While Ching Court has its origins in the 1690s, the modern layout dates from the early 1980s.
Comyn Ching was a firm of ironmongers which was a 1720s merger of Cornish and Northumbrian families. The business was very successful and started buying up most of the neighbouring buildings and their yards. By the 1970s, the firm owned the whole block in Seven Dials. Behind the shop fronts, they had built offices and workshops.
In 1978, the company moved to Holborn but commissioned Sir Terry Farrell to create a master plan for the former site.
The new development won the Civic Trust Award in 1985 and consists of a triangle with a modern corner next to Seven Dials but with restored older buildings along the three edges.
The courtyard is open to the public in the daytime.
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