CHAPTER XV
D'Arblay and Noel Street Area: Doghouse Close
Doghouse Close was a field of between
five and six acres lying next to Tyburn
Road (now Oxford Street) on the north,
Colman Hedge Close on the south, Colman
Hedge Lane or Old Soho (now Wardour Street)
on the east and Little Gelding's Close on the west
(figs. 2, 40). The first documentary reference
to the close under this name appears in a parliamentary survey of 1650 when it was valued at
£15 per annum. Apart from its name, there is no
evidence that the close had any canine associations.
At this time it was also known as Browne's Close,
it being then in lease to Mathew Browne, bricklayer. (ref. 1)
Figure 40:
Doghouse Close, layout plan.
Based on the Ordnance Survey, 1870–5
The freehold of this close and of other lands on
the opposite or eastern side of Colman Hedge Lane
had been vested in the Hospital of Burton Saint
Lazar until 1536, when it passed to the Crown to
become part of the Bailiwick of St. James. (ref. 2) Like
the rest of the bailiwick lands, Doghouse Close
was subsequently leased out to various tenants of
the Crown and in 1629 was included in the grant
of St. James's Bailiwick by Charles I to Queen
Henrietta Maria as part of her jointure. In 1661
the Queen and her trustees leased part of the bailiwick (including Doghouse Close) to John Hervey
and John Coell in trust for the Earl of St. Albans
for thirty-one years. The latter's interest was
later extended by subsequent leases to Michaelmas 1734. (ref. 3)
In August 1673 the St. Albans trustees sub-let
two of the bailiwick fields to Joseph Girle of St.
Marylebone, brewer. (ref. 4) These were Doghouse
Field or Close on the west side of Colman Hedge
Lane and Soho Fields (also called Kemp's Field
or Bunche's Close) on the east side. Before his
death a few years later Girle had come to an agreement to let part of Soho Fields to Richard Frith,
who was subsequently responsible for its development. (ref. 5)
There is no indication that Joseph Girle made
a similar arrangement in his lifetime for the parallel
development of Doghouse Close, but by July
1683 the sub-lease of this portion of the property
was in the possession of James Pollett. (ref. 6) Pollett
had lately acquired the lease of the westwardadjoining field (Little Gelding's Close) and in
1685 was to take up a ninety-one-year lease of
Colman Hedge Close, which lay immediately to
the south. It was clearly Pollett's intention to
develop all three closes together and already by
July 1683 he had come to an agreement with
Adam Pigott, citizen and cutler of London, who
had an interest in a property known as Currance's
Bowling Green (very probably part of Doghouse
Close), for the development of the two closes then
in his control. But Pigott died soon afterwards and
the agreement was cancelled. (ref. 6)
In 1683 Doghouse Close consisted of a
quadrangular-shaped pasture with two tenements
fronting eastwards on to Colman Hedge Lane
and probably five northwards on to Tyburn
Road. A decade earlier there had only been one
tenement built on the close. (ref. 7) By 1687 a short
range of new houses had been completed along
Tyburn Road, and by 1692 there was a long
range occupying the sites of the present Nos. 147–
203 (odd) Wardour Street. The ground behind
these two lines remained largely empty until after
1707, when a new street was laid out down the
middle of the field. This formed a northern extension to Berwick Street, which until that date
had not extended beyond Broad (now Broadwick)
Street. In 1706 a small street known as Tweed
Street (presumably from the adjoining Berwick
Street), developed on the eastern part of the present
site of Noel Street. (ref. 7)
Although the leasehold interest in Doghouse
Close had passed via St. Albans to Pollett and his
assignees, the freehold remained vested in the
Crown. In May 1698, however, William III
granted the freehold of the close, together with
that of the adjoining and more valuable Soho
Fields, to one of his favourites, William Bentinck,
first Earl of Portland. This grant was made in lieu
of a defective grant of fee-farm rents which Portland had earlier bought from the Crown for
£24,571, the reversion of his new property on the
expiry of the Crown leases to St. Albans in 1734
being valued at £25,000. Although the total
value of the houses built on this freehold estate
amounted to £10,500 per annum, the Earl would
receive only 16s. for Doghouse Close and 52s. 6d.
for Soho Fields for each year until the Crown
lease to St. Albans lapsed at Michaelmas 1734. (ref. 8)
After the death of the Earl in 1709 the value of
the property when the leases were to expire in
1734 was assessed at £376,000. (ref. 9) The estate was
inherited by the second Earl (and first Duke) of
Portland, who in August 1722 assigned a five-hundred-year term in Doghouse Close and Soho
Fields to trustees. This assignment was made for
the purpose of raising after his own death a
portion of £30,000 for his younger son, Lord
George Bentinck. The Duke died in July 1726,
and the freehold passed, subject to the fivehundred-year term, to his eldest son, the second
Duke.
By 1728 the houses on the estate had become
'ruinous and in great decay and … in need of
being rebuilt', but the tenants would not improve
them 'unless they may be encouraged so to do by
having their Estates and Terms therein enlarged'.
