Number One London

POST TOUR: EXPLORING PART OF THE CITY OF LONDON

Victoria here, relating our activities after the Duke of Wellington Tour back in September 2014. After wandering Hampstead, Kristine and I needed a good sit-down — and where better than on a London bus…so we grabbed one and had a ringside seat for the street scenes from Hampstead all the way to the City of London. It is always fun to explore a new area — and we were looking for Cheapside, once a popular shopping area.

Here’s a bit of what we saw –
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Elia, Charles Lamb, a bust by William Reynolds-Stephens in Gitspur Street on the wall of St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate

Old Bailey

Christchurch Greyfriars Garden

St. Paul’s

St. Mary-le-Bow

St. Mary-le-Bow interior

Bank of England

Duke of Wellington by Francis Leggatt Chantrey;

The Duke, Queen Victoria, and Frederick Augustus II, King of Saxony, attended the unveiling on June 18, 1844, anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

VIDEO WEDNESDAY – BYGONE ROYALS

Queen Victoria visits Dublin 1897

King Edward VII at Sandringham 1909

Queen Alexandra at various events – 1910 to 1925

King George V and Queen Mary welcome the

Duke of Gloucester home

Edward VIII/The Duke of Windsor

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visit Washington D.C. 1939

Documentary European Royal Families featuring

various royals in early 20th century newsreels (28 mins)

NUMBER ONES: A FEW WE FOUND IN ENGLAND

In London, Windsor, Hampstead, and elsewhere, we found lots of Number Ones to complement our favorite, Apsley House! Which as our faithful readers will know, is the London home of the Dukes of Wellington, and the Wellington Museum housing a distinguished art collection as well as the many awards presented to the first Duke for his leadership of the Allied defeat of Napoleon in 1815.

The address of Apsley House is actually 149 Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner, London, But it has long been known as Number One London

The original house

From the English Heritage website: “Apsley House was originally designed and built between 1771 and 1778 for Lord Chancellor Henry, 1st Baron Apsley (later 2nd Earl Bathurst), by the fashionable architect Robert Adam (1728–92). The site chosen was on Piccadilly, at the formal entrance to Hyde Park, which was Crown land. Bathurst negotiated the lease of land from the Crown in order to build his new house. Apsley was the first house on the north side of Piccadilly, located opposite a turnpike with toll houses, and consequently it became known as ‘Number 1, London’. Its correct postal address is now 149 Piccadilly.

The original house was a five-bay red brick building, with a spacious entrance hall and central colonnaded oval staircase. Adam had to design the house to respect the existing stable block on the eastern side, which contributed to its irregular floor plan. Adam completed the building and furnishing of the house at a cost of £10,000. The structure of this house survives underneath the later stone encasement and extensions.”

Here are some of our Number One Discoveries…in no particular order…