Charlotte Street

XL—CHARLOTTE STREET

This street which seems to have been named after Queen Charlotte runs from south to north from Percy Street to Howland Street. The original Charlotte Street extended to Goodge Street, and from thence to Tottenham Street it was called Lower Charlotte Street, the remainder being known as Upper Charlotte Street. In 1766 building was proceeding on its western side as shown by a lease from the Goodge Brothers to William Franks, gentleman, of Gerrard Street (afterwards of Percy Street, q.v.), of ground adjoining west on ground late Marchant's Waterworks, south on ground whereon is late erected a chapel also let to him and north on Bennett Street (fn. 28). The Waterworks are shown on Rocque's Plan of London (1746), and Percy Chapel stood on the west side of Charlotte Street immediately opposite the end of Windmill Street (see below, p. 21). Charlotte Street is typical of the late 18th-century development of this area and its present condition is therefore described in this section in some detail. The houses have been re-numbered twice since they were first numbered, the present sequence running from south to north, with the odd numbers on the west and the even on the east side. The progress of erection was in the same direction and except for the breaks at the cross streets the houses were (before the war) in uninterrupted rows like those in Percy Street.

West side: Nos. 1 to 13, south end to Bedford Passage

Nos. 1 and 3 are entirely modern. Nos. 5, 7 and 9 are all of four storeys above the basement: in design they are much the same as those of Percy Street except that they have no original stone cornices. Probably they were only of three storeys at first and the top storey was a subsequent addition: the difference is shown very definitely in No. 9. Ordinary stock brick was used for the walls but the tall and narrow windows, three in each upper storey, have red brick flat arches. The parapets are plain, but that of No. 7 has been altered and two flush dormers of modern brick, with pediments, now light the attics. Behind the parapet of No. 9 is a mansard roof with two dormers. The ground storey of No. 5 has a modern shop front. No. 7 retains the original front with two sash windows and south of them a round-headed doorway with a painted cement architrave and a six-panelled door with bolection mouldings. The door frame has side pilasters with moulded caps and a moulded transom below the plain-glazed head-light. No. 9 has an early 19th-century shop front of round-headed windows and middle doorway and north of them the private doorway with a fanlight. (Plate 5.) The five piers dividing these features have panelled pilasters with foliated caps, all below a plain frieze and bracketed cornice. The heavy side door of six flush panels once had a great iron lock for which the passage wall had to be recessed. These side doors of Nos. 7 and 9 open into hall-passages: they have moulded cornices with a deep hollow and No. 9 has a panelled high dado. They have rear arches, opening on to the staircases, with panelled reveals and elliptical heads. This arrangement occurs in practically all the older buildings in the street with slight variations in the cornices, arches etc. The staircase of No. 7 is of dog-legged type with thin turned newels, straight square balusters, ramped handrail and straight strings. That of No. 9 has shaft-newels, square balusters and cut strings with bracketed ends to the steps. The upper rooms have a similar cornice and, in the front room on the first floor, is a fireplace with side-pilasters in pairs having foliated caps, a frieze of plamate leaves and an enriched moulded shelf: it is of wood with the ornament applied in plaster. Nos. 11 and 13 have modern stone fronts to the ground floor and cemented upper storeys. The north side of No. 13 has plaster facing to the ground storey with horizontal grooving to represent masonry, and two later doorways and shop front. The upper storeys are of the old brickwork.

East side: Nos. 2 to 14, from Percy Street to Windmill Street

The houses are or were of the same age and style as those opposite but have modern shop fronts, and the upper storeys have some variations. They were originally of two storeys above the ground floors (see Tallis's view, above) but all have an additional third storey. No. 2 was faced with 19thcentury cement and has Ionic pilasters, but it is now mostly boarded up after war damage. No. 4 has colour-washed brickwork. The windows, three to each storey, match the others but the second floor has iron balconies and the first floor windows, which probably also once had balconies, are fitted with casements and head-lights. Above the second floor is a later cement frieze and cornice and above that a top storey with a plain parapet. No. 6 is cementfaced: the windows, two in each storey, have cement architraves. At second floor level is a deep modillioned cornice above which is a later top storey also with a cornice. No. 8 may have been altered as the windows are shorter than the others. No. 10 was rebuilt or refaced in the 19th-century; it is of three storeys above the shop with rather small sash windows. No. 12 also has a 19th-century brick front with straight joints on both sides: it is of four storeys above the shop. No. 14, similarly refaced with stock brick, is of three storeys.