As a minor Lord George Bentinck could not
grant new building leases and so in 1728 his
mother, Elizabeth Duchess of Portland, obtained
an Act of Parliament giving to herself and to the
other guardians of her younger son the right
during his minority and until the £30,000 portion
was paid, to grant leases of parts of the property
for terms not exceeding seventy years. (ref. 10)
After Michaelmas 1734 the Duchess began
granting new leases, all for terms of between sixty
and sixty-five years. The lessees were not the
sitting tenants but in most cases building tradesmen, and it is clear that she and her son, the second
Duke, in whom the freehold was vested, took full
advantage of the termination of the St. Albans
lease to redevelop Doghouse Close on more elaborate and profitable lines. Two new streets were
laid out—Portland Street (now D'Arblay Street)
and Noel Street (on the site of and in continuation
westward of the former Tweed Street), with
various dependent courts and mews, including
Bentinck Street (now Livonia Street) and Portland
Mews.
The Duchess of Portland did not grant any
further building leases after the end of 1736. On
1 January 1736/7 her son William, the second
Duke, paid the £30,000 portion to his younger
brother (then recently of age), so cancelling the
five-hundred-year term encumbering his freehold
rights over Doghouse Close and Soho Fields.
During the following seven years the Duke
granted building leases to various building tradesmen, until by 1748 Doghouse Close was entirely
covered with new buildings, nearly all erected
since 1734. Some of these buildings still stand. (ref. 11)
In the 1790's, when the leases granted in the
1730's had nearly expired, the third Duke of
Portland began selling parts of the freehold of
Doghouse Close. By Michaelmas 1798 he had
sold about one third of his whole estate in the
parishes of St. James and St. Anne, but some parts
of the property were still unsold in 1824. (ref. 12)
Berwick Street
Only the northern part of this street lies in Doghouse Close. The southern part of the street was
first laid out in the late 1680's on the adjoining
Colman Hedge Close and did not extend northwards beyond Broad (now Broadwick) Street (see
page 223). It was extended into Doghouse Close
to link up with Tyburn Road (now Oxford Street)
shortly after 1707, and a range of houses on the
west side of the street and abutting north on the
modern Oxford Street was in existence by 1709.
Like the other buildings in Doghouse Close
these first houses were rebuilt between 1734 and
1741. The building tradesmen to whom the
Duchess and Duke of Portland granted leases in
1735–6 and 1737–8 include George Gillingham,
bricklayer (nine sites), (ref. 13) Nathaniel Walker,
joiner (five sites), (ref. 14) John Macy, mason, (ref. 15) Samuel
Reynolds, bricklayer, (ref. 16) Josiah Hutchinson,
carpenter (four sites each), (ref. 17) Samuel Elkins
and Thomas Plunkett, bricklayers (three sites
jointly), (ref. 18) John Lamb, carpenter and Joseph
Bone, bricklayer (three sites jointly), (ref. 19) Stiff
Leadbetter (ref. 20) and Christopher Purdum, both
carpenters (three sites each), (ref. 21) Robert Hutchinson,
carpenter (two sites), (ref. 22) John Atkinson, bricklayer, (ref. 23) Thomas Bilcliffe, carpenter, (ref. 24) John
Bonner, (ref. 25) Benjamin Lovett, both painters, (ref. 24) and
Thomas Webb, timber merchant (one site each). (ref. 26)
The greater part of the ground on the west side of
the street between Oxford and Noel Streets appears to have been leased in 1734–5 to Francis
Jackman, timber merchant, (ref. 27) who already occupied a large house there (ref. 7) and who then granted
sub-leases to William Rogers, (ref. 28) John Manwill, (ref. 29)
and William Jackman, (ref. 30) all carpenters.
Other craftsmen who appear to have been involved in building here include John Cator,
Leonard Phillips and Frederick Walrond, timber
merchants, (ref. 31) Henry Crosse, joiner, (ref. 32) Robert
French, bricklayer, (ref. 33) Francis Goodge and Thomas
Huddle, brickmakers, (ref. 34) William Jackson, Joseph
Parish and Thomas Stephens, carpenters, (ref. 35) and
Joseph Mullord and Thomas Siggins, painters. (ref. 36)
Nos. 26, 31–32, 46–48, 50–52, 69–71, 77, 79–81 (consec.) Berwick Street
It has not been possible to investigate all the
surviving houses in detail, but these sixteen do
appear to date from the 1730's; No. 52 is
illustrated on Plate 131c. There seems to have
been no attempt at uniformity, except perhaps
in small groups, and those original fronts which
remain show considerable variety of detail. For
example Nos. 26 and 31 both have fronts of purplyred brick with window arches of red gauged brick,
but the arches are flat at No. 26 and segmental
at No. 31. At No. 26 the jambs of the windows
are also in red brick and at No. 31 there is a
bandcourse above the second storey. At No. 32,
a house of similar proportions to Nos. 26 and 31,
the brick is yellowish-brown with no enrichment
other than red gauged brick for the flat window
arches. In the interiors, Nos. 32, 47, 77, 79 and
80 have original dog-legged staircases, the first
two with moulded closed strings, turned balusters
and column newels, the others similar but with
cut strings and carved step-ends in the lower flights.
