Nos. 1–4 (consec.) Little Piazza
With 11 Russell Street
Sites of Russell Chambers (No. 11–12 Russell Street)
and west end of the Flower Market
The site now occupied by Russell Chambers
and the west end of the Flower Market is
approximately that originally occupied by four
portico houses and a house in Russell Street.
The four portico houses had each occupied two
bays of the 'Little' Piazza. The site of the most
northerly, No. 1 Little Piazza (together with
that of No. 11 Russell Street) had originally been
let to Thomas Barnes, carpenter, for thirty-seven
years from 1636.
(ref. 54) This corner house must have
been badly constructed for towards the end of
Barnes's term, in 1670, it suddenly collapsed,
dragging with it the adjacent portico house. (ref. 120)
The latter house, which was then tenanted by the
Swedish Resident, (ref. 42) had been built under a lease
granted to Edmond Keyser, ironmonger, in
1637. (ref. 121) The two houses and the adjoining one
on the south, which had also been severely
damaged, were rebuilt and re-occupied by
1672. (ref. 42)
The house on the south side of Keyser's and
the surviving end house of the row had been built
at the expense of George Hulbert who in 1633
had been granted a lease of a large plot, lying between the Piazza and Charles Street, for the
exceptionally long term of fifty years. Hulbert
had also erected three houses fronting Charles
Street on the same plot. (ref. 6)
In 1681, shortly before Hulbert's lease expired,
a new lease was granted to Henry Harris of both
portico buildings and one of the back houses in
Charles Street. Harris had been persuaded to obtain the lease by Richard Lasinby, 'chirurgeon',
in order to establish a 'hummums' or 'bagnio'.
From his personal observation at Aleppo in
Turkey Lasinby claimed a knowledge of the
methods used to construct rooms 'for Sweating
and Bathing' and proceeded to spend a great sum
on building baths, probably at the rear of the
northern of the two houses let to Harris. Harris
later asserted that Lasinby was 'very ignorant'
about the subject, however, and that he himself
had had to redesign the baths. In any event they
were completed by August 1683 and proved very
popular, being among the earliest Turkish baths,
though not the first, to be opened in London. (ref. 122)
On an undated plan of Covent Garden, which is
roughly contemporary with the establishment of
Lasinby's Hummums (Plate 4), the house is
marked with the words 'Piazza Tav[ern]'. (ref. 123)
After Richard Lasinby's death the baths were
managed by his son, another Richard, until he
died in 1693. The business was then continued
by the latter's widow and, after her remarriage, by
her husband, John Groscourt. (ref. 124) An advertisement of 1701, announcing a change of ownership,
gave notice that the baths had been 're-fitted' so
that 'persons may Sweat and Bathe in the cleanliest and be Cupp'd after the newest manner'. The
Hummums also provided 'good lodging for any
persons who shall desire to lodge there all night
… The price, as was always, for Sweating and
Bathing is 5s 6d. For two in a room, 8s.; but who
lodges there all night, 10s.' (ref. 125)
In 1704 a new lease of the Hummums, together with the house on the south and the one in
Charles Street, was granted to Dr. John Colbatch, a physician, who covenanted not to annoy
his neighbours with 'Smoak or any noisome or
stinking Savors'. (ref. 126) Colbatch was succeeded by
William Boen who was granted a lease of the
Hummums only in 1723. (ref. 127) Boen assigned his
lease in about 1739 to John Rigg (ref. 42) and in 1748
Rigg was granted a lease of the Hummums together with the houses formerly let to Colbatch. (ref. 128)
An advertisement by Rigg 'Cupper at the Hummums in the Little Piazza … with a back door
from Charles Street' invited gentlemen to visit his
establishment for 'Lodging, Sweating, Bathing, or
Cupping'; ladies were also admitted, and treated
'with great care and proper attendance', but they
were not permitted to lodge there. (ref. 129) John Rigg
was succeeded by John Henry Rigg who was still
the proprietor when the Hummums was destroyed
by fire in 1769. (ref. 130)
The fire occurred in the morning of 20 March
in the premises of John Bradley, a distiller. (ref. 131)
Bradley had since 1732 occupied No. 11 Russell
Street, adjacent to the corner portico building.
