Newcastle House
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Newcastle House is a mansion in
Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...
in central
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It was one of the two largest houses built in London's largest square during its development in the 17th century, the other being Lindsey House. It is the northernmost house on the western side of the square. The house had a complex history. The first version was built in 1641-42 for the
Earl of Carlisle Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. History The first creation came in 1322, when Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay, was made Earl of Carlisle. He had already been summoned to Parliame ...
. In 1672 it was purchased by
William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, PC (16262 June 1696) was an English nobleman, best remembered for his suffering during the Popish Plot. He succeeded his father as 3rd Baron Powis in 1667 and was created Earl of Powis in 1674 by King C ...
and renamed Powis House, but in 1684 it burned down. Reconstruction of a new house – effectively the one which still stands, albeit greatly altered – to designs by Captain
William Winde Captain William Winde (c.1645–1722) was an English gentleman architect, whose Royalist military career, resulting in fortifications and topographical surveys but lack of preferment, and his later career, following the Glorious Revolution, as ...
commenced promptly, but in 1688 the house was ransacked by a mob in consequence of Lord Powis's association with the recently deposed James II. The following year Lord Powis's estates were
attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...
and he fled to France. The house was completed by
Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
in 1694.Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, ''The Buildings of England: London 4 North'' (London: Penguin Books, 1998)p.308 Powis House was designated the official residence of the
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain, was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. This position evolved into that of one of the Great Officers of Sta ...
. In 1694 the charter of the newly formed
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
was sealed there. By 1705 the house had been returned to the Powis family, and in that year they sold it to John Holles, who had alterations made by
John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...
. Thereafter it was called Newcastle House. The building was a compact block with three main storeys, plus two storeys of basements below and two storeys of attics above. It was built of brick with bold stone
quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
,
band course A course is a layer of the same unit running horizontally in a wall. It can also be defined as a continuous row of any masonry unit such as bricks, concrete masonry units (CMU), stone, shingles, tiles, etc. Coursed masonry construction arranges ...
s and
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
. There were two projecting wings to the rear, so a large amount of accommodation was fitted into the compact site. Holles left the house to his nephew
Thomas Pelham-Holles Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, (21 July 169317 November 1768) was a British Whig statesman who served as the 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Great Britain, his official life extended ...
, who was confusingly also created 1st Duke of Newcastle (his uncle's was the second creation, his the third). This latter duke was a prominent politician and latterly
Prime Minister of Great Britain The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pri ...
. He held court at Newcastle House for several decades and died there in 1768. He used it as his premier London residence throughout his life (preferring it to
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...
when he was Prime Minister), and threw many lavish parties there which were attended by much of London society. The Prime Minister was Newcastle House's last aristocratic occupant. His widow sold the house to the banker Henry Kendall for £8,400. He had it divided in two and in 1790 one half was purchased by James Farrer. The solicitors
Farrer & Co Farrer & Co is a British law firm headquartered in London, England serving private individuals, charitable institutions and corporations. They have, over their more than three hundred years of operation, acted for many of the Kings and Queens of ...
still occupy the building, and in the early 20th century they purchased the other half and reunited the building. Also in the early 1900s, the rear wings were removed in connection with the construction of Kingsway, a major thoroughfare which was driven through the small streets just to the west of Lincoln's Inn Fields. Farrer & Co commissioned alternations by Sir
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
in the 1930s, but the building still retains much of its late 17th and early 18th century fabric and appearance. In the 17th century there was a mansion called Newcastle House in
Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...
, which belonged to an earlier Duke of Newcastle.


References

*''London's Mansions'' by David Pearce, (1986) {{coord, 51.5164, N, 0.119, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Houses in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Prime ministerial homes in the United Kingdom