Mayfair, Belgravia, and Bayswater | Page 9

1716, to replace the old wooden chapel which
James II. had originally set up on Hounslow Heath, but which was
brought to, and left at the top of, Old Bond Street about 1691.
Four-fifths of the income derived from the three houses on this site are
devoted to the maintenance of the district churches in the parish, the

remainder going to the parish of St. Martin's. The share of St. George's
parish now amounts to a capital sum of £5,075, and an income of
£1,600.
At No. 9, once the town house of the Earls of Macclesfield, are the
offices of the Royal Institute of British Architects, established 1835,
and other kindred societies.
At the Princess of Wales' Tavern, now demolished, David Williams
started the Royal Literary Fund in 1772.
In this street lived: Duke of Wharton, 1725; Charles James Fox, b. here
1749; Boswell, 1772; Wilberforce, 1786; Delmé Radcliffe, d. 1832;
Balfe, composer; No. 36, Sir William Farquhar, physician to William
Pitt; 37, George Canning, 1802-03, after him Dr. Elliotson (the house
has since been rebuilt); 39, Sir Astley Cooper, surgeon, d. 1841.
Old and New Bond Street form a continuous thoroughfare, in which are
situated some of the most fashionable shops in London. Though
somewhat narrow, and architecturally uninteresting, it has always been
a favourite society promenade, and when first built was "inhabited by
the nobility and gentry" (Hatton). New Bond Street dates from about
1716, and occupies part of the site of Conduit Mead (twenty-seven
acres), the property of the City of London. Of the houses the following
are interesting:
No. 135, the Grosvenor Gallery, the chief of the many picture-galleries
in Bond Street. The house was erected in 1877 for Sir Coutts Lindsey,
Bart., and contains a lending library and until recently the Grosvenor
Club (proprietary, social and non-political). The doorway, by Palladio,
was brought from Venice, and the front is by Soames.
Nos. 15 and 16 are Long's Hotel, much frequented by Sir Walter Scott;
it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1888.
At No. 18, now a jeweller's, was Steven's Hotel, fashionable during the
Regency, and afterwards a haunt of Lord Byron's.

At No. 169, on the west side, was the Clarendon Hotel, formerly the
town house of the Dukes of Grafton, and afterwards the residence,
about 1741, of the elder Pitt. The hotel was closed in 1877, and
replaced by a row of shops.
Inhabitants: Swift, 1727; Mrs. Delany, 1731; Lords Craven,
Abergavenny, and Coventry, 1732; George Selwyn, 1751; Dr. Johnson,
1767; Thomson, the poet; No. 141, Lord Nelson, 1797; 146, Sir
Thomas Picton, 1797-1800; 147, Mrs. and Miss Gunning, 1792; 148,
Lord Camelford, 1803-04; 150, Lady Hamilton, 1813.
Old Bond Street, and the adjoining Stafford Street, Albemarle and
Dover Streets, occupy the site of old Clarendon House, the grounds of
which covered nearly 30 acres, granted to Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, by
Charles II. The house, described by Evelyn as a noble pile, was erected
in 1664, and after being leased, in 1670, to the Duke of Ormonde, was
sold in 1675 to the second Duke of Albemarle, who parted with it to Sir
Thomas Bond for £20,000. The latter, in 1686, built Bond Street, the
west side of which was first called Albemarle Buildings. Residents:
1708, Lords Coningsby, Abingdon, and Anglesea; 1725, the Duke of St.
Albans, Countess of Gainsborough; 1741, Duke of Kingston; 1753,
Countess of Macclesfield; at the present No. 41, in 1768, died Laurence
Sterne; Pascal Paoli, 1761; Boswell, 1769; No. 24, 1791, Sir Thomas
Lawrence, R.A., afterwards the offices of the Artists' Benevolent
Institution, founded 1814, the Artists' Orphan Fund, and the Arundel
Society for promoting the knowledge of Art, established 1848. These
have now been removed.
Halfway down on the west side is the Royal Arcade, a short passage
leading to Albemarle Street, containing shops, with a handsome
entrance at each end. It was opened in 1883.
In 1820, on the east side, stood another arcade, communicating with the
Burlington Arcade, and named the Western Exchange. It failed, and
was closed.
In Stafford Street a stone let into the wall of a public-house had the
inscription: "This is Stafford Street, 1686." At the corner of Albemarle

Street, in 1852, was the Stafford Street Club, formed by Roman
Catholics.
Albemarle Street, Grafton Street, and Dover Street contain handsome
houses, the residences still of many of the aristocracy. The former was
built in 1684-1708 by Sir Thomas Bond, and named after the Duke of
Albemarle. Its chief houses are: No. 21, the Royal Institution,
established by Count Rumford in 1799, for "diffusing the Knowledge
and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical
inventions and improvements," etc.; has a stone front, with a row of
half engaged Corinthian columns, designed by Louis Vulliamy, and
erected in 1837. It contains a lecture-theatre, reading-room, and