CHAPTER 20: THE LOTTERY OFFICE (DEMOLISHED).
Immediately south of the Banqueting House, and occupying the
site of portions of the Privy Gallery (including the Lord Keeper's rooms
as shown on the plan of 1670, and the Adam and Eve staircase) and Privy
Garden, was the building which, at least as early as 1722, (fn. 1) was known as
the Lottery Office. (fn. 2) On the widening of the road between the Banqueting
House and King Street Gate, and the removal of the gun-platform, in 1723,
the Lottery Office came to front the newly-widened thoroughfare. A good
view of the building in 1746 is contained in Plate 7.
In 1732, when the old Treasury was pulled down for the erection
of Kent's new building, the Treasury Commissioners removed temporarily
to the Lottery Office. (fn. 3) The new Treasury was finished in 1736, and in
1742 it was decided to fit up "the rooms in the Privy Garden where the
Treasury was lately kept" as an office for the secretary of state. It was at
first suggested that a room, 56 feet long, on the ground floor, should be
provided with presses and shelves, and that the articles belonging to
the Lottery Office should be cleared away, but it was finally decided, on
the score of expense, to omit the item, and allow "the wheels & other
things belonging to the Lottery Office" to remain there. (fn. 4) The wheels (fn. 5)
were subsequently removed to sheds on the south side of the building
(see p. 223).
The premises remained in the occupation of the Secretary of State
until 1771. (fn. 6) In December of that year Peter Burrell obtained a grant
of the ground adjoining, on which the lottery wheels had been stored, and in
January, 1772, orders were given for them to be placed in the building. (fn. 7)
In 1788 Henry Holland, architect to the Duke of York, applied (fn. 8)
on the latter's behalf for permission to purchase "the house in Privy Gardens
lately used as an office for the Commissioners of the Lottery," and to enclose
a small piece of Privy Garden lying to the east. The report on the application
stated that "the lower part of the building is still in the possession of the
Commissioners … whose officers state that they have no other place for the
custody of the lottery wheels until the new Lottery Office in Somerset Place
shall be ready." About four years later the duke renewed his application (fn. 9)
in connection with a request for a new lease of the house (afterwards Dover
House) which he had purchased, on the other side of the road. The application was granted, and the duke forthwith pulled down the old building and
erected stables on the site. A view of them is given in the illustration of the
Banqueting House on p. 127. They lasted until 1893. On 6th June in that
year the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VII) laid the memorial
stone of the new premises of the Royal United Service Institution, and on
20th February, 1895, opened the building. (fn. 10)