Map of District
covered by
Wanderings in Piccadilly
Mayfair & Pall Mall
Eastern Section
Scale:- 8 Inches to 1 Mile.

Wanderings in Piccadilly
Mayfair and
Pall Mall

GARDENS OF CARLTON HOUSE IN 1784.

Wanderings in London
Piccadilly, Mayfair
and Pall Mall

By

E. BERESFORD CHANCELLOR, M.A.
F.R. Hist: Soc:
Author of
“The Squares of London,” ETC.

WITH
TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS OF OLD LONDON
(Four of them in Colour)

JAMES POTT & CO.
New York

1909

WANDERINGS IN LONDON
PICCADILLY, MAYFAIR
AND PALL MALL

To facilitate the “Wanderings”
of inexperienced pilgrims, more
especially of those from America, a

MAP OF THE DISTRICT

will be found within the two covers
of the book; that in the front giving
the more eastern, and that in the
back the more western limits of the
district concerned.

WARD & CO.
Colour Printers
33 & 34 Craven Street
Charing Cross
London, W.C.

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

Old London vanishes, another London takes its place; the interesting old spots associated with the leisurely life and refinement of the century that has gone, are being swept away one by one. In many ways we would welcome a return of those dear old days, with their appreciation of the belles lettres and the fine arts, and with all their oddities and quaint customs, but they have gone for ever. They played their part in the development of the national life: to us they are but memories.

We owe no small debt of gratitude, however, to those who—like the author—amidst all the changes that are taking place, have tried to keep alive for us with pen and pencil, a remembrance of a period so different from our own. Especially, perhaps, will many of our American cousins recognise this debt when in their migrations they try to hunt up places of interest connected with their English forbears.

Mr. Chancellor is most happy as he takes us round the old streets and houses, and gives—as it were—almost personal introductions to the quaint and interesting people who inhabited them. His pages are sentient with living personages, and as we read we forget the years that have rolled away, while we enjoy the laugh and quip with the interesting old characters which are met with at every turn and corner.

To begin one’s peregrinations at the corner of Bond Street and Piccadilly seems at first sight a little arbitrary, but one soon realises 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; while the old shop, which—during more than two centuries—has given its name to this corner of Bond Street, and which, as Mr. Chancellor declares, is to Americans one of the best known spots in Europe, is in itself a most interesting link with the past and present.

The Author, and the Publishers, acknowledge with thanks their indebtedness to Edward Gardner, Esq., for kind permission to reproduce six views of Old London from his unique Collection of Drawings and Prints.

Contents.

PAGE
CHAPTER I.—PICCADILLY.
Stewart’s Corner—Albemarle Street—Dover Street—The
White Horse Cellar—Hatchett’s Restaurant—Berkeley
Street—Devonshire House—Stratton
Street—Bolton Street—Bath House—The Clubs of
Piccadilly—Clarges Street—Half Moon Street—Cambridge
House—Ritz Hotel—Down Street—Gloucester
House—“Old Q.”		[1 to 28]
CHAPTER II.—ST. JAMES’S STREET & PALL MALL.
The Green Park—Constitution Hill—Cleveland
Row—St. James’s Palace—Arlington Street—St.
James’s Street—The Clubs of St. James’s Street—Chocolate
Houses—King Street—Pall Mall—Pall
Mall Clubs—Pall Mall Taverns—Carlton House		[29 to 56]
CHAPTER III.—THE HAYMARKET, ST. JAMES’S
SQUARE AND PICCADILLY (EAST).
The Haymarket—The Haymarket Theatre—Suffolk
Street—The Opera House—His Majesty’s Theatre—St.
James’s Square—Jermyn Street—St. James’s
Church—Piccadilly Circus—Pickadilla Hall—Piccadilly
East—Quaritch’s—The Albany—Burlington
House, Burlington Arcade 		[57 to 83]
CHAPTER IV.—BOND STREET.
Bond Street—Famous Residents—Prince of Wales’s
Coffee House—Burlington Street—Burlington
Gardens—Vigo Street—Clifford Street—Savile Row—Cork
Street—Conduit Street—Maddox Street—George
Street—Hanover Square—St. George’s
Church—Brook Street—Grosvenor Street—Bruton
Street—Grafton Street—Hay Hill—Berkeley
Square		[84 to 114]
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 CORNERTo face page [2]
*CLARENDON HOUSE[8]
*THE WHITE HORSE CELLAR (HATCHETT’S
RESTAURANT), PICCADILLY
(From a Drawing by George Cruickshank.)		[12]
THE GLOUCESTER COFFEE HOUSE, PICCADILLY[14]
THE GATES OF HYDE PARK IN 1756
(From a Drawing by Jones.)		[27]
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.