| Summary : The site of Crosby Hall, a medieval City merchant house, built in 1466 by the wool merchant John Crosby in Bishopsgate, City of London, but re-erected in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, under the supervision of Walter Godfrey in 1909-10 because the original site was redeveloped. In 1466, Sir John Crosby obtained a lease of lands and tenements from the Prioress of St Helens near the convent in Bishopsgate. Retaining one wing of the house, which formerly belonged to an Italian merchant, he added apartments worthy of his status as an Alderman and Member of Parliament. In 1571 Crosby was knighted by Edward IV, after taking leading role in the defence of the City against a Lancastrian attack. Crosby died in 1471 and subsequently his widow leased the house to Richard, Duke of Gloucester in 1483. Shakespeare mentions the house on three occasions in Richard III, and on account of the tradition that he was offered the crown there, the Solar and Great Chamber came to be known as the Council Chamber and Throne Room. Subsequent occupants of the house included the lord Mayor of London in 1516, Sir Thomas More in 1523, and William Roper, More's son-in-law, in 1547. In 1601 Sir Walter Raleigh also had lodgings here. Between 1609 and 1671 the house was owned by the Earl of Northampton but from 1621-38 it became the headquarters of the East India Company. Following a catastrophic fire in 1672, when only the Great Hall and parlour wing survived, the building became a Presbyterian Meeting House and subsequently a warehouse with an inserted floor. In 1842 is opened as the Crosby Hall Literary and Scientific Institute and then became a restaurant until being bought by the Bank of India. The great banqueting hall, with its minstrels' gallery and richly carved ceiling, was then carefully demolished and re-erected in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in 1910. It was then incorporated into the buildings of the British Federation of University Women and used as a dining hall. Now a private residence. |