No. 16 Soho Square

The early history of the house on this site has been described above with that of No. 12. Sir Halsewell Tynte, first baronet, was living here in 1691, Sir John Keys in 1692 and Lady Riddell (? Ridley) in 1703. From at least 1706 to 1755 the house was occupied by various members of the Ridley family, including Colonel Ridley from 1727 to 1731. D'Almaine and Company, music sellers and musical-instrument makers who also occupied No. 20, were here from 1851 to 1854. (ref. 33)

In 1896 the house was demolished to allow for the erection of a new building for Messrs. Orme and Sons, a firm of billiard-table manufacturers which had occupied the old house since 1891. The new building contained showrooms and workrooms with a billiard saloon in the basement. The architects were J. T. Wimperis and Arber and the contractors Johnson and Company. (ref. 95)

The design of the front has some merit (Plate 71a). It is faced with buff-coloured Doulton terra-cotta and is of four main storeys with a fifth in a semi-circular gable. A shallow bay window rises through the first and second storeys, the first floor having a balcony with a wroughtiron railing and the ground floor a large roundarched window flanked by a pair of doorways.

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