CHAPTER 4 - WATERLOO ROAD
Cuper's Garden
[See plates 6 and 7]
The immediate approach to Waterloo Bridge was formed on a piece
of ground which had for many years been part of a famous pleasure ground,
known as Cuper's (or Cupid's) Garden. The site was originally part of
Lambeth Marsh. In the later Middle Ages it had belonged to the Earls of
Arundel and in 1559 it was sold by Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, with Norfolk
House and other property in Lambeth (see p. 137) to Richard Garthe and
John Dyster under the description of “three acres of medowe” in “the
bishopp of Canterburyes marshe.” (ref. 59) It changed hands several times during
the following thirty years, and in 1589 (ref. 60) Thomas Cure, gentleman, who
owned the demesne lands of Paris Garden Manor, sold it to Richard Hanburie,
citizen and goldsmith of London. The ground was then described as three
acres “used as a great garden nowe or late in the tenure … of Richard
Love.“ In 1634 Augustine Skinner, who had acquired the property by his
marriage, sold it to Thomas, Earl of Arundel, (ref. 61) the owner of considerable
property in Paris Garden Manor as well as of Arundel House on the opposite
side of the river. Arundel leased it to Abraham Boydell Cuper, who was
employed in his household, and either Abraham or his son opened it as a
public pleasure garden. (fn. a)
In 1680 Thomas Bedford bought the ground in trust for Sir Leoline
Jenkins. The latter, who had been Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, from
1661 to 1673, died in 1685 and bequeathed both this ground and the
Hopes farther west along Narrow Wall (see p. 56) to the College. (ref. 60)
In 1686 Bodwyn Cuper acquired a lease of the adjoining ground, 7
acres in extent, from the Archbishop of Canterbury (ref. 62) and extended the gardens.
Hatton, in 1708, described the “pleasant Gardens and Walks with Bowling
greens … whither many of the Westerly part of the Town resort for
Diversion in the Summer Season.” (ref. 63) In 1738 the gardens and the Feathers
Tavern were taken over by Ephraim Evans, who did much to make them
more attractive. Among other things he built an orchestra in which was
installed an organ by Bridge. (ref. 64) Evants died in 1740, (ref. 65)
but the gardens continued to flourish under the management of his widow.
“Cuper's Gardens. This is to acquaint all Gentlemen and Ladies,
that this present Saturday, the 25th instant, will be perform’d several curious
Pieces of Musick, compos'd by Mr. Handel, Sig. Hasse, Mr. Arne, Mr.
Burgess, etc., in which will be introduced the celebrated Fire-Musick, as
originally compos'd by Mr. Handel … the Fireworks consisting of Fire-Wheels, Fountains, large Sky-Rockets, with an Addition of the Fire-Pump,
etc., made by the ingenious Mr. Worman … play'd off from the Top of
the Orchestra by Mr. Worman himself … The Widow Evans hopes,
that as her Endeavours are to oblige the Town, they will favour her Gardens
with their Company; and particular Care will be taken there shall be better
Attendance, and more commodious Reception for the Company.” (ref. 66)
Jesus College, Oxford
This advertisement from a newspaper of 1741 is typical of many
which appeared between 1740 and 1752. In the latter year the gardens,
which had always attracted pickpockets and other undesirable clientele in
spite of the shilling admission charge, fell under the ban of the Act “for the
better preventing thefts and robberies, and for regulating places of publick
entertainment.” (ref. 67) For a few years Mrs. Evans continued to run the place as
an unlicensed tea garden in connection with the Feathers Tavern, with
occasional private evening concerts and firework entertainments open only
to subscribers, but it finally closed in 1760. In 1761 it was in the hands of
the Jesus College authorities, who sold the lead from the roof of the “Great
House” and felled some of the trees. The house near the entrance and other
outbuildings were let out in tenements and the skittle ground was let temporarily to a Mr. Pillford. (ref. 60) In 1762 Mark Beaufoy, who is described as
vinegar merchant, was granted a 20 year lease of the premises with permission
to pull down the house and to use the materials to erect others. (ref. 60)
(fn. b)
distilled both wine and vinegar; in the flowery words of Pennant— (ref. 69)
“The genial banks of the Thames opposite to our capital,
yield almost every species of white wine; and, by a wondrous magic,
Messrs. Beaufoy pour forth the materials for the rich Frontiniac, to
the more elegant tables … There is a magnificence of business in
this ocean of sweets and sours, that cannot fail exciting the greatest
admiration: whether we consider the number of vessels, or their
size … On first entering the yard, two rise before you, covered
at the top with a thatched dome; between them is a circular turret,
