Drawings of Old London

by Philip Norman

No. 73. EMANUEL HOSPITAL, WESTMINSTER.

73. Emanuel Hospital, Westminster, 1890 (Water-colour).

(758 × 1234) D. 80-1896.

74. Old Men's Garden, Emanuel Hospital, Westminster, 1891 (Sepia).

Emanuel Hospital (sometimes called Dacre's almshouses), on the west side of James Street, Westminster, was founded pursuant to the will, dated December 20th, 1594, of Anne, Lady Dacre, widow of Gregory, last Lord Dacre of the South, and sister of Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, the poet, "towards the relief of aged people and bringing up of children in virtue and good and laudable acts in the same hospital." On the death in 1623 of the last surviving executor of Lady Dacre, the guardianship of the hospital descended, by the Charter of Incorporation, to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London. The hospital was rebuilt, as it appears in the drawings, during the reign of Queen Anne, and afforded protection to a varying number of old men and women (formerly twenty-four) belonging to Westminster, Chelsea, or Hayes in Middlesex; the schools had been disconnected with it, and formed a portion of the Westminster United School, since 1873. In spite of much opposition from those who loved the picturesque old group of buildings, Emanuel Hospital was closed in 1892. The site was afterwards sold for £37,500, a new scheme being drawn up for the regulation of the charity. The drawing numbered 73 gives a general view of the buildings. In the centre, surmounted by a little clock turret and showing a pediment with the Dacre arms, is the chapel from which people are issuing, the front figure with staff and gown being that of an almsman who officiated as beadle. The master lived close to the chapel, and the old men in the tenements on the left side, their garden, shown in No. 74, being at the back. The entrance, facing James Street, had handsome wrought-iron gates. In the old church at Chelsea there is a stately monument with recumbent figures to Lord and Lady Dacre.

(6 × 812) D. 61-1896.

75. No. 10, Downing Street, from the garden, 1888 (Water-colour).

(712 × 958) D. 81-1896.

76. Chief Reception Room, No. 10, Downing Street, 1888 (Sepia).

One of the most historic mansions in London is No. 10, Downing Street, facing the Foreign Office, which has been the official home of the first Lord of the Treasury ever since Sir Robert Walpole moved into it from St. James's Square in 1735. It had belonged to the Crown, and had been granted by George I. to Baron Bothmar, the Hanoverian minister, for life. The residence really consists of two houses, with a covered way between them. That which faces the street is a plain Georgian structure, resembling No. 11, which forms part of the same block. The building at the back seems little to accord with its surrounding. It stands in a garden, much frequented by woodpigeons, which once, no doubt, formed part of St. James's Park. On a misty morning in spring one might imagine it to be on the outskirts of some peaceful country town. The view shows the south side, the part towards Downing Street being discernible behind a tree on the right: the building to the left is the Treasury. The artist has ventured to clothe his little figures in costumes which harmonise more with the old place than the frock coats and trousers of the present day. The windows opening on to the terrace belong to the famous old cabinet room, where Pitt and Sir Robert Peel, Disraeli and Palmerston, have often sat. In the large reception room on the first floor which forms the subject of drawing No. 76, are a series of interesting portraits, the best, perhaps, being that of Richard Weston, Earl of Portland, Lord High Treasurer in 1633. The portly form of Sir Robert Walpole is in the place of honour, empanelled above a fine marble mantelpiece. It was in the ante-room, on the first floor of No. 10, Downing Street, that on January 12th, 1887, the Earl of Iddesleigh, better known as Sir Stafford Northcote, breathed his last. This house, although it has undergone various changes, was originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren, as is proved in the London Topographical Society's Record, vol. 2, pp. 23-26 (1903).