Chapter V: Mayfair

Sir Richard Grosvenor and the Westminster Property--Origin
of “Mayfair”--Davies Street--Grosvenor
Square--North and South Audley Streets--Park
Street--Norfolk Street--Upper Brook Street--Upper
Grosvenor Street--Mount Street--Charles
Street--Curzon Street--Curzon Chapel--Hertford
and Chesterfield Streets--Lesser Streets of Mayfair--Park
Lane--Tyburn Lane--Great Houses in Park
Lane--Hamilton Place--Mayfair, the Home of
Fashion 115 to 140

PRESS OPINIONS.

“A good little book for pilgrims, ‘more especially,’ as it states, ‘those from America,’ who wish to recognise the multitude of distinguished ghosts who crowd the district dealt with.”--_Graphic._

“Always readable and interesting. The chief attraction of the book, which, by the way, is charmingly ‘got up,’ is to be found in the twenty plate illustrations of Old London streets and houses. Four are successful reproductions in colour.”--_Antiquarian._

“In this pretty little book ... these notes on the heart of the West End are made to gyrate round Stewart’s Tea Rooms at the corner of Bond Street, called ‘Stewart’s Corner.’ The publisher seems to have felt that to assume this shop to be the hub of the best part of London is sufficiently remarkable to require explanation, so he writes:--‘To begin one’s peregrinations at the corner of Bond Street and Piccadilly seems at first sight a little arbitrary, but one soon realizes that in starting from “Stewart’s” and keeping within a half-mile radius of this centre, one is really covering by far the most interesting portion of the West End.’ The plates, which are mostly reproductions of old prints, are singularly interesting (especially the coloured ones), and are themselves worth the price of the book.”--_Athenæum._

“Mr. Chancellor guides the reader round the old streets and houses, introducing him personally, as it were, to the quaint and interesting people who inhabited them.”--_The Queen._

“A little book gathering up in a quite popular way some of the associations of the district, with many illustrations of it as it appeared in the past.”--_“Times” Literary Supplement._

“The author of ‘The Squares of London’ has in a high degree the faculties of selection and concentration, and in his hundred and fifty pages he has been able to tell us so much and to tell it so well.”--_Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News._

“There is no lack of interest, past and present, in the district about which our author discourses. Piccadilly is notorious for its ‘ghosts’; and St. James’s Street, Park Lane, Grosvenor Square, Pall Mall, Albemarle Street, to name a few places at random, have an abundant population of the same kind. This little volume, which is judiciously illustrated, makes good reading.”--_The Spectator._

“A pretty little book this, with charming illustrations of the West End in days of old, four of them in colour. The pages are rich in brief anecdote, as well as topographical details of interest.”--_The Lady’s Pictorial._

“It is just the book for the Londoner who is always interested in the old spots that are being swept away one by one; and the novice who knows nothing of the subject will be fascinated by these pictures of former days.”--_Methodist Times._

“Those who are interested in this class of literature will find Mr. Chancellor’s book interesting, all the more so if they have some acquaintance with the English literature of the last two centuries. The area covered is large, but there is no lack of interest, past and present, in our author’s discoursings about it. The volume is judiciously illustrated.”--_Catholic Times._

“Pictures of St. James’s Street in George the Third’s reign, the palace at the foot in the days of the Stuarts, Carlton House during the Regency, together with various old inns, mansions, and other vanished buildings, combine to make an illustrated gallery of a departed era.”--_The Bookseller._

“Famous streets, famous buildings, famous men. Mr. Chancellor catalogues them in an agreeable literary form, with plenty of notes and incidents and historic origins.”--_The Globe._

“Mr. Chancellor’s small volume is among the best. It has a real literary flavour, and is full of reminiscences of times long past. The twenty illustrations of old London (four of them in colour) are particularly well chosen.”--_Publishers’ Circular._

“A compact memorial volume like this is of special value. We are conducted round the fine old streets and famous houses, and are given almost personal introductions to the famous and quaint folk who inhabited them.”--_Christian Commonwealth._

