The History of the Mansion House. By Sydney Perks. (Cambridge
University Press. 35s. net.)—Mr. Perks, who is the City Surveyor, has accumulated a mass of information regarding the Mansion House and the previous history of the site, and he gives many old plans and attractive prints of the district. Unluckily, he leaves the reader to search for the relevant facts with the help of an inadequate index. Before the Great Fire Lord Mayors, like other merchants, used to live in their own houses in the City. After the Fire, when the westward migration had begun, the Corporation in 1670 appointed a committee to consider the question of providing an official home for the Lord Mayor. Sixty years passed, and it was then decided to appropriate the fines paid by those who declined the office of Sheriff to the building of a Mansion House. The old Stocks Market was chosen as the site in 1736. George Dance the elder was selected as the architect in 1737. His estimate for the building was £26,000. It had cost £56,000 by the year 1753, when Sir Crisp Gascoigne took up his residence there. Dance died in 1768 and was succeeded by his son, who was engaged till after 1801 in making alterations and repairs. More than half the book is devoted to materials for the history of the Walbrook, the Stocks Market and the neighbouring churches.
Previous page