The lessees of these houses, where identifiable,
were: Nos. 26 and 48, George Gillingham,
bricklayer; No. 31, Nathaniel Walker, joiner;
No. 32, Robert Hutchinson, carpenter; No. 47,
Benjamin Lovett, painter; No. 51, Thomas
Bilcliffe, carpenter. (ref. 24)
No. 57 Berwick Street: The Green Man Public House
There has been a public house of this name
here since at least 1738. (ref. 37) The building now has
a three-storeyed front of yellow brick, probably
dating from the early nineteenth century. The
second and third storeys each have three widely
spaced windows with flat gauged arches, the
windows in the second storey being set in shallow
segmental-headed recesses. The ground storey
has a slightly bizarre public-house front, erected
perhaps at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Nos. 63–66 (consec.) and 76 Berwick Street
Demolished
No. 63 first appears in the ratebooks in 1724,
when it was in the occupation of Francis Jackman,
timber merchant, by or for whom it was probably
erected. It was not rebuilt in the 1730's, when
much of the Portland estate was redeveloped, and
the southern part of the house survived, together
with Nos. 64–66, until 1960.
In 1734–5 the Duchess of Portland leased the
house and most of the ground on the west side of
the street between Oxford and Noel Streets to
Jackman for sixty-five years. (ref. 27) He then subleased the sites fronting Berwick Street to individual building tradesmen (see above), but kept the
ground behind for use as a timber yard. (ref. 38) He
continued to live at No. 63 until 1755. From
1774 to 1803 the house and yard were occupied
by Samuel Wyatt, the builder and architect. In
1804–5 the house was divided into two separate
dwellings. (ref. 7)
No. 63 (Plates 130b, 145c, figs. 41–2) was an
unusually large and fine house for the northeastern part of the parish and compared even more
strikingly with the rather mean houses which
occupy the rest of Berwick Street. It was threestoreyed with a front of red brick three windows
wide, but Horwood's map of 1792 shows a very
wide frontage in relation to the other houses and
the front of this house must originally have extended at least two further bays northwards. The
windows had flat gauged arches and there was a
bandcourse above each storey. The third-storey
windows were very small and in the bandcourse
above them the three upper brick-courses had a
slight projection. Window sashes generally had
been altered and a shop-front inserted in the
ground storey. Latterly the plan consisted of a
single front and back room to each floor with a
small closet projecting beyond the back room and
a rather cramped staircase in the north-west
corner, but probably there was originally another
front room to the north, forming perhaps an
entrance hall on the ground floor, and possibly a
main staircase behind it.
The best feature surviving at the time of
demolition was the first-floor front room (Plate
145c, fig. 42), the treatment of which recalls that
of several houses in Dean Street, in the parish of
St. Anne, Soho. The walls were lined with
ovolo-moulded panelling above an altered dado,
and were finished with an enriched modillion
cornice. The part of the cornice over the chimneybreast had below it a pulvinated bay-leaf frieze and
an enriched architrave, and supporting these at
either end was a fluted Ionic column. The
chimney-breast was flanked by two round-headed
semi-circular niches with enriched architraves and
keyblocks, and the dado was designed as a pedestal
with the panelled door of a cupboard set between
panelled dies. The two doors in the west wall
were six-panelled and had enriched shouldered
architraves. The ceiling was elaborately moulded,
having in the centre a large circular panel enclosed
on the north and south by two conjoined spandrel
panels, each end of the ceiling being occupied by a
long narrow panel and each side by five smaller
panels, two oblongs alternating with three squares.
The circular panel was blank at the time of
recording, but the two panels enclosing it were
filled with a profusion of foliated C-scrolls
centering on a scallop-shell. The outer panels were
more regular, the squares containing a four-leaved
flower, the smaller oblongs a basket of flowers
flanked by foliated C-scrolls, and the larger oblongs
a four-leaved flower linked by strapwork and
strings of smaller flowers to a lily at each end.
Samuel Wyatt's occupation of the house had
left little trace, but in the north wall of the
entrance passage, which must formerly have been
part of the ground-floor front room, was a roundheaded niche containing in its head plasterwork
probably of the late eighteenth century. At
springing-line was a thyrsus entwined with foliage,
having on its centre an urn enriched by a wreath.
From each end of the thyrsus sprang an arc of
leaves following the curve of the niche and below
it were three pendants, an oval medallion at each
end and an antique lamp in the centre. The
chimneypiece in the first-floor back room was of
roughly the same date, having an enriched wooden
architrave, a frieze with festoons, urns and
paterae, and an enriched cornice-shelf.