In 1747 he also became the tenant of the corner
portico building, which had a shop in the ground
floor, and in 1750 he became the lessee of this and
the adjoining portico building on the south. (ref. 132)
The fire broke out in Bradley's distilling-house,
under apartments occupied by Richard Vincent, a
musician. It spread to Bradley's shop on the
corner, to his house in Russell Street and to the
house next door, formerly occupied by Daniel
Button but then by a cheesemonger; the fire also
spread southwards as far as the Bedford Arms
Tavern in Tavistock Row, destroying 'Mr.
Lovejoy's bagnio', the Hummums, and two
peruke-makers' premises. The whole front of
the Little Piazza fell down 'with the most
terrible concussion'. (ref. 131) Lovejoy's Bagnio was
situated in the house between the corner portico
building and Rigg's Hummums and extended
over Bradley's shop. (ref. 133) The two peruke-makers
were probably in the southernmost house of the
four.
In 1769–70 the Little Piazza range and No.
11 Russell Street were rebuilt. In the Little
Piazza no attempt was made to reproduce the
design of the original facade (see page 81 and
Plates 32b and 47a): the portico walk was
abolished and the frontage of the new houses,
which were of unequal width, set back some 5 or
6 feet. Nos. 1 and 2 had three bays each, No. 3
had four, and No. 4 had two. Building leases
were granted to John and Joseph Bradley,
Matthew Lovejoy and John Henry Rigg.
Nos. 1 and 2 Little Piazza and No. 11 Russell
Street
No. 11 Russell Street and the shop on the
ground floor of No. 1 Little Piazza were let to
the Bradleys. Belatedly, they were forbidden to
set up a still 'to extract any spirituous liquor by
means of fire'. (ref. 134)
In 1790 No. 11 Russell Street and the shop on
the corner were taken over by Thomas Harrison,
who was already in occupation of the upper part
of No. 1 and of No. 2 Little Piazza. After the
fire of 1769 the latter premises had been let on a
building lease to Matthew Lovejoy who, it will
be recalled, was the proprietor of a bagnio destroyed by the fire. Lovejoy possibly re-established
the bagnio in his new premises, which in 1781
passed into the possession of Thomas Harrison. (ref. 42)
Under Harrison's ownership the three houses
were known as the New Hummums Coffee
House (or Tavern) and Hotel, which was advertised in 1803 as 'an excellent place for good
beds and breakfast, with the convenience of hot
and cold baths'. (ref. 135) This Thomas Harrison may
presumably be identified with the Thomas
Harrison who in 1801 established the Tavistock
Hotel on the north side of the Piazza. Leases of
the New Hummums were granted in 1831 and
1835, the first being to George Marmaduke
Harrison and Thomas Busley, described as
tavern keepers, for No. 11 Russell Street and the
ground floor and basement of No. 1 Little Piazza,
and the second being granted to Henry Thomas
Harrison, described as hotel-keeper, for the upper
part of No. 1 and the whole of No. 2 Little
Piazza. (ref. 136)
The Harrisons were eventually succeeded by
John Rockley who took over the tavern in 1835
and the hotel in 1842; thereafter the business was
variously known as Rockley's or the (New)
Hummums Hotel.
In 1885 Harry Smith of Bolton House,
Chiswick, presumably one of the 'Middleman
Capitalist' class referred to by the steward of the
Bedford estate (see page 45), agreed to demolish
the hotel and to rebuild it according to a design
approved by the Duke of Bedford. (ref. 137) Smith's
architects were Wylson and Long, and the
builders were Messrs. Peto Brothers; the
furnishings were executed by Messrs. Oetzmann
and Company. (ref. 138) The hotel (Plate 49b) was one
of the six buildings erected around the Piazza between 1876 and 1890, the elevational drawings of
which were either supplied by the ninth Duke's
consultant architect, Henry Clutton, or (as in this
case) in some degree related to his designs (see
page 82).
