WHITGIFT HOSPITAL AND THE PALACE OF CROYDON.
rTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOE."] who value buildings which have the treble charm of age, beauty, and historical interest will thank you for your note in last week's Spectator on the proposed demolition of the Whitgift Hospital at Croydon, and will hope that your appeal, joined to others, will have the effect of preventing so barbarous an act of destruotion. Enough already was done to hurt the memory of Whitgift and to stain the record of Croydon when the old school buildings which Whitgift set by the Hospital were pulled down in 1868. That there should be a serious proposal, to-day, to hand over to the housebreaker the venerable little Hospital and chapel, untouched since Whitgift himself used to dine there with his brothers and sisters (as he called them), seems incredible.
Unhappily, Whitgift's Hospital is not the only building in Croydon which 'has long been in danger. You, Sir, speak of "the one beautiful and historic building left in a town like Croydon." The Archbishop of Canterbury in his- letter published in the Times of August 5th writes that Croydon is obviously not rich in buildings of historic interest. One such it has, a treasure almost unique in England—a. building known to and appreciated by every student of our history in Church and State, and every lover of what is- beautiful in architecture and characteristic of the Elizabethan age." He writes, again, of "the greatest of Croydon's interests- and treasures." But, Sir, what of the Archbishop's Palace,-- the Palace of Cranmer, Laud, Juxon, and Whitgift himself P' The Palace still stands next to Croydon parish church, almost. as when the last Archbishop left it in 1758. Its banqueting- hall has one of the noblest chestnut ceilings in the county ;. its guard-chamber, its long gallery, its chapel with the Papal keys patterned on the western gable, still remain; its chapel 'still holds the stalls carved with the arms of Laud and Juxon. Modern paint, it is true, has disfigured the oak and the- 'panelling ; but paint has not been the worst. The noble old building since 1758 has been variously dishonoured; it has served as the business premises of a calico-printer; its- banqueting-ball has survived the steam of bleachers' vats. It- is now tenanted by a Sisterhood, who rent it for a girls' day- school ; but how long is that tenancy certain to last ? It-
ought not, in any case, to be a permanent arrangement. Such a building deserves intelligent restoration, as one of the' most interesting fifteenth-century buildings in the county, and as belonging, like Whitgift's Hospital, not merely to. Croydon, but to the history of England.
For the moment, Whitgift's Hospital is in the greater, danger, and we must do our best to save it. Presumably it is- a question of money. If the road must be widened for the tram-lines, the alternative probably is to set back the frontage of the new shops or the public-house opposite the Hospital walls. This may be a costlier proceeding from the point of view of the ratepayer, but what of other points of view We must earnestly hope that the Croydon Borough Council may yet earn the gratitude of their own and succeeding genera- tions by staying their hand and refusing to destroy a venerable and beautiful building whose value to the nation cannot be measured in mere money.—I am, Sir, &c., AMBIMATOR OLIM.
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