Nos. 64, 65 and 66, which were probably built
between 1734 and 1741, were similar to each
other in style, containing three storeys and a
garret and having fronts three windows wide. All
had had shop-fronts inserted in the ground storey
and Nos. 64 and 65 were stuccoed, while at No.
66, though the yellow stock brick was still exposed,
the gauged arches and the surrounds of the
windows were largely concealed by stucco architraves. In plan they had a single front and back
room to each floor with a staircase to one side of
the back room, a slightly unusual feature being
that, at No. 66, the front room had its chimneybreast off-centre against the back wall instead of
centrally against one of the party walls. Very little
original panelling survived in them, but the firstfloor front room of No. 64 had a wooden dentilled
cornice, and that of No. 66 a plain dado with
heavily moulded rail and skirting, the wooden
chimneypiece having a moulded architrave, a
frieze with shaped ends and an enriched cornice.
The staircases were very plain, being built round
a narrow well with moulded closed strings, turned
balusters, moulded handrails and column newels.
Another house now demolished, No. 76, which
was already in ruins when recorded, had a good
wooden doorcase composed of a pair of broad
Doric pilasters supporting an entablature with
triglyphed frieze and dentilled cornice.
Figure 41:
No. 63 Berwick Street, section and first-floor plan
Nos. 1–7, 10–13 (consec.) Livonia Street
Demolished
This was a new street laid out in 1736, as part
of the redevelopment of Doghouse Close. It was
called Bentinck Street (from the family name of
the Duke of Portland) and there is a plaque on the
south side of the street marked 'Bentinck Street
1736' with an intricately woven and undecipherable monogram surmounted by a ducal coronet.
In 1894 the street was renamed Livonia Street,
presumably in geographical allusion to the neighbouring Poland Street.
The leases for all fourteen sites in the street
were granted by the Duchess and Duke of Portland in 1736 and 1737 respectively. On the north
side the lessee of No. 1 was George Gillingham,
bricklayer, No. 2 John Gardner, carpenter, No.
3 Benjamin Lovett, painter, and Nos. 4–7 George
Gillingham. (ref. 39) On the south side the lessees were
No. 8 George Gillingham, No. 9 Jonathan
Brewster, painter, No. 10 William Hewitt,
plumber, No. 11 Thomas Grimbaldson, painter,
Nos. 12 and 13 Thomas Gingell, carpenter, and
No. 14 John Matthews, plasterer. (ref. 40) Other
tradesmen who worked on these houses included
William Taylor, glazier, (ref. 41) William Insley, (ref. 42) and
Thomas Bilcliffe, carpenters. (ref. 43)
Figure 42:
No. 63 Berwick Street, first-floor front room detail
John Sherwin the engraver is said to have been
a resident, although there is no ratebook evidence.
He may possibly have lived with, or been confused with another engraver, Francesco Bartolozzi
(his teacher), who lived in this street from 1778
to 1780. (ref. 44)
Livonia Street was a cul-de-sac of moderate
sized houses, reached through a gap between Nos.
81 and 82 on the west side of Berwick Street. At
the time of demolition in 1955, four early
eighteenth-century houses survived on the south
side and the north side of seven houses was complete (Plate 130c, fig. 43). Nos. 10–13 on the
south side were built in two pairs with mirrored
plans, the first floor showing the usual arrangement of a large room in front of the dog-legged
staircase and a small back room with a closet
wing. Each house contained a basement, three
storeys, and a garret in the mansard roof. The
houses shared a uniform elevation, three storeys
high and built of stock bricks with a bandcourse at
second-floor level and a double bandcourse below
the parapet. The windows, grouped three to each
house, had barred sashes in flush frames set in
plain openings with straight arches of gauged
brickwork. No. 11 had a large two-light dormer
and the other houses had single-light dormers.
The doorcases varied, No. 10 had an architrave,
pulvino-frieze and pediment; No. 11 had an
architrave and a dentilled cornice resting on plain
brackets; Nos. 12 and 13 shared a doorcase of
Doric pilasters supporting a simple entablature.
Figure 43:
Livonia Street, elevations and plan
On the north side Nos. 1 and 2 were similar to
the houses just described, and the doorcase of No.
2 had carved brackets below the hood. The fronts
of Nos. 3–7 were four storeys high, there being no
garrets, and each house was two windows wide
except for No. 4, a wide three-windowed house
extending over the carriage-way into Portland
Mews. The ground storey of these houses had
been stuccoed, the doorcases removed and the
windows enlarged. The upper face was of stock
bricks, with a bandcourse at second-floor level,
and the barred sashes were recessed in plain openings with flat arches of gauged brick.
Generally, the interiors were panelled throughout, except for the basements and garrets. In some
rooms the panelling was of excellent quality, for
example, in the first-floor front room of No. 12
the plain panels were set in moulded framing,
with a moulded dado-rail and a dentilled boxcornice. The fireplace was furnished with a
wooden chimneypiece composed of an architrave
frame, a 'Gothick' frieze of interlacing ogee
curves, and a cornice-shelf. On the right of the
chimney-breast was a china cupboard with shaped
shelves.