West side: Nos. 15 to 31, up to Rathbone Street

Nos. 15 and 17 are on the site of Percy Chapel and were built after its demolition in 1867. Nos. 19, 21, 25, 29 and 31 retain the original brickwork to the two storeys above the ground storeys with similar windows and plain parapets, behind which are mansard roofs with dormers. No. 23 is similar but its windows have been embellished with cement architraves, entablatures and one pediment. No. 25 rises one storey higher than the others. No. 27 has been faced with cement and has a moulded cornice; its windows appear to be the original openings but altered; the middle first floor window has a round head and entablature of cement, the others have architraves, etc.

All the ground floor fronts have been altered. Four are modern. No. 21 has an early 19th-century shop front and north of it a wide doorway with double doors: the private doorway is to the south and has a fluted architrave and rectangular head-light. Between and flanking these features are moulded pilasters with capitals. The fronts of Nos. 29 and 31 are alike, built perhaps in 1830 or 1840, with a south doorway with double doors and a shop window. Between and flanking all features are wide pilasters with Corinthian capitals supporting a frieze and cornice. The north side of No. 31 is similar but has been damaged and the upper storeys have been rebuilt or refaced with modern brick.

East side: Nos. 16 to 36, up to Colville Place

The ground floor shop fronts are modern unless otherwise described. No. 16, the Fitzroy Tavern, is all modern. Original brickwork is seen in Nos. 18, 20, 28, 32 and 36, but with a few variations, while Nos. 22, 24, 26, 30 and 34 have been cemented. The first floor windows of No. 20 have lowered sills and iron balconies. The fourth storeys of Nos. 18 and 20 are later additions, the latter higher than the former. The cement face of No. 22 is of a mid-late 19th-century design. Nos. 24 and 26 have architraves to the windows, and the first floor window sills are at floor level with balconies: the top storey has a cornice and parapet behind which are mansard roofs with dormer windows. The ground storey of No. 24 has the two original window openings, fitted with casements and a roundheaded south doorway. The top storey of No. 28 is modern, the wall having been rebuilt from about 2 feet above the second floor windows; the first floor sills are at floor level. The windows of No. 30 are the original openings, with the first floor sills lowered: all have architraves. The two storeys above the shop of No. 32 are original but the top two storeys are later: they have been damaged and the windows are at present unglazed. The ground floor front may be of early 19th-century design with a middle and a south doorway but the actual windows are later. The south door is eight-panelled. The cementing of No. 34 resembles that of Nos. 24 and 26 but the sills have not been lowered. The shop front—a middle window between side doorways—is probably older than that of No. 32. The two top storeys of No. 36 are built of later and larger bricks than the lower. The north side, to Colville Place, is cemented in the ground storey and of ancient brickwork above and is unpierced.

The hollow cornice of No. 9 is repeated in a number of lower rooms and passages of this row but not in all. The staircases also differ. For instance Nos. 20 and 22 have the original stairs with plain newels, turned balusters with a square block and cut strings with shaped brackets but that to No. 18 is plainer with a straight string and in No. 26 the cut strings have no brackets and the handrail finishes with a spiral over the lowest newel.

West side: Nos. 33 to 47, up to Goodge Street

Nos. 33 and 35 have been demolished after war damage. (fn. c1) No. 37 has a modern shop but the upper two storeys are of 18th-century stock brick with blank middle windows. Nos. 39, 41 and 43 are modern. No. 47, The Northumberland Arms, shows ancient brickwork in the upper storeys, but the windows, two in each storey, have architraves and segmental arched heads, and the former third storey has been converted into two storeys of less height with smaller windows. The ground storey has mid 19th-century windows and a south doorway, all divided and flanked by fluted pilasters with rosette-carved caps under a moulded cornice. The north side to Goodge Street is similar.

East side: Nos. 38 to 42, up to Goodge Street

No. 38 is of 18th-century brick in the two storeys above the shop but the top storey is later. No. 40, adjoining it with a straight joint, is similar. The south side of No. 38 to Colville Place has two blank or blocked windows to each of the three storeys. No. 42 has been rebuilt: all have modern shops.