including a winding staircase, which brings you to their summits,
which are above twenty-four feet in diameter. One of these conservatories is full of sweet wine, and contains fifty-eight thousand
one hundred and nine gallons … Its superb associate is full of
vinegar …”
Besides these, is an avenue of lesser vessels … (fn. c)
In 1813 the Strand Bridge Company purchased the three acres
belonging to Jesus College for the formation of the Waterloo Bridge
approach. The plan on Plate 3 shows the line of Waterloo Road cutting
across the gardens. The remainder of Waterloo Road was formed on land
belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury. (ref. 70)
Waterloo Bridge Approach
The southern approach to Waterloo Bridge was carried on a series
of brick arches with a gradual descent to the York Road and Stamford Street
level. The result was that the houses on the bridge approach had a very
extensive cellarage, and the Feathers Tavern on the east side (built by the
landlord of the old tavern of the same name on the foreshore, illustrated in
Plate 7b) was really two public houses one above the other, the lower one
being in Commercial Road, now Upper Ground, and the upper in Waterloo
Road. Albert Smith (ref. 71) gave a lurid description of this street above a street in
the 1840's—
“It is well ventilated … by the wind, which rushes up
frightful chasms from unknown depths, and through the gratings
in the pavement. Its atmosphere is as light and rarefied as the housekeeping of its inhabitants, by reason of its elevation. For its houses
are all cellars stories under stories of cellars the lowest of which
no eye may fathom, but which terminate in subterraneous regions
inhabited only by dray-horses, and lumbering wains, and burly
coal-heavers. The commerce of Waterloo Road is limited; judging
from the shop windows, it appears chiefly confined to bonnet-shapes,
playbills and pale dry cigars.”
Sketches of the front and back elevations of the houses on the west
side just prior to their demolition in 1949–50 are given in Plate 24. This
row was known as Southampton Terrace. The present generation will,
perhaps, chiefly remember it for the tattooist's shop at No. 72 (1918–49).
The Royal Hospital for Children and Women
[See plates 11a and 5]
One of the earliest buildings in Waterloo Road was the Royal
Universal Infirmary for Children. This institution was the successor of the
Universal Dispensary for Sick and Indigent Children founded in 1816 by
Dr. J. Bunnell Davis in premises in St. Andrew's Hill, Doctors' Commons.
A four-storey building, two storeys being below the level of the road, was
erected in 1823 at the north-east corner of Waterloo Road and Stamford
Street, and was opened as a dispensary in the following year. (ref. 72) The design
was made gratuitously by David Laing, architect of the Customs House.
Although the institution enjoyed the patronage of various royal personages
and of the Lord Mayor of London it was perpetually short of funds, and,
until 1851, treatment was given only to out-patients, part of the building
being let as a school. (ref. 47)
In 1851 a surgical ward was opened, and in 1852 arrangements
were made with the trustees of the Hayles Estate for the reception of a certain
number of poor women from the parish of Lambeth. (ref. 72)
The infirmary was built on land which was part of the triangular
slip of ground bought by the Waterloo Bridge Company from Jesus College,
Oxford, and assigned to the Duchy of Cornwall in exchange for ground given
up to form the bridge approaches. In 1876 (ref. 47) the Prince of Wales sold the
freehold to the trustees of the infirmary John Fisher Eastwood, Frederick
Lincoln Bevan and the Rev. Frederic Tugwell and a new storey was added
to the building. Five years later they acquired the freehold of the adjoining
properties in Waterloo Road and Stamford Street. (ref. 47)
The hospital was entirely rebuilt in 1903–05, with the exception of
the nurses’ home, which was completed in 1927. (ref. 73)
Architectural Description
The present hospital has five storeys and basement. It is of red brick
with brown terra-cotta dressings and has a corner turret over the glazed-ware
porch which bears the Royal Arms. On the Waterloo Road elevation an
arcaded balcony serves each of the first, second and third floor wards.
The nurses' home adjoining is also of red brick with brown terracotta dressings. It has six storeys above the basement.
The firm of Messrs. Waring and Nicholson designed the hospital
and the nurses' home and also prepared the scheme of conversion after the
recent war for the nurses' home annexe in York Road opposite the York
Hotel.
The present hospital was planned with the ground floor for administration purposes and the first, second and third floors as wards giving
accommodation for two hundred beds. The entrance porch of glazed ware
was the gift in 1905 of H. Lewis Doulton.