D'Arblay Street
This was a new street laid out in 1735 as part of
the redevelopment of Doghouse Close by the
Portland family. It was originally called Portland
Street but was renamed D'Arblay Street in 1909,
to commemorate the residence of Fanny Burney
(later Madame D'Arblay) in Poland Street (see
page 245). It may be noted that Portland Street
(unlike Noel Street) extended into Poland Street
from the time of its layout.
The first houses there were built and occupied
by 1737 and the street seems to have been completed by 1744. The building tradesmen to whom
leases were granted included Thomas Seaton and
Samuel Austin, carpenters (six sites), (ref. 45) John
Phillips, plasterer (four sites), (ref. 46) James Gunter,
carpenter (one site and ground for three stables), (ref. 47)
Thomas Plunkett and Samuel Elkins, bricklayers
(three sites), (ref. 48) Christopher Purdum, carpenter
(two sites), (ref. 49) George Gillingham, bricklayer (site
for a stable yard), (ref. 24) Joseph Saige, plasterer (two
sites), (ref. 50) Edward Prestidge and Peter Vandercom,
masons (four sites), (ref. 51) John Macy, mason (one
site), (ref. 52) John Atkinson, bricklayer (one site). (ref. 53)
William Taylor, glazier, (ref. 54) Thomas Siggins,
painter, (ref. 55) and Richard Harris, bricklayer, (ref. 56) were
among the other building tradesmen working
in the street.
In D'Arblay Street Nos. 2–4, 10, 11, 13, 24
and 25 all date from around 1740, although most
have been heavily altered. In addition to these
Nos. 20–23 and 32–34, which are outwardly
early or mid nineteenth century in date, may incorporate part of the carcases of older buildings.
There is nothing else of architectural interest in
the street and the remaining buildings are late
nineteenth- and early twentieth-century warehouse and tenement blocks together with a group
of office blocks of the 1920's and 1930's which
occupy the middle of the south side.
In the return wall of No. 37 Berwick Street is
a stone tablet bearing a cartouche surrounded by
draperies, having in its centre a cross moline and
above it a coronet, while below is the inscription
'Portland Street MDCCXXXV'. No. 37 is a
building of very recent date, but a drawing of
1926 (ref. 57) shows the tablet set into the wall of the
house which originally occupied this site.
Wardour Mews and Portland Mews now consist entirely of mid nineteenth-century warehouse
buildings, mostly of yellow brick. None is of
great interest, but Nos. 16–17 Portland Mews
have iron columns dividing the lights of the
windows, as at Nos. 3–5 Lexington Street.
No. 1 D'Arblay Street: The George Public House
There has been a public house of this name
here since at least 1739. (ref. 37) The present building
was erected in 1897.
Nos. 2–4 (consec.) D'Arblay Street
These houses, together with No. 1 (now rebuilt), were built under leases granted to John
Phillips, plasterer, by the Duchess of Portland
in 1736 and the Duke in 1737. (ref. 58) They
clearly formed a uniform terrace originally, but
Nos. 3 and 4 have since been refronted, No. 3
having an added storey at the front. When first
built they must all have contained three storeys
with a garret in the mansard roof, their brick
fronts being, as now, two windows wide. At No.
2, the front of which appears unaltered, the windows have segmental gauged arches and flush
frames, but the brickwork has been painted red
and a shop-front inserted in the ground storey. In
plan they have a single front and back room on
each floor with a dog-legged staircase beside the
back room. The entrance passage of No. 4 retains
its ovolo-moulded panelling with moulded dadorail and box-cornice, and has at the far end, flanking the opening into the staircase compartment, a
pair of Doric pilasters. The staircase compartment has plain rebated panelling and the staircase
has moulded closed strings, turned balusters and
column newels.
Nos. 10, 11 and 13 D'Arblay Street
These houses were all built under leases granted
by the Duchess of Portland in February 1734/5,
Nos. 10 and 11 to Joseph Saige, plasterer, and
Nos. 12 (now rebuilt) and 13 to Edward Prestidge
and Peter Vandercom, masons. (ref. 59) They evidently
formed another almost uniform terrace, but
slightly superior in quality to Nos. 2–4. Nos. 10
and 11 (Plate 130a, fig. 44) have been heightened
by a storey and Nos. 10 and 13 stuccoed at the
front, but originally all three must have contained
a basement, three storeys and a garret, their brick
fronts being three windows wide. Nos. 10 and 11
have stuccoed bandcourses above the ground
storey, but there is nothing to show if these are of
original brick underneath. The same two houses
have flat arches to the windows while No. 13 has
segmental ones, an original feature, to judge from
the back wall. At No. 11 the brickwork is
pinkish-yellow and the window arches are of red
gauged brick. All three houses retain original
stone doorcases with moulded architraves and
cornices on carved consoles. Internally they have
the same plan as Nos. 2–4, but with a closet projecting beyond the back room. Nos. 10 and 13
have lost much of their original finishings, but
both have unaltered staircases, whereas No. 11
has fairly complete panelling and has had the
lower part of its staircase replaced. In general the
ground- and first-floor rooms have ovolo-moulded
panelling finished with a moulded dado-rail and a
box-cornice, while on the second floor the front
room only has ovolo-moulded panelling and there
is a smaller moulded cornice in all three rooms.