The new hotel, which was completed in
1887, (ref. 139) was not a success. A company, called
the Hummums Hotel and Rockley's Limited, was
formed to purchase and manage the hotel in 1888,
but by 1892 it was in liquidation, (ref. 140) and the hotel
was put up for auction. In 1909 the lease was
purchased by the Duke of Bedford. Part of the
building was let to Messrs. Flower and Company,
brewers, and the basement and ground floor were
converted for use by market tenants. (ref. 141)
Drawings by the architects, Wylson and Long,
dated 29 July 1886 and approved by the Bedford
Office on 25 November 1886, show how Russell
Chambers was originally planned as the Hummums Hotel. In the basement were kitchens and
a grill-room, the latter entered from outside by
two converging flights of steps descending against
the west front facing the Piazza, below the three
middle arches of the five-bay arcade. The north
part of the ground floor was occupied by Rockley's Bar, having two windows and its own
entrance in the three arches towards Russell
Street. The large dining-room, rising into the
mezzanine, had a non-residents' entrance in the
north arch of the west arcade, and a residents'
entrance from the hotel vestibule, which was
entered from the south arch. This vestibule
extended east, past the staircase, to a lift lobby
and a smoking-room at the back of the premises.
A large part of the mezzanine was taken up by
the upper part of the dining-room, which was
overlooked on the east by a smoking-room, and
flanked north by the manager's suite, and south
by his office and the staircase. The first floor was
planned with a large billiards-room having three
windows towards the Piazza; to the north was a
drawing-room and ladies' coffee room, and to the
south, beside the staircase, was a private diningroom. Each of the three upper floors was divided
to provide seven bedrooms, the north two being
linked by a dressing-room. All were served by a
north-south corridor having on its east side a
lavatory and bathroom.
The elevations, in Portland stone and red
brick, were designed to conform with the Bedford Office's requirements, and were obviously
intended to harmonize with Bedford Chambers,
but they show a sharp decline from the standard
set there by Clutton. The arcade, with narrow
piers and a moulded impost, is finished with a bold
cornice and a pedestal underlines the first-floor
windows. These are dressed alike with stone, the
architraves expanding into scrolls at the feet, and
the triangular pediments rising against the
shaped aprons of the second-floor windows, which
are linked by a moulded sill and are less richly
dressed, each having an cared architrave with a
plain frieze and cornice. The third-floor windows are even simpler, having moulded architraves
rising from a moulded sill. The angles of each
storey are strongly emphasized with straight
channel-jointed stone quoins. Stone is used to
finish the fronts with a Baroque bracketed entablature, and a balustrade which is broken over each
bay by a pedimented dormer window.
No. 3 Little Piazza
The two sites south of the New Hummums
Hotel had been let after the fire of 1769 to John
Henry Rigg. (ref. 130) Rigg established a hotel at No. 3,
under the name of the Old Hummums, which was
both successful and respectable: William Hickey
commented on the fact that no women were ever
admitted. (ref. 142)
In 1781 Rigg removed from No. 3, leaving the
hotel in the charge (or ownership) of George and
Elizabeth Kinnard. (ref. 42) The ownership passed in
1816 to Messrs. White and Hewitt and in 1819
to James Hewitt whose family continued in
possession until 1865, when the hotel was
closed. (ref. 143) The building was then let to market
tenants until 1883. (ref. 144) In 1885 it was demolished
to make way for the extension of the Flower
Market. (ref. 42)
No. 4 Little Piazza
In 1769 this site was let with the site of No. 3
to John Henry Rigg. From 1781 to 1801 it was
occupied by Rigg, who moved here from No. 3. (ref. 42)
In 1801–3 the house next door to the Old
Hummums was said to be occupied by the
Tavistock Coffee House and Public Breakfast
Room, (ref. 145) perhaps a short-lived venture at No. 4
during the years 1801–2 when the house was
tenanted by Rigg's successor, Francis Keymer. (ref. 42)
Alternatively it may be that the Harrisons' New
Hummums Coffee House and Hotel at Nos. 1 and
2 was sometimes called the Tavistock, since the
new hotel established by Thomas Harrison on the
north side of the Piazza was so called.
From 1805 to 1838 No. 4 was occupied by the
proprietor of the Imperial Hotel in Tavistock
Row. It was let to a fruit salesman in 1854 and
continued to be occupied by market tenants until
its demolition in 1884 for the extension of the
Flower Market. (ref. 42)