Proceeding on, eastward, we arrive once more at Cook’s Grounds, which was, as previously stated, a private way originally to the stabling of Sir Joseph Alston’s House, in Cheyne Walk. The old house, for so many years occupied by Mr. Pamplin, the nurseryman, on the western entrance in the King’s Road, has recently been pulled down, and two commanding shops erected on the site, by Mr. Leete, the builder, of Little Cadogan Place. They contain thirteen rooms each, built with white bricks and compo-dressings, with enrichments and cornices. On the right-hand side of Cook’s Grounds, from the King’s Road, about 30 superior-looking private dwelling houses are now being built, each of which will contain eight rooms. These are also built with white bricks, and will have what is termed “cant” windows. The road opposite them is intended to be 50 ft. wide, and there will be a good pavement. When this great improvement is finally completed, and carried forward to Cheyne Walk, which no doubt is the intention, this new street will then scarcely be surpassed by Oakley Street. In Trafalgar Square, likewise, there are a number of very superior dwelling-houses now in course of erection, and, when the entire square is finished, there will be an excellent road from Cheyne Walk to the South Kensington Museum.
THE VESTRY HALL.
This building is situated on the south side of the King’s Road, and is nearly opposite Robert Street. The foundation stone was laid on the 12th of December, 1859. The arrangements for the accommodation of the public were under the superintendence of W. W. Pocock, Esq., the architect, and notwithstanding it was a very inclement day, there were at least a thousand persons present.
In a bottle were deposited a suitable inscription on vellum, a list of the parish officers for the year, one copy of each of the three Annual Reports of the Vestry, a copy of the “Metropolis Local Management Act,” with its Amendments, and of the “Nuisances Removal Act,” and one of each of the Coins of the present Reign. The band of the Royal Military Asylum attended, and played several popular airs, which added greatly to enliven the proceedings.
The following particulars are extracted from the “Morning Advertiser,” Tuesday, December 13th, 1859, and which were inserted in the Fourth Annual Report of the Vestry, 1860.
The foundation stone was laid by Viscount Chelsea in due form, in the presence of Robert Hanbury, Esq., and the Hon. G. Byng, the Members for Middlesex, W. Tite, Esq., M.P., the Rev. C. Kingsley, the Rector of the Parish, the Members of the Vestry, and a large number of the influential inhabitants of the parish.
The building is in the Italian style, with stone facings. The length is about 140 ft., and between 60 and 70 feet in breadth. The great hall is 64ft. in length, and 40 ft. wide, and accommodates upwards of 1000 persons. The board room is about 45 ft. by 30.
The time appointed for the ceremonial was two o’clock in the afternoon, and at half-past one o’clock the gentlemen invited to take part in the day’s proceedings assembled in the Vestry-Room of St. Luke’s Church, and proceeded from thence to the site of the proposed building, headed by the juvenile band of the Royal Military Asylum, playing national and other appropriate airs. The procession, on arriving at the spot, was received with loud cheers by a large number of the inhabitants who were admitted within the grounds.
Mr. Tite, M.P., opened the business of the day in an appropriate speech, in the course of which he alluded to the kind gift of the freehold site by Earl Cadogan, the money for the erection of the building having been voted by the Vestry. The new hall, he said, when built, would not only be useful as regarded parochial purposes, but it would be an ornament to that locality. He was not disposed to introduce politics into a matter so purely parochial, but he could not help saying that, in the event of Chelsea obtaining a right to send representatives to Parliament—to which it is fully entitled on account of the number, respectability, and intelligence of its inhabitants—they could meet in their new hall, and there canvass and consider the claims of the candidates who presented themselves for their suffrages.
Mr. Hanbury and Mr. Byng then severally addressed the numerous assemblage in suitable speeches.