
No. 51 Leicester Square
Demolished
It is not possible to ascertain the first occupant
of this house but it was inhabited by Sir William
Farmer or Fermor in 1681; he moved to No. 53
in the same year. (ref. 2) The only other occupant of
interest was Hans Huyssing, the Swedish portrait
painter and imitator of Dahl, in whose company
he came to England. (ref. 10) He lived at No. 51 from
1728 to 1750. (ref. 2) The house was demolished in the
1840's for the formation of New Coventry
Street.
No. 52 Leicester Square
Demolished
From 1679 to c. 1684 Sir Paul Rycaut, the
traveller, diplomat, and historian of Turkey,
lived here. Much of his life was spent out of
England for he was consul of the Levant Company
at Smyrna in 1667–79, secretary to the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland (the second Earl of
Clarendon) in 1685–8 and resident in Hamburg
in 1689–1700. He was knighted in 1685. (ref. 70)
Later occupants included (ref. 2) Justice Robert
Perryman or Perrismore, (ref. 71) 1704–11; Jacques
Christophe Le Blon (Le Blond), painter, engraver
and printer, (ref. 10) 1734–5; Sir William Wolseley, of
Wolseley, Staffordshire, fifth baronet, (ref. 57) 1757–
1768; Vice-Admiral John Campbell, 1774–82,
and Dr. George Pearson, physician, (ref. 10) 1785–1805.
The house was demolished in the 1840's for the
formation of New Coventry Street.
No. 53 Leicester Square
Demolished
The original house on this site was let on 15
June 1674 by Dorothy Ellis to Thomas, seventh
Lord Windsor, for a payment of £60 and a yearly
rent of £106. The term was for twenty-one
years. (ref. 7) Windsor was appointed master of the
horse to James, Duke of York, in 1676 and was
created Earl of Plymouth in 1684. (ref. 10) He occupied
the house in the square until 1676 when he assigned the lease, on 30 March, to William Soame
of Thurlow, Suffolk (later Sir William Soame,
first baronet) (fn. 57) for £60. (fn. 7)
The latter granted a lease of the house in
May 1681 to the connoisseur Sir William
Fermor or Farmer at a rent of £80 per annum. (ref. 7)
Sir William, the second baronet, who was later
created Baron Leominster, (ref. 10) had previously occupied No. 51 in the square. He later employed
Nicholas Hawksmoor to build Easton Neston
in Northamptonshire. (ref. 41) Sir William occupied
No. 53 until c. 1687. (ref. 2)
In March 1720/1 the lease of No. 53 was
assigned to George Walter. The assignment was
witnessed by a lawyer, Edmund Byron (see page
411), described as Walter's clerk, which suggests
that Walter himself was a lawyer. (ref. 72) In 1718 he
had become a trustee of the Leicester estate in
place of, and at the nomination of, Jane Egerton,
who was the daughter of the last surviving trustee
appointed by the will of Robert, fourth Earl of
Leicester. (ref. 73) No. 53 Leicester Square was rebuilt
by Walter, probably in 1723, and a new house
was built at the rear facing Whitcomb Street. (ref. 74)
He continued to pay rates for, and presumably to
occupy, the house in the square until 1734, but
his name also occurs in the ratebooks, for overlapping periods, at Nos. 1, 4 and 5 Leicester
Street and No. 43 Lisle Street. (ref. 2) Some of these
houses were let to him, whether for private profit
or in his capacity as trustee of the estate is not
certain, and he also had leases of No. 10–11
Leicester Street, at least one other house in
Lisle Street and one in Sidney Street. (ref. 75) In 1727
Walter was knighted for his services at George
II's coronation. (ref. 76) In his will, dated 1741, he
described himself as of Worcester Park, Surrey,
and nominated Edmund Byron to be a trustee of
his estate. He died in 1742. (ref. 77)
Later inhabitants included (ref. 2) Charles Calvert,
fifth Baron Baltimore, (fn. d) M.P., gentleman of the
bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, (ref. 34)
1745; Denzil Onslow, presumably the M.P. of
Drungwick, Sussex, (ref. 78) 1746–7; Peter Dutens, the
jeweller (from No. 19), 1748–61, his widow,
1761–91, and his daughter (?), Miss Dutens,
1792–1803. Dutens was buried in St. Anne's
Church, where a monument was raised to his
memory; he left bequests for the sick and poor
French to the trustees of the French Hospital
near St. Luke's and the French Church in
Hog Lane. (ref. 79)
The house was demolished in the 1840's for
the formation of New Coventry Street.
No. 54 Leicester Square
Demolished
The original house at the west corner of
Leicester Street and Leicester Square was built
on the site of the garden of Leicester House in
1682–3 (see page 427). It appears to have been
occupied by victuallers from about 1684 to 1774,
and was later turned into a shop. (ref. 80) Its site is now
covered by the Swiss Centre (see page 486).