Powis House was an 18th-century mansion in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

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 stood on the northern side of Great Ormond Street, not far from Queen Square. The first version of Powis House was built in the 1690s for

William Herbert, 2nd Marquess of Powis William Herbert, 2nd Marquess of Powis (c. 1660–1745) was a Welsh aristocrat and Jacobite supporter. Life He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, by Lady Elizabeth, younger daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worces ...

. No drawings of this version survive. At some point it was let for use as the French embassy, and on 26 January 1713 it burned to the ground, while the Ambassador, the Duc d'Aumont, was entertaining.

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dubl ...

attributed this event to "the carelessness of the rascally French servants". A replacement house was soon built. It had three main storeys above an arched basement and was 104 feet (32 metres) wide. The subtle but lively façade featured

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s and a phoenix above the front door. The architect is unknown, but may have been French. The staircase walls were painted by the Venetian painter of the

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

, Giacomo Amiconi.

Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 17 ...

leased the house in the mid 18th century and from 1764 to 1783 it was the Spanish embassy. However, the locality was rapidly falling from favour with the aristocracy, making the demise of the house more or less inevitable, and by the end of the 18th century it had been demolished. There is now a small access street to

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospit ...

called Powis Place.

References

*''London's Mansions'' by David Pearce, (1986) {{Reflist

References

See also