West side: Nos. 49 to 69, from Goodge Street to Tottenham Street

Nos. 49 and 51 have been demolished after war damage. Of the nine houses in this row only three fronts, Nos. 57, 61 and 67, show the original 18th-century brickwork in the upper storeys. Four others, Nos. 53, 55, 63 and 65, have modern brick faces but the latter two may be older inside. No. 59 is modern and No. 69, which is entirely cemented, has probably also been remodelled. All have modern shop fronts, but several retain the old side entrances. No. 53 has a 19th-century door with three fielded panels, the top and bottom elliptical and the middle rectangular with moulded angles. The upper windows are arched. The shop and side passage have moulded cornices.

No. 55 has four storeys equal in height to the three in Nos. 53 and 57: it has a heavy cornice above the fourth storey and the fifth storey is modern. In No. 57 the storey above the shop is of original brick but the middle window has had its head raised to a higher level, above a transom, and it has casement frames. The windows flanking it have been furnished with quasi-flat arches in cement with rusticated jointing. The storeys (third and fourth) above are of later brickwork with small windows similarly treated. The shop has a moulded cornice with brackets.

No. 61 generally resembles No. 57 in front. The side passage has a cornice with small brackets. An intermediate lobby doorway is of the 18thcentury and has an iron fanlight. The staircase has bracketed cut strings and turned balusters with square blocks, but the much plainer lowest flight is a later alteration. The modern front of No. 63 has a stone cornice, and a pediment over the middle part. The interior has been less altered and has bracketed cornices as in No. 57. The staircase is broader than the others and has turned balusters and newels with ball-heads, and straight sloping strings. No. 65 has a round headed side doorway and the upper windows in the modern brickwork may be the original openings. No. 67 has 18thcentury brickwork of a brownish tint to the two storeys above the shop and each storey has three rather narrow windows as in Nos. 57 and 61, but the flat arches have been whitened; they have casement frames. The hallpassage has a hollow cornice like that in No. 9 and the round-headed rear archway has fluted pilasters and enriched moulded caps. The stairs have turned newels, straight square balusters and bracketed cut strings. The windows in the cemented front of No. 69 have pediments and cornices on corbels. It seems to have been remodelled or rebuilt as its storeys are higher than those of No. 67.

East side: Nos. 44 to 54, Goodge Street to Tottenham Street

Nos. 44 and 48 are modern. No. 46 which appears to have been a 19th-century building is now derelict. Nos. 50, 52 and 54 up to Scala Street have been totally destroyed. No. 54 was the Blue Post public house (Charringtons). North of this is the Scala Theatre.

West side: Nos. 71 to 99, Tottenham Street to Bedford Passage

Nos. 71 to 79 have been demolished after war damage. Of the existing ten only No. 95 preserves the original ground floor setting; No. 99 is entirely modern and the other eight have modern shop fronts, but mostly retain the south side doorways to the passage and stairs. Nos. 81, 83 and 85 seem to have had their upper brickwork renovated in the 19th-century; the remainder except No. 99 are probably the original 18th-century fronts.

The ground storey of No. 81 is cemented (a warehouse or store): the three storeys above it have windows like the 18th-century work although the brickwork may be later: the upper brickwork has been repointed and the south angle repaired following war damage. No. 83 has the old brick roundheaded south doorway and a derelict shop front. The upper two storeys have two windows in each and are of discoloured brickwork, probably 19thcentury: the windows do not range with those of No. 81, the storeys being lower: the glass is broken or missing. The upper storeys of No. 85 are of modern stock brick with similar but renewed windows. The hall-passage has a decórated 'Victorian' cornice and the staircase is a very plain one with straight strings. The fronts of Nos. 87 and 89 are of one build: the windows (two in each storey) are like the others but the first floor sills are lowered. Both fronts have iron S straps showing where they have been reinforced by internal ties. Behind the parapets are mansard roofs with dormers. The round-headed south side doorway of No. 91 has been treated with cement rustications. The upper storeys have two windows each and are divided from the next houses by straight joints. No. 93 is similar but with lowered sills to the first floor, and a mansard roof behind the parapet. No. 95 has its two original sash windows to the ground floor and a round-headed south doorway like that to No. 91. The brickwork to the three storeys above is of uncertain date. Each storey has two windows, the first floor windows with sills at floor level and wrought iron balconies. The front of No. 97 is similar except that each storey has three windows. It also has a side doorway but the passage has a smaller cornice and the staircase is a very plain one. All the doorways have the local six panelled door mentioned previously.

