The ‘Builders in St James-fields’ A Short history of st james’s square Architectural historian Lucy Inglis on the changing fortunes of the grand townhouses in what is arguably London’s finest Square
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or many members of the London Library, St James’s Square is home from home. Several times a week, I walk up from Pall Mall, cross the garden and arrive at No.14. Many of the buildings in the Square have become old friends, their façades familiar from a decade spent researching Georgian London. The Square has been a bastion of London clubs and institutions for more than a century, yet few will see the buildings ranged on every side in their intended guise: as townhouses for the English aristocracy. The history of the Square is a snapshot of London in her prime: Henry Jermyn, Duke of St Albans (c.1604–84) was to build what is arguably London’s finest Square, and also start the race for London’s aristocrats to become hereditary landlords. Jermyn was described by a contemporary as ‘a man of pleasure … [he] entertains no other thoughts than to live at ease’ . Perhaps the ideal qualifications for a man to build a garden square designed to house London’s wealthiest families. Fire and plague were spurring the building craze in London’s second city. The ancient City of London was at the turn of the eighteenth century a hive of rebuilding after the Great Fire, yet by 1692 not one soul possessed of a hereditary title lived there. The courtiers, and those who made their living through proximity
to the court and royalty, had long ago migrated west, away from the crowds and disease, dwelling in the new Covent Garden development or leasing the old bishops’ palaces along the Strand. When Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660, he was determined to rule in a style completely opposed to that of his father; relaxed and accessible, he worked hard to please his people and reward the friends who had remained loyal. Henry Jermyn had been a good friend, although his influence
Top A panoramic view of St James’s Square, 2009. Photograph David Iliff. (This file is licensed under GFDL/CC-BY-SA.) Above Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans, stipple engraving by Richard Godfrey, after Sylvester Harding, after Sir Peter Lely, published 7 April 1793. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
was deemed to be that of ‘the backstairs and the bed-chamber, but none the less valuable on that account’ . If Jermyn’s influence was indeed that of a friend and confidant, it was also worth money: in 1662 Charles gave him a 60year lease on the 45 acres to the south of Piccadilly. Jermyn, however, soon realised the potential of his lease and petitioned to have the land made over to him, explaining that ‘ye beauty of this great Towne and ye convenience of your Court are defective in point of houses fitt for ye dwellings of Noble men and other Persons of quality’ . In 1665 he became the freeholder, the land granted to him in perpetuity. Like most aristocratic landlords of his time Jermyn was no architect, but he did have a vision for his development and laid out the Square in plots that were to be leased to builders who were to build houses of ‘substantial character’ . He worked with trustees and fellow speculators Sir John Coell and Sir Thomas Clarges to make a plan, overseen, in theory, by the King himself. The City, protective of its water supply and alarmed by the expansion of London, was not so keen, as Samuel Pepys recorded on 2 September 1663: ‘The building of St. James’s by my Lord St Albans, which is now about, and which the City stomach, I perceive, highly, but dare not oppose it. ’ (Comparisons of London with the human body are a common device of the time, THE LONDON LIBRARY MAGAZINE 19
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