Nos. 77–119
Most of the original houses of Waterloo Road have been pulled down.
Waterloo Station, the Union Jack Club (1907–09), and the offices at the
corner of Stamford Street accounted for a large
number, and others have been rebuilt piecemeal. A
few houses of the 1830's survive in Alfred Place
(Nos. 77 and 79) at the south-east corner of Exton
Street and in Maude Place (Nos. 115–119) just
north of The Cut, but they have been much altered.
Figure 2:
No. 86 Waterloo Road. Detail of railings
Nos. 80–86 (formerly Nos. 40–43)
[See plates 21 and 22]
These houses date from the formation of the
bridge approach. They were erected on part of a
piece of ground at the corner of York Road and
Waterloo Road which had been purchased by the
Archbishop of Canterbury from the proprietors of
Waterloo Bridge, and by him granted to John Field, wax chandler, and Agnes
Bazing, spinster, by a building lease dated 25th March, 1824. (ref. 74) These houses
and those on the return front in Boyce Street (formerly Anne Street) were
designed by L. N. Cottingham, who occupied No. 86 from its erection until
his death in 1847. (ref. 48) Cottingham's drawing (dated 1826) of the elevation of
Nos. 80–86 is reproduced on Plate 23a.
Nos. 80–86 form an impressive terrace in stock brick. They have
four storeys above pavement level with recessed round-headed windows atthe first floor and gauged flat arches to the upper floors. There are shop
fronts to Nos. 84 and 86. No. 86 has an enriched arched entrance on the
Boyce Street return.
Figure 3:
No. 86 Waterloo Road. Detail of doors on first floor. Measured drawings
The York Hotel has a simple pilaster treatment to its stuccoed ground
storey. At first floor level to both frontages it has a continuous paterae band
to the fascia.
The parapets of the terrace have a cornice and blocking course
surmounted by stele heads on short pedestals at the corners and over the
party walls. There are pseudo-triglyphs to the horizontal panels over the
third floor windows, while the main cornice with its flat brackets is at this
floor level. Both second and third storeys have panelled cills, those at the
lower level being linked by a continuous band.
Historical Notes
No. 80 has been used as the York Hotel since the date of its erection.
No. 86 (formerly No. 43) was built by Lewis Nockalls Cotungham, architect and
antiquary, for his own residence, and its rooms were specially designed to receive the library
which he had formed and the many specimens of Gothic carving in stone and wood he had
preserved from buildings that had been destroyed. A catalogue was published but the collection
was dispersed a few years after his death. (fn. d)
Figure 4:
No. 86 Waterloo Road. Doorway to Boyce Street. Measured drawing by A. R. Hansen
Cottingham actively supported the retention of the Lady Chapel at St. Saviour's, Southwark,
and was employed on the restoration of the Temple Church and of St. Alban's Abbey. He was
largely responsible for laying out the estate of John Field in the Waterloo district. At the time of
his death on 13th October, 1847, he was engaged on the restoration of Hereford Cathedral, a
task which was completed by his son, Nockalls Johnson Cottingham. (ref. 75) The latter lived at No. 86
Waterloo Road until 1851. Since his departure the house has been used for commercial purposes.
Nos. 88 and 90. These houses date from the same period and are
similar in character to Nos. 80–86, but have been much altered.
The Royal Swimming Bath. This building (Plate 11b) stood on
the west side of Waterloo Road a little to the north of Lower Marsh. The
site is now covered by Waterloo Station.
The Cut (formerly the New Cut)
The New Cut was developed as a roadway continuing Lower Marsh
cast of Waterloo Road circa 1820. The houses on the south side were built
by Samuel Short, carpenter, between 1818 and 1821. Under the terms of
his lease they were “third-rate” houses with the front walls faced with stock
bricks and having rubbed and gauged arches to the windows and stone coped
parapets; (ref. 76)
none of these houses now remains. Short had a lease of the
ground bounded by the New Cut, Webber Street, and Short Street, and
developed the whole property at this time. The ground was originally a
meadow called Chalcroft which, in the 18th century, had been let out as
garden ground. (ref. 77)
Figure 5:
Nos. 96–100 Waterloo Road. First floor iron balustrade. Measured drawing by B. Shawcroft
Prior to the 19th century the ground between The Cut and Prince's
Meadows (Stamford Street) on the eastern boundary of Lambeth was known
as Wild Marsh. (ref. 78)
This area was developed in the 1820's by John Roupell,
who is described in the deeds as a gold refiner. (ref. 79)
From him Roupell Street
derives its name.