CHAPTER 9: DUKE STREET
Date and Description.
Only three seventeenth-century houses remain in Duke Street,
namely Nos. 2, 3 and 4, but of these No. 2 has retained more of its original
features than most of the
premises on the York House
estate. It now has a cement
exterior, but it is probable
that it formerly had a brick
front with gauged work to
the arches and quoins. The
entrance doorway has a pedimented Ionic doorcase executed in wood (Plate 55). The
staircase, which is of substantial construction, has stout
turned balusters to the basement flight, while the main
flights up to the top floor have
spiral balusters, square newels
with carved pendants, and a
heavy handrail with the moulding forming a capping to the
newels. The staircase walls
have a bolection moulded
dado (Plate 54). Some of the rooms retain their original bolection moulded
panelling and deep cornice. The cornice to the back room on the ground
floor has an unusual lozenge decoration to the corona member and an extradeep bed moulding. The architraves to the doors in the back room on the
first floor are enriched with carved acanthus leaf and some of the other doors
have the moulded architraves, typical of the late seventeenth century (Plate53c
). The front room on the ground floor has a statuary and brocatella marble
mantelpiece with detached Ionic columns supporting the shelf (Plate 52b).
Figure 18:
Plans of No. 2, Duke Street
The interior of No. 3 contains no features of architectural interest.
No. 4, like No. 2, has a cement front. The stairs have close strings, square
newels, turned balusters and dado panelling, while the hall has some
bolection moulded panelling and a semicircular arched screen with panelled
pilasters.
State of Repair.
Good.
Ground Landlords.
No. 2—J. A. Phillips; Nos. 3 and 4—A. G. Towell.
Historical Notes.
A list of the occupants of Nos. 2, 3 and 4, Duke
Street, is given in Appendix B.
No. 2.—The plot of ground on which this house was
erected was sold on 1st June, 1676, (ref. 252) and in 1678–81 the house
was in the occupation of Edward Christian, who built several
houses on the York House estate. Richard Campion, one of the
original mortgagees of the estate and the builder of some of the
houses there, was in possession in 1691–1707. He is described
in the deeds as a "carpenter." After his death his widow continued to occupy the house until 1725.
Figure 19:
ARCHED OPENING IN ENTRANCE PASSAGE
No. 4 DUKE STREET
Francesco Geminiani, the famous Italian violinist, lived
at No. 2 in 1726–7. His pupil, Matthew Dubourg, performed
in the "Great Room" in Villiers Street in 1721 (fn. a) , and it is
probable that Geminiani himself appeared there on more than
one occasion.
No. 2 seems to have been empty for six years after
Geminiani left, but in 1733 it was taken by a distinguished
soldier, William Barrell, who remained there until his death in
1749. Barrell had served under William III and Marlborough,
and was granted the rank of colonel in 1707. He was appointed
brigadier-general of the 28th
Foot in 1727, and was afterwards removed to the King's
Own. He was promoted
major-general in 1735. He led his veterans in the Duke of Cumberland's army at Culloden Moor in 1746, where they seem to
have done their fair share of the "butchery," for after the battle
"there was not a bayonet of this regiment but was either bloody
or bent." (ref. 254)
Figure 20:
STAIRCASE BALUSTRADING
No 4. DUKE STREET.
Later residents at this house do not appear to have been
of note.
No. 3.—This was one of the first houses to be erected
on the York House estate, the sale of the "Ground and
Messuage" being made in 1674, the purchasers being Charles
Toll and Charles Morgan. (ref. 255) The house was not, however,
entered in the ratebooks until 1678. Its occupant for the next
ten years was Sir John Barkman Leyenbergh, the Swedish
Resident. (fn. b) Leyenbergh had previously lived in the Piazza,
Covent Garden, where Pepys visited him on 21st January,
1666–7, (ref. 256) with Sir William Batten, and noted that he was "a
cunning fellow" and his house "ill-furnished." Leyenbergh
married Batten's widow in 1671. Pepys and Leyenbergh were
on bad terms in 1670, perhaps over Batten's privateering
accounts, for which the widow was responsible, and but for an
order from the King Pepys would have challenged the envoy to a duel. The two men were, of
course, near neighbours in York Buildings, and they seem then to have been on good terms, for
in the Pepysian Library is a folio history of Sweden which Leyenbergh presented to Pepys in
1687 "in memory of twenty-six years of happy friendship." (ref. 257)
As stated above (p. 72) the Admiralty Office was at No. 3 from some time in 1689 until
June, 1690, about the middle of which month the office was moved "to the late Lord Jeffreys'
house in St. James's Park." (ref. 258)
From 1716 until 1741 a wine merchant, Charles White, whose name is frequently given
in its French form "Le Blanc," was in occupation of the house.
No 4.—The freehold of the ground on which this house stands was purchased in 1675 by
the governors of St. Margaret's Hospital, sometimes known as the Green Coat School or Hospital,
Westminster, a foundation which in 1873 was incorporated with the United Westminster Schools
Trust. (ref. 259)
The only famous resident at the house was the antiquary, Humfrey Wanley, who probably
took possession towards the end of 1704, about the time at which he was appointed librarian to
Sir Robert Harley (then living at No. 14, Buckingham Street, see p. 73). Wanley had been an
assistant in the Bodleian Library. From March 1701–2 until 1708 he held the post of secretary
to the S.P.C.K. He had helped Dr. George Hickes to compile a catalogue of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts
which was published in 1705. It was Hickes who introduced Wanley to Harley with the
recommendation that he had "the best skill in ancient hands and manuscripts of any man, not only
of this … but of any former age." (ref. 119) Wanley's claim to same rests upon his catalogue of the
Harleian Manuscripts which, in the words of the preface, is a monument to "his extensive learning
and the solidity of his judgment."