No. 20 Queen Anne's Gate

XXXVII.—No. 20 QUEEN ANNE'S GATE (Formerly No. 4 Park Street).

Ground Landlord, Etc.

The freehold is the property of Christ's Hospital. The present occupier is the Rt. Hon. the Baron Riddell.

General Description.

The exterior consists of a plain brick front of four storeys over a basement, with a slated mansard roof to the attics (Plate 80). The two lower storeys are stuccoed, and the entrance has a pair of panelled doors with an ornamental segmental fanlight over. On each side of the doorway is an iron lamp-standard of good design. The back elevation is of brick, segmental on plan, with an iron balcony to the first floor.

The interior contains some good decorative features. The back room on the ground floor has the wall curved at each end. The mantelpiece (Plate 85) is of white marble and Sicilian jasper, with delicately carved pilasters with Satyr masks, from which are suspended ribands supporting musical instruments.

On the first floor the front room has a plaster ceiling (Plate 86), with a painted circular panel in the centre, and a series of clustered emblems within a floral wreathing, while the four corners contain small decorative medallions representing the Seasons. The whole is well executed in low relief. The mantelpiece (Plate 88) is of white and yellow marble, with inlaid flutes and an urn to the centre tablet.

The back room has a decorated ceiling (Plate 87), and consists of a floral wreathing in low relief with a series of panels containing painted subjects in the style of Angelica Kauffmann. The whole design is a delicate piece of composition, and is shown to great advantage by the manner of its treatment. The wreathing is picked out in old gold, which enhances the values of the colouring in the panels. The room contains a carved white marble mantelpiece, which has inlaid flutings of brown marble, a centre tablet decorated with an oval patera between swags and carved consoles to the jambs.

The spacious stone staircase has a balustrading of plain iron bars with a delicate mahogany handrail. In the enclosing walls are windows at the second and third floors which derive their light from the domed skylight.

Condition of Repair.

Very good.

Historical Notes.

The occupiers of this house up to 1840, according to the ratebooks, were as follows:—

Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, was born in 1739, and succeeded to the title on the death of his grandfather in 1757. In 1762 he entered Parliament and continued a member until his death. He did not attain to distinction in politics, but was fond of travel and social life, and the assemblies at his house in Hanover Square were famous. Certain of his verses have been printed, as well as his Diary in France during July and August, 1791. He was for several years a member of The Club. He died in 1802.

For particulars of Sir George Shuckburgh, see p. 82.

Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt, son of George Tennyson, of Bayons Manor, Lincolnshire, was born in 1784. He was called to the Bar in 1806, but seems not to have practised. He entered Parliament in 1818, and retired after an election defeat in 1852, the chief results of his parliamentary activities being a Landlord and Tenant Bill and an Act to prohibit the setting of spring guns. He was an enthusiastic antiquary, was high steward of Louth and a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant for Lincolnshire, in which county he held considerable property, his father having disinherited his elder brother (father of the poet) in his favour. On his father's death in 1835 he took by royal licence the additional surname of D'Eyncourt, in token of his descent from the Earls of Scarsdale and Barons D'Eyncourt of Sutton. He died in 1861.

In the Council's Collection are:—

(fn. n1) General view of exterior (photograph).
General view of staircase well and borrowed lights (photograph).
(fn. n1) Marble mantelpiece, back room on ground floor (photograph).
(fn. n1) Plaster ceiling to front room on first floor (photograph).
(fn. n1) Marble mantelpiece, front room on first floor (photograph).
(fn. n1) Plaster ceiling to back room on first floor (photograph).
Marble mantelpiece, back room on first floor (photograph).