Mayfair, Belgravia, and Bayswater Part 5

Wilton Place stands on the site of a cow-yard, and is a broad street with fine houses on the east side. Here is St. Paul's Church, celebrated for the ritualistic tendencies of its successive vicars. It was built in 1843 by subscription on the drill ground of the old barracks, and cost 11,000, the site being given by the Marquis of Westminster. The building by Cundy is handsome, in Early Perpendicular style, and has sittings for 1,800. It was enlarged and altered in 1889 and 1892, when a side-chapel, by Blomfield, was added. Adjoining is the Vicarage, and opposite are St. Paul's National Schools.

Here lived: No. 4, Miss Reynolds, actress; 13, Hon. Thomas Stapleton, antiquary; 15, Sir James Macdonald, the defender of Hougoumont, d. 1857; 21, Mr. Westmacott.

In the adjoining Kinnerton Street (1826), so called from one of the Grosvenor estates, stood the dissecting school and anatomical museum of St. George's Hospital, removed to the new wing in 1868. At No. 75 is an inst.i.tute for providing and promoting humane treatment of animals, founded by Lady Frances Trevanion _circa_ 1890. It is supported by voluntary contributions.

Motcomb Street was built in 1828, and named after the property of the Dowager Marchioness of Westminster in Dorset.

On the north side is the Pantechnicon, built _circa_ 1834 as a bazaar for the sale of carriages, furniture, etc.; it had also a wine and toy department. It was burnt down in 1874, but has been rebuilt, and is now used for storing furniture, etc.

West Halkin Street and Halkin Place on the west side, and Halkin Street on the east side of the Square, are named after Halkin Castle, the Duke of Westminster's seat in Flints.h.i.+re. The first contains a chapel of singular shape, the northern end being wider than the southern. It was built by Seth Smith as an Episcopal church, but is now Presbyterian.

Halkin Street was commenced about 1807, but until 1826 it, as well as the other streets leading out of Grosvenor Place, terminated in a mud-bank, on the other side of which were the Five Fields. On the north side is Mortimer House, a plain brick building standing in a courtyard.

It was the residence of the late Earl Fitzwilliam, but is now Lord Penrhyn's. Next to it is Belgrave Chapel (St. John's), a proprietary church in Grecian style, built in 1812, with accommodation for 800. The remaining houses are small and unpretending, as are those in Chapel Street, built 1775-1811, and so called from the Lock Hospital Chapel, which stood at the corner of Grosvenor Place. Here lived Mr. Richard Jones (Gentleman Jones). No. 24, General Sir W. K. Grant, d. 1825.

On the other side of Belgrave Square, Chesham Place (1831) leads to a triangular s.p.a.ce, with a small garden in the centre. Here lived: Madame Vestris, 1837; No. 37, Lord John Russell; 35, Sir Charles Wood, 1851; 29, the Russian Emba.s.sy.

The name is taken from the seat of the Lowndes family, the ground landlords. In Lowndes Street lived: No. 33, Colonel Gurwood, editor of "Wellington's Despatches"; 40, Mrs. Gore, novelist.

In Chesham Street, at No. 7, lived Henry Parish, diplomatist.

The feature of Lyall Street (1841) is Chesham House, at the corner, in which is the Russian Emba.s.sy, noted under Chesham Place. On the other side of Lyall Street is Lowndes Place, built about 1835. Eaton Place is a dull but broad and fas.h.i.+onable street.

Inhabitants: General Caulfield; Sir Robert Gardiner, Sir H. Duncan, d.

1836; Sir Thomas Troubridge, d. 1852; No. 5, Mr. Heywood, 1859; 14, Sir George Grey, 1859; 15, Lord Kelvin; 18, Dr. Lus.h.i.+ngton, 1859; 26, Sir Erskine Perry, 1859; 38, Mr. Justice Wightman, 1859; 80, Kossuth, 1851; 84, Duke of Atholl; 87, Sir William Molesworth, d. 1853; 93, General Sir Archibald Alison, Bart.; and many others.

Off Eaton Place is West Eaton Place, where lived General Sir Peregrine Maitland, d. 1852.

Belgrave Place, so named in 1879 instead of Upper Eccleston Street; and Upper Belgrave Street, built _circa_ 1827, have the same general characteristics.

Inhabitants: No. 2, Mrs. Gore; 3, Lord Charles Wellesley; 13, Earl of Munster, son of William IV., who shot himself in 1842. It is now Lord Harewood's residence.