East side: Nos. 64 to 78, Tottenham Street to Chitty Street

No. 64 is a 19th-century building treated with cement, with pedimented windows, etc. It is now a costumier's premises but its former use is suggested by the name 'Hogarth Studios' in large cement panels on both west and south faces. The next four houses, Nos. 66 and 72 are late 18thcentury of one type originally, each with a ground storey, and three storeys above, showing the ancient brickwork. No. 66 was damaged by bombblast and the ground floor shop front has for the present been roughly repaired with brick: it has a south side doorway with an old wooden architrave and panelled reveals and the usual six panelled door. The door casing, said to have been like those farther north, is missing. The storey above is old with three sash windows but the uppermost two have been rebuilt in stock brick. The ground storey of No. 68 has been cemented to imitate masonry and has two windows and a south side doorway. The three upper storeys of original brickwork have windows ranging with those of No. 66 but the first floor sills are at floor level. No. 70 has the two original ground floor windows and a south doorway: this has an 18th-century wood casing, framed with an architrave flanked on the outside by angle pilasters with moulded caps, and an entablature with a plain frieze. The ground storey of No. 72 has been faced with cement up to the first floor sill level. It has the original two windows and a south side doorway with the same wood setting as No. 70 but the frieze is enriched with fluting and disc ornament. The three upper storeys, each with three windows, are like No. 70 but there are repairs (after war damage) between the heads of the outer windows and the sills above them, and to the parapet. The staircases are plain. No. 74 (The Swiss Club) is of 18th-century brickwork, once whitened or cream-washed. The ground storey has two windows and a north round-headed wide doorway with a pair of four panelled bolection-moulded doors. The three storeys above have three windows each and post-war damage repair with stock brick between the heads of all windows and the sills of those above. The basement has an open area with an iron railing. The staircase off the north side of the north entrance-hall has plain newels, turned balusters with square block, and cut strings with shaped and scrolled end brackets. The walls of the stair-hall are treated with raised plaster mouldings to form rectangular and oval panels and in its east back wall on the ground and first floors are bulls-eye windows or borrowed lights surrounded by palm leaf and scroll ornament in plaster. The ground floor Dining Room has a plain ceiling and moulded enriched cornice.

Next, to the north, is the damaged Church of St. John the Evangelist, which was consecrated in 1846 (see p. 22). No. 76 has a London County Council tablet on the front recording that John Constable, painter, died here in 1837 (see p. 25). The front, of four storeys above the basement, is of ancient brickwork once whitened in the lower part, now rendered in cement (Plate 6). The ground storey has two sash windows and a north doorway with a wood casing like that at No. 72. Each upper storey has three sash windows. The top storey is probably later than the others and has a plain parapet. There is little of architectural interest inside. The front room, ground floor, has a fire place of soft wood, with an eared moulded architrave, ogee frieze and modillioned cornice-shelf. In the back wall of the room is a later arched recess for a side-board: the ceiling has a moulded cornice with modillions. The round arched opening from the passage to the stairs has its moulded capitals decorated with a small key pattern. The stairs are of the plain simple type seen in most of the houses in this part of the street. Constable's studio was at the back off the staircase. No. 78 appears to be an early to mid-19th-century building. It is faced with cement: the ground floor has a shop front to the street. The upper windows have architraves and those on the first floor have pediments. The main cornice is at third floor level and another storey above this has also a cornice. A large panel on the north side, ground floor, has the name 'Devonshire House,' and east of it is the entrance doorway and portico with fluted columns having moulded caps and a plain entablature with a bracketed cornice.

