80. Library of Chesterfield House, South Audley Street, 1893 (Black and white).
Whatever may have been their defects, the noblemen's mansions built in the eighteenth century were mostly distinguished by fine staircases and reception rooms. A notable specimen is Chesterfield House, which was planned by Ware, an architect of no mean merit, for Philip, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, who wrote the famous Letters to his Son. Here Samuel Johnson is popularly supposed to have "waited in the outer rooms" and been "repulsed from the door;" but this must have occurred not later than 1747, as is clear from Johnson's own words, and the Earl did not take possession of his new home in South Audley Street till March 13th, 1749. The ground attached to it has been sadly curtailed since he wrote to a friend "My garden is now turfed, planted, and sown, and will in two months make a scene of verdure and flowers not common in London." Inside, however, there has been comparatively little change. The marble staircase, with its pillars, has a very stately effect; it was brought from Canons, near Edgware, the letters on the wrought iron balustrade being the initials of the "princely" Chandos, whose ducal coronets were removed by Lord Chesterfield and replaced by his own. On the ground floor at the back there is a splendid suite of rooms, including the library, which is represented in drawing No. 80. Its first owner called it with pardonable pride "the best room in England," and here are still to be seen under the cornice, in capital letters a foot high, the Horatian lines:
"Nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis,
Ducere solicitæ jucunda oblivia vitæ";
an indication of the life he proposed to lead amidst his books and pictures. The portraits in framed panels, which decorate the walls, are a most interesting series, representing, as they do, eminent people painted by some of the finest artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Scattered throughout the mansion there are many other superb portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney, which were collected by the late owner, Lord Burton, and are here appropriately housed.
(18 × 2214) D. 66-1896.
81. Bourdon House, Davies Street, 1893 (Black and white).
North of Berkeley Square begins the estate of the Duke of Westminster in this part of London, brought to the Grosvenor family by Miss Mary Davies, who married Sir Thomas Grosvenor in 1676. And here, on the east side of Davies Street, named after her, stands Bourdon House, a pleasant old dwelling, over-shadowed by the trees which grow in its little courtyard. Inside, the most noteworthy feature is the carved woodwork, which seems to be French in style, dating, perhaps, from the early part of the eighteenth century. There is a strong tradition that this house was originally occupied by the Davies family; it is certainly one of the oldest on the estate. The name Bourdon first appears on the parish rate books in 1739. Within the last few years the house has been enlarged.
(11116 × 812) D. 67-1896.