In the second-floor front and back rooms of No.
11 are original stone chimneypieces, now painted,
with shaped lintels and slight mouldings on the
inner and outer edges. The lower flights of the
staircases have cut strings with shaped step-ends,
and turned balusters having a square neckingpiece, the moulded handrail being continued over
column newels. Above the second floor the same
pattern of baluster is used, but with a moulded
closed string and a column newel which has the
handrail running into it.
Figure 44:
Nos. 10 and 11 D'Arblay Street, ground-floor plan, elevations and section
Welsh Wesleyan Chapel
Demolished
Between 1871 and 1894 a Welsh Wesleyan
chapel is listed in the Post Office directories at
No. 16 Portland Street (now D'Arblay Street). (ref. 60)
The chapel is also shown on the Ordnance
Survey map of 1870, on the north side of the
street to the east of Poland Street.
Nos. 20–25 (consec.) D'Arblay Street
The leases for these sites were all granted in
1736 by the Duchess of Portland to Thomas
Seaton and Samuel Austin, carpenters. (ref. 61) Nos. 24
and 25 are uniform three-storeyed houses with
rebuilt roofs. Their fronts are three windows wide
and built of yellow stock brick with segmental
arches of red gauged brick to the windows, although the stocks may have been dyed yellow at
some later date. The windows contain flush
frames, with continued sills in the second storey,
and above the second storey is a raised bandcourse.
The interiors have been completely altered.
Nos. 20–23 appear to date from the early or
mid nineteenth century, but may contain remnants of older buildings. Nos. 22 and 23 are
three-storeyed houses with a common stucco
façade, the upper-storey windows being arranged
in two groups of three and two. No. 22 is built
over the entrance to Portland Mews and is
probably completely nineteenth-century, since
Horwood's map of 1792 shows no house at this
point. The second- and third-storey windows
have flat heads, but whereas the former are simply
treated with moulded architraves, friezes and
cornices, the latter have above them semi-circular
lunettes each containing a lion-head, while below
them are sunk panels, the whole being enclosed by
a moulded architrave. There is a heavy moulded
crowning cornice which is surmounted by an
unusual brick parapet in Flemish bond, gaps being
left, however, where the headers would have been.
Noel Street
This street takes its name from Elizabeth,
Duchess of Portland, who before her marriage
was Lady Elizabeth Noel and who initiated the
redevelopment of the estate in 1734. The eastern
part of the street was originally known as Tweed
Street (presumably from the neighbouring Berwick Street) and had been laid out in 1706. The
houses which were erected at this time were evidently rebuilt in the 1740's, when the street was
extended westward across Berwick Street as far as
the boundary of Little Gelding's Close. In 1912
two houses on the east side of Poland Street were
demolished in order to connect that street with the
west end of Noel Street. (ref. 62) A slight break in the
line of Noel Street still indicates the boundary
between Little Gelding's Close and Doghouse
Close.
The building tradesmen mainly responsible for
the building of the street include Jonathan Firth,
painter (five sites), (ref. 24) John Phillips, plasterer (two
sites), (ref. 63) Edward Prestidge and Peter Vandercom,
masons (two sites), (ref. 64) Samuel Reynolds, bricklayer
(two sites), (ref. 65) Richard Twiss, carpenter (two
sites), (ref. 66) Francis Jackman, timber merchant (one
site), (ref. 67) and John Lamb, carpenter, and Joseph
Bone, bricklayer (one jointly). (ref. 68) Other tradesmen
working here include Thomas Cheek and John
Petty, carpenters, (ref. 69) and Thomas Huddle, bricklayer or brickmaker. (ref. 70)
Noel Street contains very little of interest, and
nearly all the north side between Berwick Street
and Poland Street has recently been demolished
to make way for Waverley House, a big
block fronting on to Berwick Street. Only two
houses, Nos. 5 and 18, remain from the rebuilding
in the 1740's, the rest of the street consisting
mainly of mid-to-late nineteenth-century warehouses and tenement blocks interspersed with a
few early nineteenth-century houses. There is
also a large early twentieth-century Baroque
restaurant, Nos. 24–25, at the eastern end, and at
the western end the French Protestant School,
Nos. 14–17, by (Sir) Aston Webb, 1897–8. (ref. 71)
Nos. 5, 11 and 18 Noel Street
No. 11 demolished
Nos. 5 and 18 each contain a basement, three
storeys and a garret, the latter formed inside a
mansard roof. Their brick fronts, now resurfaced,
are two windows wide, the windows having flat
gauged arches and, at No. 18, flush frames. Both
have been altered in the ground storey, but No.
