No. 10 Soho Square
This is one of the two surviving original
houses in Soho Square, the other being No. 15.
No. 10 was first erected as two separate houses
which were united in 1696. In September 1681
Frith and Pym sub-leased both houses to John
Steele of St. Marylebone, yeoman, for a term of
forty-seven and a half years from the ensuing
Michaelmas, at rents of £6 10s. per annum each.
Both were also charged with rents of ten shillings
for the upkeep of the garden in the centre of the
square. (ref. 81)
At about this time Steele also held a sub-lease
of the eastern part of Millfield (now the site of
Great Marlborough Street), and by 1684 he was
evidently using this land to dig for brick-earth. (ref. 82)
Very probably he supplied Frith with bricks for
the latter's new buildings in Soho, receiving in
exchange the sub-lease of these two houses.
The two houses were probably not finished
by Frith and Pym, and had to be finished by
Steele, who appears to have leased them to yearly
tenants. The first known occupants were living
here in 1691, 'Mr. Roosoe' in the western house
and Lady Cole in the eastern house. Both these
tenants remained until 1693. 'Mr. Roosoe' can
probably be identified as Jacques Rousseau, a
Huguenot decorative painter who specialized in
the production of 'ruin pieces and perspectives'.
He probably died in the house and was buried in
St. Anne's Church on 22 December 1693. (ref. 83)
In October 1693 John Steele sold the subleases of both houses to Craven Howard of Revesby, Lincolnshire, esquire (who had previously
lived at No. 12), for £670. By 1696 Howard had
converted them into one dwelling house and lived
there himself until his death in June 1700. (ref. 84)
By 1703 the property had passed into the possession of Vincent Cutter 'then captain of His
Majesties ship of war the Newcastle'. Captain
Cutter, or his agent William Mathews, citizen
and clothworker of London, leased the house for
£130 per annum rent, first to William Duncombe
in 1703 and 1704, and from 1706 to 1710 to
Sir Thomas Littleton, third baronet, formerly
Speaker of the House of Commons. Captain
Cutter died in April 1710 leaving the house to
his sister Elizabeth Albery of Chichester, (ref. 85)
widow, who assigned it in May 1711 to James,
third Earl of Berkeley, for the residue of the
two forty-seven-and-a-half-year terms originally
granted by Richard Frith to Steele in 1681. (ref. 86) In
May 1713 Lord Berkeley obtained a further lease
of the house from the second Earl (and later first
Duke) of Portland, which extended his leasehold
interest to 1769. Lord Berkeley lived here until
1716, but in March 1716/17 he sold the house to
Elizabeth Brydges, spinster, (ref. 87) who occupied it
until 1729. Lady Buckley lived here from 1730
to 1732, and Lady Montague in 1734. (ref. 33) In 1746
Elizabeth Brydges's executors sold the lease of
the house for £840. (ref. 88) Later occupants include
James Adair, M.P., serjeant-at-law, 1764–82,
and Messrs. Arrowsmith, a family of map-makers
of whom Aaron and John Arrowsmith are best
known, 1808–60. (ref. 33)
No. 10 (fig. 4) does not seem to have been
completely rebuilt since its adaptation from two
separate dwellings in the 1690's. It is shown as
two houses in Sutton Nicholls's view of the
square (Plate 68a), with the original doorcase of
the westernmost of the two houses still in position. It remains six windows in width and only
three main storeys in height though with another
in a high mansard roof. The discoloured stock
brick of the front may be in part original but the
proportions of the square-headed window openings
have been altered by the lowering of their sills and
the painted pilasters and moulded storey-bands
are an addition, as is the parapet to the roof. The
present appearance of the ground storey is entirely
modern both inside and out, it being little more
than an approach to a large hall at the rear. On
the first floor, some idea of the original arrangement can be gained. There are two large rooms in
front and two others at the rear with a closetwing to the west and, rather surprisingly, an
almost complete original staircase to the east.
This is of dog-legged construction, parallel to the
back wall of the house and with an open flight
turned towards the entrance at the bottom, though
this may be an alteration. The newels, moulded
strings and handrail are all plain and heavy, as are
the turned balusters, now mostly enclosed by
boarding. No other original fittings survive. Of
later work only a first-floor ante-room is of
interest. This must have been formed in the first
half of the eighteenth century and although
divided still has four plain but impressive pedimented doorcases (Plate 128c), some wide and
narrow panelling and a moulded cornice, all in
wood, and an incomplete Venetian window.
Other features mentioned by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in 1925 are
now missing. (ref. 89)