In Chester Street, commenced 1805, lived: No. 5, Right Hon. Sir Frederick Shaw, d. 1876; 7, Dr. Pettigrew, d. 1860; 12, Sir Douglas Galton, d. 1899; 13, Dr. Broughton, d. 1837; 27, Colonel Sibthorpe, d.

1855.

Wilton Street was begun in 1817. Here lived Mr. Spencer Perceval, son of the Minister.

Grosvenor Place, Lower Grosvenor Place, Hobart Place, Eaton Square, and Clieveden Place occupy the site of the King's private road, which had existed before as a footpath, but was made a coach-road by Charles II.

as a short-cut to Hampton Court. It ran along the north garden of Eaton Square, and crossed the Westbourne at b.l.o.o.d.y Bridge, a name which dates as far back as 1590. On the north side, where is now Eaton Terrace, was a coppice which provided wood for the Abbey. Houses were first built on it about 1785, and in 1725 a turnpike existed at its junction with Grosvenor Place. Admission to the road was by ticket, but in 1830 it was thrown open to the public under the name of the King's Road. Part of Lower Grosvenor Place, however, was named Arabella Row in 1789, but became known by its present name in 1789. Here in a shabby house lived Lord Erskine after resigning the Lord Chancellors.h.i.+p in 1806.

Hobart Place was first so called in 1836, but part of it was called Grosvenor Street West until 1869. It leads to Eaton Square, built by Cubitt in 1827-53. This is 1,637 feet long by 371 feet wide, 15 acres in extent, and contains six enclosed gardens. The houses are of the usual type. At the west end is St. Peter's Church, built in 1826 in Ionic style from designs by Hakewell at a cost of 21,515. An altar-piece by Hilton, R.A., was presented by the British Inst.i.tution in 1828, but was removed in 1877, and is now in the South Kensington Museum. After being nearly burnt down in 1837, it was rebuilt by Gerrard, and in 1872 a chancel and transepts in Byzantine style, by Sir A. Blomfield, were added. The nave was remodelled in 1874, and further alterations have been made in the last ten years at a cost of 5,000. Here are buried Admiral Sir E. Codrington, d. 1851, and General Lord Robert Somerset, G.C.B. The Right Rev. G. H. Wilkinson, Bishop of St. Andrew's, was vicar from 1870-83.

Inhabitants: No. 8, Sir R. T. Reid, K.C., M.P.; 16, Mr. Justice Willes, 1859; 43, Lord Cottesloe; 60, Lord Sandhurst; 66a, Lord Walsingham, F.R.S.; 71, in 1809 the official residence of the Speaker; 74, Cardwell, 1859; 75, Ralph Bernal, M.P., d. 1853, Mr. George Peabody, d. 1869, Viscount Knutsford; 76, Viscount Falkland; 83, Lord Chancellor Truro, d.

1855; Lord Aberdare; 85, Sir Edward Malet, G.C.B., P.C.; 92, Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, d. 1851; 110, General Sir A. Codrington, 1859; 114, Lady Baden-Powell; 115, Earl of Ellenborough, 1859, Marquis of Hertford; Colonel Sibthorpe, d. 1855; Jacob Omnium (Mr. J. Higgins).

Clieveden Place, first built over in 1826, was so named in 1890 from the Duke of Westminster's late estate near Cookham, instead of its original name, Westbourne Place.

Between Clieveden Place and Pimlico Road the streets are narrow and unimportant. In Westbourne Street (1826), so called from the neighbouring Westbourne River, stood the York Hospital for invalid soldiers, removed to Chatham in 1819. On the east side is a Baptist chapel, a plain building, erected in 1825. Skinner Street (1842) and Whittaker Street (1836) lead to Holbein Place, built over the Westbourne, and called in 1877 "the Ditch." Leading from Whittaker Street are Pa.s.smore Street (1837) and Union Street, containing industrial dwellings.

Inhabitants--Chester Place: Right Hon. Charles Buller, d. 1848. Chester Square: No. 19, Mantell, the geologist, d. 1852; 24, the poet Sh.e.l.ley's widow, d. 1851.

