In The
Front Next St. James's Street There Appears Little More Than An Old
Gate-House, By Which We Enter
A little square court, with a piazza
on the west side of it leading to the grand staircase; and there
Are
two other courts beyond, which have not much the air of a prince's
palace. This palace was a hospital, suppressed by Henry VIII., who
built this edifice in the room of it.
But the house most admired for its situation is that of the Duke of
Buckingham at the west end of the Park; in the front of which,
towards the Mall and the grand canal, is a spacious court, the
offices on each side having a communication with the house by two
little bending piazzas and galleries that form the wings. This
front is adorned with two ranges of pilasters of the Corinthian and
Tuscan orders, and over them is an acroteria of figures,
representing Mercury, Secrecy, Equity, and Liberty, and under them
this inscription in large golden characters, viz., SIC SITI
LAETANTVR LARES (Thus situated, may the household gods rejoice).
Behind the house is a fine garden and terrace, from whence there is
prospect adjacent on the house on that side, viz., RVS IN VRBE,
intimating that it has the advantages both of city and country;
above which are figures representing the four seasons: The hall is
paved with marble, and adorned with pilasters, the intercolumns
exquisite paintings in great variety; and on a pedestal, near the
foot of the grand staircase, is a marble figure of Cain killing his
brother Abel; the whole structure exceeding magnificent, rich, and
beautiful, but especially in the finishing and furniture.
Grosvenor or Gravenor Square is bounded on the north by Oxford Road,
on the east by Hanover Square, by Mayfair on the south, and by Hyde
Park on the west; the area whereof contains about five acres of
ground, in which is a large garden laid out into walks, and adorned
with an equestrian statue of King George I. gilded with gold, and
standing on a pedestal, in the centre of the garden, the whole
surrounded with palisades placed upon a dwarf wall. The buildings
generally are the most magnificent we meet with in this great town;
though the fronts of the houses are not all alike, for some of them
are entirely of stone, others of brick and stone, and others of
rubbed brick, with only their quoins, fascias, windows, and door-
cases of stone; some of them are adorned with stone columns of the
several orders, while others have only plain fronts; but they are so
far uniform as to be all sashed, and of pretty near an equal height.
To the kitchens and offices, which have little paved yards with
vaults before them, they descend by twelve or fifteen steps, and
these yards are defended by a high palisade of iron. Every house
has a garden behind it, and many of them coach-houses and stables
adjoining; and others have stables near the square, in a place that
has obtained the name of Grosvenor Mews.
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