A road-book to old ChelseaStuart, G. B. (Grace Benedicta)
History
A road-book to old Chelsea
Stuart, G. B. (Grace Benedicta)
Chelsea (London, England) -- Guidebooks
Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Haweis’ tenancy of Queen’s House was very different.
They entertained half London at their big crushes, which always had a
character and a “go” which made them eagerly sought after and vastly
amusing. Nearly always the party was built round some lion of the
literary or scientific world. Ernest Renan and Oliver Wendell Holmes
happen to be two guests whom I particularly recall. Renan was big,
overblown, with the rolling gait and merry, round face of Southern
France: Oliver Wendell Holmes was tiny, silver-haired, fragile as a
bright-eyed little field mouse. Mr. Haweis, who did not know what
shyness meant, exploited his visitors with the utmost vivacity and good
nature; he had the social instinct in a high degree, and enjoyed his
own parties so heartily that few of his guests could fail to do the
same.
Nos. 17 and 18 were in 1718 the celebrated Don Saltero Museum and
Coffee-house, removed from Danvers Street to this more eligible
situation; the old site is now occupied by the baker’s shop, 77, Cheyne
Walk. “James Salter, the coffee man,” was at one time valet to Sir
Hans Sloane, and may have formed the idea of his museum from pickings,
let us hope discarded, by this eminent collector. He was an Irishman
who could mix punch, and draw teeth, play a little on the fiddle, and
keep his patrons amused, though his wonderful curios read like simple
rubbish to-day, and strongly remind us of the bogus collections which
used to be a sideshow at bazaars in the country. Still, “Forget me
not at Salter’s, in thy next bowl!” said the wits, and a galaxy of
wonderful men must have met at “the Don’s” of an afternoon as Richard
Steele describes it in the _Tatler_. The famous collection was sold
in 1799, and the coffee-house became a public-house; in 1867 it was
divided into two private residences.
The houses Nos. 19 to 26 were built about sixty years later than those
we have been considering, when the last part of the Manor frontage
was taken down; the difference in style is easy to trace—there is
a uniformity of style, which has evidently been aimed at, and the
magnificent ironwork of the earlier date is wanting.
At No. 24 there are vaults which undoubtedly date from Tudor times,
and tradition says that the gnarled old wisteria embracing No. 20
is a creeper of the Manor House garden. All these houses have fine
panelling, staircases and fireplaces, and handrails—some of earlier
fashion than the buildings themselves, which points at their adaptation
from previous mansions.
Modern houses intervene in the curve where stood Winchester House, the
Bishop’s Palace: at No. 27 Mr. and Mrs. Bram Stoker lived, in the palmy
days of the Lyceum Theatre under Sir Henry Irving’s management, and
dispensed delightful Irish hospitality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account