House of St Barnabas — Rococo Gem
The House of St Barnabas at 1 Greek Street on Soho Square in London features exceptionally elaborate 1750s rococo plasterwork hidden behind a modest Georgian facade. Constructed between 1744 and 1746, the building served as the 1856 office for sewer engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, inspired Charles Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities, and became the House of Charity in 1862 with support from William Ewart Gladstone.
London · from the walk “Canvas & Cobblestones” · audio ~3 min · Generated
1 Greek Street, London W1D 4NQ
- Jamaican planter Richard Beckford bought 1 Greek Street in 1754 and commissioned its elaborate interior plasterwork.
- Sir Joseph Bazalgette used the House of St Barnabas as his engineering office in 1856 while designing London's sewers.
- The London County Council renamed neighboring Rose Street to Manette Street in 1895 after Charles Dickens's fictional character.
- In 1862, the House of St Barnabas became a charity shelter whose founding members included William Ewart Gladstone.
How is the House of St Barnabas in London connected to Charles Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities?
Look at this handsome Georgian building on the corner of Soho Square. From the outside, number one Greek Street seems modest... almost plain. But behind that unassuming brick facade hides one of London's most extraordinary artistic secrets — and a story that spans Jamaican plantations, London's sewers, and the pages of Charles Dickens.......... The house was originally constructed between seventeen forty-four and seventeen forty-six, but for years it sat unfinished, an empty shell. Then, in seventeen fifty-four, a man named Richard Beckford moved in — a wealthy planter fresh from Jamaica, and brother of Alderman William Beckford, who lived almost next door on Soho Square. Richard had money... and Taste. It is likely that he commissioned the elaborate rococo plasterwork that makes this interior one of the finest in all of London. We're talking about ceilings dripping with ornament! The drawing room ceiling has heads representing the Four Seasons in its corners, and a central oval medallion showing four putti holding symbols of the four classical elements... earth, water, fire and air. There are even two dragons made of papier-mâché lurking at the top of a wall panel.......... But here's where the story takes an unexpected turn. Richard Beckford departed for the continent at the end of seventeen fifty-five, probably for his health... and died in Lyon, France, on the twenty-fourth of January, seventeen fifty-six. He barely had a year to enjoy his masterpiece.......... The house changed hands many times, and then... the sewers arrived. Yes, the Sewers. In eighteen eleven, the house ceased to be a private residence and was let to the Westminster Commissioners of Sewers. By eighteen fifty-six, it had become the office of Sir Joseph Bazalgette — the man who would save London from cholera. Picture it... the greatest engineering mind of Victorian England, sitting in rooms covered in delicate rococo cherubs, planning over a thousand miles of underground tunnels.......... And then came Dickens. Research published in The Dickensian in nineteen sixty-three suggests that the rooms and gardens of this very house were the blueprint for the imagined lodgings of Doctor Manette and Lucy in A Tale of Two Cities. The plane tree mentioned in the novel still stands in the small garden behind the house — said to be the Only private garden in Soho. And if you walk around the corner to Manette Street — that street was renamed after Dickens's character by the London County Council in eighteen ninety-five. It was formerly called Rose Street.......... Now look closely at the railings on the Soho Square side. There's a Penny Chute attached to the railings — coins dropped in fall down a pipe to an alms box in the kitchen. People Still donate to the charity using this method today. Because in eighteen sixty-two, this glamorous aristocratic mansion became the House of Charity, its first list of members including William Ewart Gladstone himself. The building took a direct hit during the Second World War, putting it out of action as a refuge — before the Air Training Corps moved in and patched up the damage.......... A Jamaican planter's dream... a sewer engineer's office... a novelist's muse... a shelter for the homeless. One building, holding all of Soho's contradictions behind a single, very old, front door.