Durham House Street, WC2N

Road in/near Charing Cross, existing between 1772 and now.

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August
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Durham House Street was the former site of a palace belonging to the bishops of Durham in medieval times.


The street is built in the form of an L. Two streets called William Street and James Street formerly covered the two sides of the L shape before it was renamed. These two streetnames were already being used for others in the area.

The Bishops of Durham had held land here from about 1220. Their inn, or mansion, first built around this time for Richard le Poor, faced onto the Strand behind a grand gatehouse, with its chapel and banqueting hall reaching down to the banks of the Thames.

When Thomas Cromwell drew up the schedule for religious house closures, Durham House was high on the list, and only three years after Henry VIII declared a severance with the church of Rome it fell into the hands of the Crown. Henry, who at this time was beginning to acquire too much property to cope with, made a gift of the house to the Earl of Wiltshire, and when he had finished with it, it became the home of Princess Elizabeth. Within the walls of Durham House Lady Jane Grey gave up her freedom and her life when she pronounced those terminal words, ‘I do’; here she stayed until that fateful day when she was taken by barge on her final journey along the Thames to the Tower.

Originally this was two separate streets. The part directly off John Adam Street was James Street and the continuation round the bend was William Street.

When profoundly Roman Catholic Queen Mary succeeded to the throne she returned the House to the Bishop of Durham, but Elizabeth I was not at all pleased with the Bishop so she terminated his position and seized the house. Sir Walter Raleigh was next on the scene and while he remained in the Queen’s good books, carried on his affairs at the house, but when he lost favour he also lost his house, and a little while after, his head followed suit. For a short period the Bishop of Durham returned but could not hit it off with his neighbour, Lord Salisbury, and so quit for all time. As time elapsed the fabric deteriorated, the house fell into disrepair and was demolished. The land was leased out to various building speculators who each erected their individual groups of small houses and sold them off to traders and small-time business men. By 1750 the area had become a place of squalor and the houses were so in need of repair that many of them were on the verge of falling down.

In 1768 the site aroused the interest of the Adam brothers, John, Robert, James and William, for inclusion in their major building project and they obtained a lease on the land from the Bishop of Durham. Building commenced in 1772 and the complex of streets as we see them today were all laid out to their plan. It was the first riverside housing complex to be built in London; an estate of charming properties built to a regular plan developed by the brothers. To the south, along the riverside, they constructed a series of ground-level arches on which was built the Royal Terrace, a line of four storey houses facing the Thames. Unfortunately the elaborate houses they built didn’t sell and the project ended up in financial disaster. Finally the properties were disposed of by selling lottery tickets.

The Victorians held little regard for the Adam’s creations, adding cumbersome balconies, other out-of-place adornments, and covering the frontages with a stucco finish.

In 1936, almost the entire line of the Royal Terrace was pulled down. All traces of the past buildings have gone except for the Royal Society of Arts building at number eight John Adam Street, erected in 1774. Opposite the rear side of the RSA a flight of steps ascends onto the Strand.




Citation information: The alleyways and courtyards of London: D – The Undergroun
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY


The Underground Map   
Added: 8 Dec 2020 00:24 GMT   

Othello takes a bow
On 1 November 1604, William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello was presented for the first time, at The Palace of Whitehall. The palace was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698. Seven years to the day, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Tempest was also presented for the first time, and also at the Palace of Whitehall.

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Simon   
Added: 15 Jan 2024 15:44 GMT   

Simon De Charmes, clockmaker
De Charmes (or Des Charmes), Simon, of French Huguenot extraction. Recorded 1688 and Free of the Clockmakers’ Company 1691-1730. In London until 1704 at least at ’his House, the Sign of the Clock, the Corner of Warwick St, Charing Cross’. See Brian Loomes The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain, NAG Press, 1981, p.188

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Linda Webb   
Added: 27 Sep 2021 05:51 GMT   

Hungerford Stairs
In 1794 my ancestor, George Webb, Clay Pipe Maker, lived in Hungerford Stairs, Strand. Source: Wakefields Merchant & Tradesmens General Directory London Westminster 1794

Source: Hungerford Stairs

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Lived here
Richard Roques   
Added: 21 Jan 2021 16:53 GMT   

Buckingham Street residents
Here in Buckingham Street lived Samuel Pepys the diarist, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling

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Jude Allen   
Added: 29 Jul 2021 07:53 GMT   

Bra top
I jave a jewelled item of clothong worn by a revie girl.
It is red with diamante straps. Inside it jas a label Bermans Revue 16 Orange Street but I cannot find any info online about the revue only that 16 Orange Street used to be a theatre. Does any one know about the revue. I would be intesrested to imagine the wearer of the article and her London life.

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Lived here
Linda WEBB   
Added: 8 Jun 2023 23:16 GMT   

Craven Street, WC2N
James webb lived in Craven Street Westminster. He died in 1758 and his states he was of Craven Street.
FROM England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 for James Webb PROB 11: Will Registers
1773-1776 Piece 1004: Alexander, Quire Numbers 1-45 (1775)

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

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Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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William Shakespeare
TUM image id: 1509551019
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Transmission
TUM image id: 1509553463
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In the neighbourhood...

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William Shakespeare
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Trafalgar Square was a former station on the Bakerloo Line before it combined with Strand station on the Northern Line to become the new Charing Cross underground station.
Credit: The Underground Map
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Strand stretches along the River Thames between Trafalgar Square and Aldwych
Credit: The Underground Map
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Waterloo Bridge on an 1810 map.
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Hungerford Stairs circa 1828 Hungerford Stairs led down to the water, where landings could be made. The formation of floating piers at the quay facilitated the arrival and departure of numerous steam boats that left during the summer months every quarter of an hour, for the City, Westminster, and Vauxhall, and at other times for Greenwich and Woolwich. When Hungerford Market was sold to the South Eastern Railway, the railway company demolished the stairs, building Charing Cross railway station over the top of the site.
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Buses outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, early twentieth century
Credit: Stockholm Transport Museum
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The Royal Opera House, Bow Street frontage, with the statue of Dame Ninette de Valois in the foreground
Credit: Russ London
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London Hippodrome in 2017
Credit: Ethan Doyle White
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Sectional view of Wyld’s Great Globe, which stood in Leicester Square, London 1851–62
Credit: Illustrated London News
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Trafalgar Square (1905) The steeplejack firm of W. Larkins Co Ltd. are at work cleaning Nelson’s Column for the first time since it was erected in 1843. The firm had been founded by Willliam Larkins in 1897 and he is pictured at the top next to Lord Nelson.
Licence: CC BY 2.0




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