“In hunting up places of interest connected with our forbears, the author has endeavoured, and successfully, to keep alive for us a remembrance of a past period.”--_Broad Arrow._

“A pleasant sketch describing the West End of London in the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth century, drawing a vivid picture of life in that part of London at that time, and giving details concerning many famous buildings.”--_Record._

“This charming little work must needs be invaluable to all lovers of London, among whom the author reckons our American cousins, for whose more especial benefit he has given a map of the district in two parts, one representing the Eastern and the other the Western limits of his rambles.”--_Western Morning News._

“Mr. Chancellor recalls many historical facts about these old streets and houses, re-peopling them with English men and women of long ago, telling anecdotes and gossiping in pleasantest manner.”--_Yorkshire Daily Post._

“There is much to be learned from these pages how these parts of London came to be built, and why the streets bear various strange names, of which Maddox is one.”--_Nottingham Guardian._

“The author of ‘The Squares of London’ has undoubtedly done a great deal to keep alive for us, with a ready and able pen, memories of the old London which are tending to become less and less distinct with the march of time and the rush of new ideas.”--_Huddersfield Examiner._

“The book is full of delightful gossip regarding the clubs, theatres, and great houses of past and present times.”--_The Northern Whig._

“A capital and interesting book of its kind, full of pleasant reminiscences of the days of the leisurely life and refinement of the century that has gone.”--_Manchester Evening News._

“The volume is well illustrated, and the reproductions from old prints and drawings of mansions which have altogether disappeared--as, for instance, Northumberland House, with its famous lion--are particularly interesting.”--_Glasgow Herald._

“This admirable book is packed full of historical and biographical information, retailed in the pleasantest possible manner.”--_Liverpool Daily Courier._

“Mr. Chancellor is an excellent cicerone in describing for us the old streets and houses and the quaint people who inhabited them.”--_Yorkshire Herald._

“With this little book in his pocket (where it will hardly reveal itself), or on his table, the visitor to London can add greatly to his enjoyment.”--_Aberdeen Journal._

“A delightful little guide to the localities mentioned.”--_Aberdeen Free Press._

“With this book in the coat pocket--to glance at in convenient corners--one could spend some pleasant hours.”--_Bolton Journal._

List of Plates.

GARDENS OF CARLTON HOUSE IN 1784 _To face Title_

STEWART’S CORNER _To face page_ 2

*CLARENDON HOUSE 8

*THE WHITE HORSE CELLAR (HATCHETT’S RESTAURANT),
PICCADILLY 12
(_From a Drawing by George Cruickshank._)

THE GLOUCESTER COFFEE HOUSE, PICCADILLY 14

THE GATES OF HYDE PARK IN 1756 27
(_From a Drawing by Jones._)

THE TURNPIKE AT HYDE PARK CORNER 28

ST. JAMES’S STREET, WHITE’S CLUB, AND BROOKS’S
CLUB 36

ST. JAMES’S PALACE 44

CARLTON HOUSE (_George IV. proclaimed King_) 52

THE OPERA HOUSE COLONNADE, PALL MALL, AND
CARLTON HOUSE SCREEN 64

ST. JAMES’S SQUARE 68

*“THE BULL AND MOUTH,” PICCADILLY 75

LOWER REGENT STREET, FROM PICCADILLY CIRCUS,
WITH CARLTON HOUSE AND SCREEN 76

“THE WHITE BEAR,” FORMERLY “THE FLEECE,”
PICCADILLY 78

THE PICCADILLY HOTEL 79

DENMAN HOUSE, PICCADILLY 81

OLD BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY 82

*LONG’S HOTEL, BOND STREET 87

*“THE WESTERN EXCHANGE,” OLD BOND STREET 91

*THE MAY FAIR IN 1716 115

THE ENTRANCE TO PICCADILLY, AT HYDE PARK
CORNER, WITH ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL 139

*From the Collection of Edward Gardner, Esq.