West side: Nos. 101 to 121, Bedford Passage to Howland Street

Nos. 101 to 109 have been demolished down to basement floor level after war damage. The next four houses, Nos. 111 to 117, probably all had plain brick fronts like that of No. 119 and were embellished at some subsequent period. They are of one design and are of four storeys above a basement which has plain windows to an open area. The ground storey is treated with plaster facing with wide sunk horizontal 'joints' as seen in many other fronts locally. It has two sash windows and a round-headed south entrance. This is flanked by pilasters decorated with guilloche panels and with moulded caps: corbelling above these flank the round head and support a cornice and pediment: the doors are the local six panel type. At the first floor level is a moulded string-course. The upper storeys show the late 18thcentury brickwork between the windows; there are straight-joints between Nos. 111 and 113 and between Nos. 115 and 117. The three tall windows of the first floor have architraves and the middle one an entablature. No. 113 has a later variation, the middle window-head having been heightened and the cornice of the entablature reset just below the second floor window sill. The second floor windows also have architraves. At third floor level is a plain frieze and cornice. This may have been the original height of the front. Above it is another storey with architraved windows and a moulded cornice to the parapet.

No. 119 has the same plaster treatment of the ground storey (now painted black and white). The round-headed south doorway has a key-block and cornice but no pediment. The upper storeys show the original brickwork and sash windows with red brick flat arches. The first floor sills are at floor level. The front has straight joints with both No. 117 and No. 121. No. 121 is like the last but the flat arches are of a stock brick. The round-headed doorway has a plaster architrave and fanlight: the door frame has side pilasters with reeded faces and with lions' masks carved at transom level. The middle first floor window has been crudely heightened nearly to second floor sill level.

There are few internal features of interest. The hall-passages have small cornices, some, as in Nos. 119 and 121, with modillions or dentils. No. 115 has a high panelled dado and an inner lobby doorway with an elaborately scrolled over-door. It also has the remains of an Adam ceiling in the first floor front room. It has been damaged and the centre restored with plain plaster but appears to be a repetition of those in Nos. 82, 92 and 94 opposite. The doors to this and the back room on to the landing are of fine mahogany work with six panels and moulded ribs but are now the worse for wear. The staircases are mostly plain with ramped handrails; one or two have brackets to the cut strings.

East side: Nos. 80 to 98, Chitty Street to Howland Street

The houses in this row were built at the same time as those opposite but the embellishing of the fronts was mostly done at a later date, and all the original brickwork is now hidden by cement facing variously treated. The ground storeys all have round-beaded doorways but they are furnished with pediments, each of which is curved except that of No. 82. The middle of the first floor windows has a pediment and the others have architraves and entablatures. The other fronts are treated in a nondescript Victorian fashion. The whole frontage has a main moulded cornice above the second floor with supplementary brackets in Nos. 80 and 98. Above this is a top storey with architraved windows and a small cornice.

Most of the staircases are now of stone with iron balustrades. The party wall of Nos. 80 and 82 has been pierced by doorways for common usage and the latter has its original wood staircase of plain simple kind. Its first floor front room has the Adam ceiling complete, rather choked by white wash. The main design is a radial central feature surrounded by two circles with eight half-round festoons surrounding the inner, all in a square with ornaments in the spandrels. Farther north and south narrow panels take up the rest of the rectangular plan. These two houses, Nos. 80 and 82, now unoccupied, were badly shaken by bomb-blast; windows are broken and plaster has given way but this ceiling seems to be unharmed and repairs now begun will preserve it. The ground and first floor front rooms of No. 82 have white marble fireplaces with urns carved at the tops of the pilasters and with a frieze, inlaid flush with quasi-flutings of brown marble, below the cornice-shelf.

Nos. 92 and 94 have ceilings similar to No. 82. The back room first floor of No. 84 had another but it was damaged and is now replaced by plain plaster.