The houses in Chester Square and the neighbourhood are not so pretentious as those in Belgravia, but it is still a fas.h.i.+onable place of residence. In South Eaton Place, near the south end, stood the Star and Garter Tavern, well known about 1760. The end of this street was called Burton Street (1826) until 1877. In Elizabeth Street, first called Eliza Street in 1820, and until 1866 divided into Upper Elizabeth Street, Elizabeth Street, and Elizabeth Street South, stood the Dwarf Tavern, noted about 1760. At the south end, near St. Philip's Parochial Hall and Parsonage, is St. Michael's Mission House, built in 1893.

Gerald Road, 1834 until 1885 named Cottage Road, contains the station of the R Division of Police.

Eccleston Street, with which in 1866 was incorporated Eccleston Street South, was so called from Ecclestone in Ches.h.i.+re, where the Duke of Westminster has property. A house on the west side inhabited by Sir Frances Chantrey was pulled down during the construction of the underground railway. On the same side is the Royal Pimlico Dispensary, established in 1831. Part of the east side has been rebuilt. In Eccleston Place is the station of the Westminster Electric Supply Company, which supplies this district with electric light. In Lower Belgrave Street (1810), the lower end of which was till 1867 named Belgrave Street South, are St. Peter's National Schools, a large red-brick building with a playground, in connection with St. Peter's, Eaton Square.

At the end of Grosvenor Place great improvements were made in 1868 by the building of Grosvenor Gardens, when Grosvenor Street West, and Upper and Lower Eaton Street were swept away.

At No. 27, Upper Eaton Street, lived George Frederick Cooke, 1870; 25, Thomas Campbell, 1803; 19, Lower Eaton Street, Mrs. Abington, actress, 1807, Mr. Pinkerton, 1802. The present houses are very large and handsome.

Inhabitants: No. 1, Spanish Emba.s.sy; 46, Lord Hersch.e.l.l.

On the west side, at the corner of Buckingham Palace Road, are Belgrave Mansions, built from designs by Cundy in 1868, a large block in French Renaissance style, with a frontage of nearly 300 feet. The ground-floor is occupied by shops, and above are five floors of flats. The centre of the open s.p.a.ce is occupied by two triangular enclosed gardens, and is crossed by Ebury Street, once an open lane leading over the fields to Chelsea. Houses were built on it after 1750, and in 1779 the north-eastern end was named Upper Ranelagh Street and Ranelagh Street.

The south-western end was Upper Ebury Street, but the whole was renamed Ebury Street in 1867. It is an uninteresting street of unpretending houses and shops. In Upper Ebury Street lived: Rodwell the composer; William Skelton, engraver, d. 1848; No. 174 is the Boys' School belonging to the parish of St. Barnabas.

At the north-east end of Ebury Street is Victoria Square, a small square of plain houses built about 1837, out of which Albert Street leads to Grosvenor Place. In the square lived, at No. 8, Thomas Campbell, 1841-43; 5, Earl of Mount Edgc.u.mbe.

At the other end, near Ebury Bridge, is Ebury Square, built about 1820 on the site of Ebury Farm. This ancient property, which derives its name from the Saxon _ey_, water, and _burgh_, a fortified place, is mentioned in 1307, when permission was granted by Edward I. to John de Benstede to fortify it. In Queen Elizabeth's time it consisted of a farm of 430 acres, let on lease for 21 per annum. In 1676 it came into the possession of the Grosvenor family, and in 1725 embraced a long narrow area, reaching from Buckingham House to the Thames between the Westbourne and the present Westmoreland Street.

The square was partially destroyed in 1868, but the old houses remain on the north-west and south sides. In the centre is a garden, and the ground between it and Buckingham Palace Road is occupied by St.

Michael's National Schools, opened in 1870, a s.p.a.cious building, accommodating about a thousand scholars; there is a large playground.

The site had been previously occupied by the Pimlico Literary Inst.i.tution, built in 1830 from designs by J. P. Deering.

On the remaining side a handsome block of industrial dwellings (Ebury Buildings) was built in 1872, when the old Flask Lane (1785) was swept away. The approaches on the north-west are Semley Place (1785), late Flask Row, and Little Ebury Street (1823). At the end of Avery Farm Row (probably a corruption of Ebury), opposite Ebury Bridge, is a drinking-fountain, erected in memory of the second Marquis of Westminster, d. 1869, by his widow.

Buckingham Palace, which falls partly within St. George's district and partly within St. Margaret's, Westminster, has already been described in the volume on Westminster.

The Royal Mews, the entrance to which is in Buckingham Palace Road, contains a large riding-school, a room for the state harness, stabling for the state and other horses, and houses for forty carriages. Here also are kept the old and new state coaches, the former of which was built in 1762 of English oak, with paintings by Cipriani, and cost 7,660.

