Paul Pinders house

This house of a rich merchant stood on Bishopsgate since it was built around 1599 to its destruction for the expansion of Liverpool Street Station. It was built for the merchant Paul Pinder as a mansion outside the city walls on Bishopsgate due to its proximity to the city and his commercial interests but also due to its space which allowed him to have a large garden to the rear. What was built in 1599 was a new bay between two older properties to the left and right (Buildings to the left and right in the picture left made up the complex of the mansion). The building survived the Great fire of London but afterwards (after the death of Paul Pindar in 1650) was sub-divided and given over to the London work house. The house was demolished in 1890 for the eastern extension of Liverpool street station. There were many similar houses with impressive projecting jetties in medieval London but even then this house would have been striking. Its elaborate work carvings were meant to show off the wealth of the merchant. 

Its former location is now taken up by a large modern office building, (it would have been where the large arch is on the Bank of Scotland building on Bishopsgate). When it was demolished the facade was acquired by Victoria and Albert Museum in the interest of saving some of the vanishing medieval heritage of the city. The bottom of the facade was not retained due to the various alterations. 

1-3 Hare Court - middle temple lane

This row of interesting buildings of Hare court on middle temple lane I found on my way to the Temple Church. They may not be strictly 'medieval' being built in seventieth century but their scarcity and appearance I feel entitles them to a post. 

The set of three buildings are of the late seventeenth century being built around 1693. They were probably built by the lawyers of the middle temple for offices or perhaps residential quarters (I'm not sure on this). They appear to have miraculously survived the blitz in which so much of the temple area was devastated (which is evident from looking around the temple area at dates on the buildings which are mostly reconstructions).

The buildings themselves have little detail being a nondescript mass of white plastering interrupted by rows sash windows. The central building has on the upper floor weatherboarding which was a common material to use on a facade of a building of this date, the others could have originally also been faced like this. They are timber framed and the upper floors have a overhanging jetty to get the most space out of a modest building plot. They are all two star listed by English Heritage probably due to there rarity and survival in central London.  

229&230 Fleet Street

These two adjacent timber framed buildings in the heart of London in Fleet Street are curious survivors of destruction and redevelopment London has seen. The two buildings must have come under joint ownership at some point as they are two separate buildings which have been restored in similar fashion around the nineteenth century. Most people wouldn't give these buildings a second glance, not being as impressive and as obviously old as the Inner temple gateway slightly further down the street.  

The first, 229 fleet street (right on image) was constructed in the early seventeenth century in 1625. It is an elegant medieval townhouse built on four stories with a projecting jetty from the second floor fitted with sash windows, probably inserted when altered in the nineteenth century. The ground floor is much altered with the addition of Victorian shop front. Above the door there is a small plaque commemorating its rare survivor of the great fire of London. The building is listed 2* by English heritage for its age and the rare survival of a jetty. 

230 fleet street (left on image) is a late seventeenth century townhouse with ground floor shop. The building has a full width bay with sash windows which follows the building from the first floor upwards. Although in my view less interesting than 229, this building is listed as Grade 1 by English heritage as a building of the high importance. 

These two buildings are the only survivors from the medieval townhouses which would have once lined Fleet street and are also perhaps the only survivors of London's once plentiful collection of timber framed seventeenth century townhouses. These two managed to survive the Victorian and Edwardian schemes of clearance which destroyed buildings of a similar antiquity and style in the area in streets such as Wych street.

If you want to learn more about fleet street and its development why not take a walking tour by visiting: http://www.unrealcityaudio.co.uk 

74 Leadenhall street

This building which stood on 74 Leadenhall street is an quite an enigma as there is very little record of its existence and its destruction. The building dated from sometime in the seventeenth century and was one of the many timber framed buildings built at this time. One of the few records we have is by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner who described  it briefly only in his introduction as one of the few timber framed seventeenth century buildings left in London. There is surprising little information about this building despite areas of interest, its age and also some distinguishing features such as the bay window and some interesting interior work.  

From various sources it appears that the building survived the Second World War and early post-war redevelopment. It is recorded in Pevsner's book which was published in 1957 and also in the image above dating to 1967. Intriguingly the brief description of the building is not altered in Pevsner's 1973 revised edition perhaps suggesting it was still surviving,  however this is uncertain. I would have thought such a building would have been conserved as late as the 1970's (although much demolition in Britain still continued at this time), however land value in the city was increasingly rapidly and it would have been fairly low density compared to a large office building its in place. 


From street level the building is quite unnoticeable and admittedly isn't too handsome. The facade  must have been substantially altered in the nineteenth century when the brick work around the bay was perhaps constructed to its appearance in the image above ©. The bay looks original and is probably part of a older facade. Also the roof is slightly usual being hipped which may also indicate that the building is older than parts of the front facade. The interior of the building was noted for having a interesting ceiling of on the first floor, as a handful of images exist highlighting its interior, although they say little else about the building. Now in its place is a group of modern office buildings perhaps dating to the 1980's which may give an insight to when the building was lost. 





left is an image of the interior showing part of the ceiling work. Source: The guildhall art gallery archives ©