18 has a wooden doorcase, with moulded architrave and cornice on shaped consoles, which is
evidently an imitation of the original one. (ref. 72) In
plan they have a single front and back room to
each floor with a dog-legged staircase beside the
back room, but the original finishings have almost
entirely gone. Until its demolition recently No.
11 (fig. 45) was of the same pattern as these
houses, but it had some plain rebated panelling
and, at the end of the entrance passage, a pair of
fluted pilasters similar to an odd one which still
survives at No. 18. The staircase had moulded
closed strings with turned balusters, moulded
handrail and column newels.
Figure 45:
No. 11 Noel Street, elevation, section and plans
Nos. 14–17 (consec.) Noel Street
Formerly French Protestant School
This building was erected in 1897–8 to the
designs of (Sir) Aston Webb. (ref. 71) It continued in
use as a school until 1939, but is now used for
industrial purposes.
Nos. 14–17 are three-storeyed with a red brick
and terra-cotta front five windows wide, but an
extra storey has been added at the east end. The
style is Georgian in origin with pilasters between
the upper-storey windows supporting an entablature and balustrade. The frieze is inscribed in
high relief ECOLE DE L'EGLISE PROTESTANTE
FRANCAISE DE LONDRES, and in the ground
storey two doorways with swan-neck pediments
are separately marked FILLES and GARÇONS.
Oxford Street
The sites of the present Nos. 127, at the west
corner of Wardour Street, to 151 (odd) formed
part of Doghouse Close, and a considerable amount
of rebuilding took place here between 1734 and
1738. Building tradesmen to whom the Duchess
and Duke of Portland granted leases include
Jonathan Firth (four sites), (ref. 73) Joseph Parish,
carpenter (three sites), (ref. 74) John Grout, Thomas
Stephens, both carpenters, (ref. 75) and John Bonner,
painter (one site each). (ref. 76) Francis Jackman,
timber merchant, was also granted a site with a
frontage of 50 feet to the street. (ref. 77) None of the
houses built at this time survives.
Wardour Street
The general history of the west side of Wardour
Street is described on page 221. The Wardour
Street sites in Doghouse Close (comprising the
sites of Nos. 147–203 odd) were first developed in
1687, probably under sub-leases from James
Pollett. There were seven new houses built there
by 1687, twenty-seven two years later and the
whole street frontage was built up by 1692. (ref. 7)
These first houses were rebuilt between 1735
and 1743 under leases granted by the Duchess and
Duke of Portland in 1735–6 and 1737–43
respectively. Lessees included John Phillips,
plasterer (six sites), (ref. 78) James Gunter (ref. 79) and Thomas
Pollett, both carpenters (four sites each), (ref. 80) John
Petty, carpenter (three sites), (ref. 24) and Jonathan
Firth, painter (ten sites). (ref. 81) The latter seems to
have been associated with Henry Broadhead of
St. Giles's, esquire, to whom a lease of the carcases
of six of Firth's houses was granted in 1743, (ref. 82) and
also with Richard Twiss, carpenter, to whom the
houses were eventually assigned. (ref. 83) Other building
tradesmen working here included John Gregory
and John White, both bricklayers, (ref. 84) and Linstead
Reeves, carpenter. (ref. 85)
Nos. 149–165 (odd), 171 Wardour Street
Formerly Nos. 99–107 (consec.), 110
The houses on the west side of Wardour Street
were illustrated in Tallis's London Street Views of
c. 1839, and a photograph of Nos. 149–165 is
reproduced on Plate 130d. Nos. 147 (rebuilt in
1910) and 149 were both leased by the Duchess of
Portland to Isaac Rumball of St. Giles's, coal
merchant, in January 1734/5. (ref. 86) Tallis's view
(where they are numbered 97 and 99) shows that
they formed a pair, four storeys high and each
house three windows wide. The present No. 149
has one giant angle pilaster at the north end of the
first and second floors, the dentilled cornice at sill
level below the third-floor windows breaking over
the pilaster. The three upper storeys are of yellow
stock brick and the window openings have segmental heads and surrounds of red brick. A
nineteenth-century shop occupies the ground
floor, which had a shop in Tallis's view. The
house door at the south end of this front has eight
raised-and-fielded panels.
Nos. 151–157 (odd) were leased to Thomas
Pollett, carpenter. (ref. 24) Tallis's view (where they
are numbered 100–103 consec.) shows that Nos.
151–155 (odd) were a furniture warehouse and
the shop-fronts were built to one design. Tallis
showed these houses, each two windows wide,
with four storeys and roofs concealed by parapets
as now. The first floor has been covered with
stucco, with a moulded cornice. The two upper
floors are of yellow stock brick, with a straight
joint in the brickwork between Nos. 151 and 153.