Percy Chapel, Charlotte Street

On the site of Nos. 15 and 17 Charlotte Street stood Percy Chapel. It was built in 1765 (fn. n1) and demolished in 1867. An engraving of the building is extant and this and a water colour drawing in the extra illustrated copy of Lysons' Environs (Plate 4) are to be found in the collection at the Guildhall. It is also shown on the Tallis view of Charlotte Street (see p. 13). The chapel was built by William Franks as appears from a lease granted by Francis and William Goodge on 24th May, 1765, of the site "with the building intended for a chapel, lately erected by William Franks." (fn. 28) The lease was purchased in 1766 by Michael Duffield and the property was enfranchised in 1866. (fn. 29)

The first incumbent of the chapel was the Rev. Anthony Stephen Matthew, but following J. R. Smith in his Book for a Rainy Day most authorities give his Christian name as Henry. (fn. n2) This seems to have been a slip on the part of Smith. Matthew befriended Flaxman at the beginning of his career and his wife "herself a woman of culture used to invite the boy to her house and read out translations of the ancient poets while he made sketches to such passages as struck his fancy." Their house in Rathbone Place (see p. 12) was a favourite meeting place for Blake, Flaxman, Stothard and their friends, and Flaxman decorated the interior with reliefs. Matthew was entered at Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1751 at the age of 17. He held the rectories of Glooston, (Leics) and Broughton, (Northants) and was joint lecturer at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. He died in 1824. (fn. 30)

James Haldane Stewart, who ministered here from 1812 to 1828, was born in 1776 at New London, Connecticut. His family returned to England on account of the revolt of the American Colonies and he was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar but gave up his legal practice and was ordained. He had large and distinguished congregations at Percy Chapel but resigned in 1828, rather than pay the higher rental demanded for a renewal of the lease. On an engraved portrait from a painting by J. Slater, he is called rector of Limpsfield, Surrey. At his death in 1854 he was rector of St. Bride's, Liverpool. (fn. 31)

In October, 1843, the Rev. Robert Montgomery was appointed to the charge of the chapel and remained here until his death in 1855. He was a voluminous writer of religious verse and is chiefly remembered by the "classic criticism" meted out to him by Macaulay in the Edinburgh Review. He wrote Satan, Luther, The Omnipresence of the Deity, and many other works. William Wilberforce worshipped at this chapel for some years. The registers of baptisms at Percy Chapel (1776–1867) are preserved at the parish church of St. Pancras, Euston Road.

The list of incumbents is as follows—

St. John The Evangelist, Charlotte Street

This church stands between No. 74 (formerly 31) and No. 76 (formerly 25) and on the site of three houses formerly numbered 32, 33 and 34. The church was designed by Hugh Smith and the contemporary criticism by The Ecclesiologist in 1846 (Vol. V, pp. 123–4) is of interest since it may be thought to reflect more on the capacity of the critics than on the reputation of the architect.

"It is a most unsatisfactory composition. The style is Romanesque, but whether the Anglo, or Lombardo, or Germano variety, it would probably puzzle the architect himself, as much as it does us to determine. In fact it is the conventional Romanesque of the worst time of the departing age. The West front, on paper, might be taken for a Door for Mainz or Spiers and doubtless seemed very imposing to the Committee. But it is of course on an absurdly small scale. Two towers, staged and corbelled, to be hereafter crowned with spires, flank a west gable which has an assuming door below an equal triplet of round-headed lights above which is a most ugly and heavy wheel window. The towers also have doors, with "lobbies" inside. Beyond the towers in the west front are flat-roofed wings, masking the aisles, which run in between the adjacent houses, and have no windows. The only thing tolerable in the front is that it is built of rag with dressings: but let not the visitor penetrate to the Mews behind lest he should be shocked by the beggarliness of all that does not meet the eye. The inside does not present one characteristick of the style which has been adopted. A nave (thirty two feet broad) is parted from its begalleried aisles by five segmental pseudo-Romanesque arches sustained by tall pillars with a kind of cushion caps and stilted bases. A vast, but most mean, chancel arch opens into a most inadequate chancel-recess, which has an unequal triplet under a common segmental arch. The nave roof is open and poor, of miserable scantlings. The aisles have flat foofs. The clerestory has a multitude of couplets of round headed lights. Neither these nor any other lights, have the least splay or hood. There are galleries on three sides (not however coming so far forward as the pillars) with open fronts of an intersecting Romanesque arcade, and supported by thin lanky cast-iron pillars in imitation of the same style. The sacristy is in the angle between the chancel-recess and north aisle. There are other faults which it is not worth while to mention. Really the new churches in London are worse than in almost every other town."

The church was badly damaged by a flying bomb on 25th March, 1945.

The parish had been united with that of St. Saviour's, London Street, in 1913.

The list of incumbents is as follows—

Inhabitants