The Social Decline of The
Piazza
The portico buildings were designed to attract
'Persons of the greatest Distinction', and among
the first residents there were many persons
of title, including at least three earls. Entries in
the ratebooks reflect the troubled times which
followed the development of Covent Garden and
in the early 1640's several occupants who had
Royalist sympathies left the square. During the
second half of the seventeenth century the number of occupants who possessed titles and/or who
held public office declined rapidly and their places
were taken by artists, tradesmen and, probably,
by lodging-house keepers. The first of a succession of famous painters who lived in the square
was (Sir) Peter Lely; he became the tenant at
No. 10–11 in about 1651. Later occupants included two other court painters, Sir Godfrey
Kneller and Sir James Thornhill. The notable
private residents in the Piazza are listed on
page 96.
Shops begin to appear in the Piazza at a very
early date. The earliest reference to commercial
activity there occurs in February 1643/4 and
relates to a small booth in the portico walk.
(ref. 13)
Several illustrations of the Piazza show stalls and
booths standing against the piers of the portico
walk. Those for which there is documentary
evidence were all situated at the corners of James
Street and Russell Street and were associated with
the corner houses, where shops are known to have
existed. Andrew Bayley, a goldsmith, who became the tenant of the house on the south side of
Russell Street in the Little Piazza in 1651, also
had two little shops in the portico walk. (ref. 34) No. 3
in the Great Piazza was let in 1692 to two
tenants, one a mercer and the other a haberdasher, (ref. 35) and there were sheds or stalls associated
with this house in the portico walk in the
eighteenth century. A lease of No. 4–5 in 1698
included 'all shopps Stalls and Ereccons' in the
portico walk. (ref. 36) In the second half of the eighteenth century, however, the permissive attitude
of the Bedford Office towards the clutter in the
portico walk changed and in 1774 the steward
recommended that the five shops at the corners of
the walk should be pulled down. (ref. 37) This was
probably done, for in 1775 the lessee of No. 3 was
ordered to remove the three sheds in front of his
house and another fronting James Street. (ref. 29) Stalls,
being less likely to damage the structure of the
piers, were still permitted, but James Gubbins,
surveyor to the fifth Duke, was commended because he 'did away with that abominable nuisance,
the picture-stall' at the corner of Russell Street—
possibly the stall where a shopkeeper called Rich
displayed obscene prints 'attracting the idle'. (ref. 38)
During the nineteenth century estate policy became much stricter and tenants were forbidden
to erect any 'Bulk Stall or Stand' in the portico
walk.
Some of the other portico houses were also
being used for business purposes in the first half
of the eighteenth century. No. 6–7 was let to a
potter in 1727, (ref. 39) No. 2 was adapted for an
upholsterer's business in 1731, (ref. 40) and in the same
year Christopher Cock established his auction
rooms at No. 9–10. (ref. 41)
In the first half of the eighteenth century a few
persons of title still lived in houses in the Piazza,
the last being Lord Archer whose occupancy
came to an end in 1757. (ref. 42)
(fn. a) The social decline of
Covent Garden had begun shortly after the
Restoration, when the building of Soho, St.
James's and Leicester Squares—all acknowledgments of the success of their prototype in
Covent Garden—had drawn the fashionable
world away to the new western suburbs nearer
to the Court. With the establishment of the
market in 1670 and its removal to the centre of
the square in 1705–6, the Piazza gradually lost
much of its original beauty. William Maitland,
writing in 1756, commented sadly that the market
had 'proved so very prejudicial to the magnificent
Buildings [in the Piazza], that instead of their
being inhabited by Persons of the greatest Distinction as formerly, they are now obliged to take
up with Vintners, Coffeemen, and such other
Inhabitants'. (ref. 44)
Until the 1720's tenants in the Piazza were
forbidden, unless they first obtained permission, to
permit their premises to be converted into public
ordinaries or victualling houses, or to allow them
to be used for the sale of coffee, chocolate, tea,
beer or any liquor whatever. So far as is known
the first coffee house in the Piazza was the Bedford, established at No. 14 in 1726. Coffee
houses were soon increasing in number, probably
because of the growth of custom from the patrons
and hangers-on of the two neighbouring theatres.
The Piazza Coffee House was in fact founded by
the actor, Charles Macklin, in 1754.
The second half of the eighteenth century was
the heyday of the coffee houses in the Piazza and
many famous writers, artists and actors of the time
became their habitués. They were not all
respectable and the reputation of the Piazza
suffered in consequence. A writer of 1776 proclaimed that Covent Garden 'is the great square of
Venus, and its purlieus are crowded with the
votaries of this goddess … . The jelly-houses are
now become the resort of abandoned rakes and
shameless prostitutes. These and the taverns
afford an ample supply of provisions for the flesh;
while others abound for the consummation of the
desires which are thus excited. For this vile
end the bagnios and lodging-houses are near at
hand.' (ref. 45)
There were at least three bagnios in the Piazza,
and not all of them, apparently, deserved imputations of this kind. The oldest, and probably the
most respectable, was the Hummums, opened in
1683 by Richard Lasinby at a house in the Little
Piazza. The second was Haddock's bagnio, which
occupied No. 8 from 1742 until 1798. The third
was Lovejoy's, situated next door to the Hummums and established at some time prior to 1769.
In addition to the 'Sweating and Bathing' facilities
which they provided the bagnios were commonly
licensed for the sale of tea, coffee, wine and spirits,
and lodgings could also be had in them.
During the nineteenth century some of the
coffee houses, taverns and bagnios shed their
disreputable associations and evolved into flourishing hotels. Richardson's (or Clunn's), the Piazza,
the Bedford, the Russell, the Hummums, and the
Imperial Hotels originated in this way. Two of
the major building projects carried out in the
Piazza during the second half of the nineteenth
century were for hotel proprietors—the New
Hummums on the east side and the Tavistock on
the north. Both these hotels outlived the demand
which had created them. The lease of the New
Hummums was bought back by the eleventh
Duke of Bedford in 1909 and although the
building still survives it has subsequently served
chiefly as premises for market tenants. The
Tavistock closed in 1928 and was demolished
shortly afterwards to make way for Piazza
Chambers and Mart Street.