All the windows are flat-headed, with plastered
reveals and stone sills. Each shop-front has a
dentilled cornice, with egg-and-dart ovolomoulding and brackets above fluted Corinthian
pilasters. At No. 157 the three upper storeys as
shown by Tallis appear to have been uniform with
the last three houses, though with a different shopfront, but the window levels are not precisely the
same. It is a four-storey house, two windows
wide, of yellow stock brick recently repointed,
with a stone-coped parapet.
Nos. 159–163 (odd) were leased to John Petty,
carpenter, (ref. 24) and appear in Tallis's view as Nos.
104–106 (consec.). No. 159 is a single house, in
height and width similar to its neighbours but with
slightly lower storeys. Tallis's view shows an iron
guard-rail or balcony across the two first-floor
windows above a low shop-front, but the fascia has
since been raised in front of the lower part of the
windows, and the only guard-rails are in front of
each second-floor window. Nos. 161 and 163,
both with entrances at the north end of their
present shop-fronts, are distinguishable from the
other houses in this street by the broad bandcourses
of brick between their upper storeys (indicated in
Tallis's view). Both fronts are of yellow brick,
repointed at No. 161, and the window openings
have segmental heads of red gauged brick,
plastered reveals, and stone sills. Above the
modern shop-fronts are remains of cornices of
earlier shop-fronts.
Thomas Sheraton, the furniture designer, lived
at No. 163 (then No. 106) from 1793 to 1795,
his residence there being commemorated by a
plaque erected by the London County Council.
From 1798 to 1800 he occupied a house on
the site of part of the present No. 147 (then
No. 98). From 1804 until his death in 1806
he lived in Broad (now Broadwick) Street (see
page 222n.). (ref. 87)
Nos. 165–171 (odd) were leased to James
Gunter, carpenter, (ref. 24) and appear in Tallis's view
as Nos. 107–110 (consec.). No. 165 (with,
originally, Nos. 167 and 169, the three of them
shown by Tallis as Hull's Ancient Furniture
Warehouse) has three storeys, two windows wide,
and a garret with one wide dormer. This front,
above a modernized shop, is of yellow brick, and
the window openings have flat arches in red brick.
The modern casements on the first floor, and the
sashes on the second floor, are hung in flush frames.
The mansard roof is tiled, and there is a plain
stone-coped parapet. Nos. 167 and 169 were rebuilt in this century. No. 171 is four storeys high
and two windows wide, as it was in Tallis's
view. The window openings are flat-headed
with plastered reveals. The brick has been
dyed yellow.
Nos. 175–179 (odd) Wardour Street
Formerly Nos. 112–114 (consec.)
Although their combined façade was given a
uniform architectural treatment, Nos. 175–179
(odd) are three separate buildings, erected during
a period of five years. No. 175 was erected in
1907–8. The architect's name is unknown. No.
177 was erected in 1910–11 from plans submitted
by the architects Henry Metcalf, Thomas Greig
and George Vernon of Bedford Row. The
builders were Messrs. Barber and Sons of Fetter
Lane. No. 179 was erected in 1911–12 from
plans submitted by George Vernon of Mortimer
Street, architect. (ref. 88) The latter was possibly
responsible for the design of the whole façade.
Nos. 175–179 are five storeys high and
above the shop-fronts they are faced with red
brick and a series of stone bands. Triangular
pilaster-strips, the sill-courses breaking over them,
divide the central part into three bays, and each
outer part into two bays of unequal width with the
narrower bays at the ends. The transomed and
mullioned windows are deeply recessed between
these pilasters, the window recesses of the first and
second floors being segmental-headed with label
mouldings intersected by keystones and intermittent voussoirs. The third floor has flat-headed
window recesses, above which extend a plain
frieze and a heavy cornice, breaking round the
triangular pilaster-strips, which are carried up the
gables above it. In the central gable are three
low round-arched windows with keystones of
exaggerated length. In each of the loftier outer
gables is a large round-arched window over which
a corbelled colonnette breaks through a semicircular pediment to support an obelisk. Each
narrow end bay of the façade is repeated above the
cornice with a low round-arched window below a
concave coping.
Nos. 187 and 189 Wardour Street
Formerly Nos. 118 and 119
Nos. 187 and 189 were leased to Jonathan
Firth, painter, (ref. 24) and appear in Tallis's view as
Nos. 118 and 119. Above the shop-front No.
187 is still in essentially the same form as Tallis
shows it—three storeys and a garret, two windows
wide to Noel Street, four windows wide to
Wardour Street, with flat-headed windows having
plain reveals, and segmental-headed dormers.
Tallis shows iron guard-rails before each firstfloor window. The ground floor then had two
tripartite display windows to Noel Street, and two
more to Wardour Street with a shop door (now
canted across the corner) between them and with
the house entrance at the north end as now. No.
189 has suffered more alteration, for Tallis shows
that it then had three storeys and a garret with one
dormer. Now there are four storeys with a parapet concealing the roof, and the brick is painted
red. The shop on the ground floor has been
modernized. Ceilings are much lower than those
of No. 187. The flat-headed windows have plain
reveals.