Buckingham Palace Road, now a broad street with large houses and shops, was in 1725 an open country road, known as the coach-road to Chelsea.

The houses in it are rated under the name of Pimlico as late as 1786, but rows of houses under various names had been built earlier--Stafford Row in 1752, Queen's Row in 1766. These, with Victoria Road (1838), Stockbridge Terrace (1836), King's Road, Lower and Upper Belgrave Place and Belgrave Terrace (1826), were united under the name of Buckingham Palace Road in 1867, and in 1894 Union Place, Holden Terrace, and South Place were incorporated with it. The portion facing the Palace is named Buckingham Gate, and consists of seven large private houses. On this site, facing the Park, stood Tart Hall, the residence of Viscount Stafford (see "Westminster").

Facing Grosvenor Gardens is the Grosvenor Hotel, opened in 1862 in connection with Victoria Station. The building, designed by Knowles, is 272 feet long, 75 feet deep, and 150 feet high, and cost 100,000.

Beyond, on the north side, a row of large red-brick houses has been built since 1883, containing Buckingham Palace Mansions (flats), the National Training School of Cookery, and the City of Westminster Public Baths. Here also is St. Peter's Inst.i.tute, in connection with St.

Peter's, Eaton Square, which cost 15,000. It consists of a club for 600 men and 600 boys, with gymnasium, cla.s.s-rooms, reading-room, concert-hall, etc.

Buckingham Palace Gardens, also on the north side, is a row of large, ornamental, red-brick houses, newly erected, adjoining the Free Library built by Bolton and opened in 1894. On the first floor is a natural history collection presented by a paris.h.i.+oner. St. Philip's Church, built 1887-90, is a plain but s.p.a.cious red-brick building, in Early English style by Brierley and Demaine, with seats (free) for 850.

Adjoining is the Grosvenor Club and Grosvenor Hall, used for social entertainments, etc. Nearly the whole of the south side of the road has recently been demolished in view of the extension of Victoria Station.

Inhabitants--Stafford Row: W. Ryland, engineer, executed for forgery 1767; Mrs. Radcliffe, auth.o.r.ess of the "Mysteries of Udolpho"; Richard Yates, d. 1796. Lower Belgrave Place: No. 3, George Grote, historian (later 102, Buckingham Palace Road); 29 and 30, Sir Francis Chantrey, 1814-41 (later 98, Buckingham Palace Road); 27, Allan Cunningham, poet, 1824-42; 96, Henry Weekes, R.A. Buckingham Palace Road: E. B. Stephen, R.A., 1882.

From the end of Buckingham Palace Road Chelsea was reached by the present Pimlico Road, so called in 1871, when the old names of Jews'

Row, Grosvenor Row (1785), and Queen Street (1774) were abolished. The origin of the name Pimlico is uncertain. There was one also at Hoxton, where a certain Ben Pimlico kept a noted hostelry in Queen Elizabeth's time. It is now officially used to denote the whole district south of Knightsbridge, but is popularly confined to the part between Chester Square and the Thames. It began to be spa.r.s.ely inhabited in 1680, after which date it is mentioned occasionally in the rate-books, and regularly after 1739.

On the north side, near the east end, are two narrow streets--Clifford's Row (1785), and King Street (1785). At the corner of Ebury Street stood an old inn, the Goat and Compa.s.ses, now replaced by the Three Compa.s.ses public-house. Further on is the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, built about 1850 as a chapel of ease to St. Barnabas. Adjoining is the site of the Chelsea Bun House, in its best days kept by Richard Hand, "who has the honour to serve the Royal Family." It was celebrated by Swift in 1711, and was taken down in 1839. Opposite stood Strombelo or Stromboli House, a minor place of amus.e.m.e.nt, at its height in 1788. Near here Nell Gwynne is said to have lived, and her name is kept up by the Nell Gwynne Tavern and a pa.s.sage called Nell Gwynne Cottages.

Between the Pimlico and Commercial Roads are several small streets. In Bloomfield Place stood St. John's School for girls, established in 1859 under the auspices of the Sisterhood of St. John; adjoining, under the same management, St. Barnabas' Mission House and St. Barnabas'

Orphanage, established in 1860. In Bloomfield Terrace lived at No. 1 Captain Warner, inventor of the "long range," d. 1853.