St James' Square: Derby House

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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of St James' Square with this look at Derby House:

Next to London House, at the south corner of Charles Street, is Derby House, with handsome iron veranda and railings running round it.

It was built by Lord Bellasis, and one of the earliest occupants was Aubrey de Vere, twentieth Earl of Oxford.

Dasent says there is some reason for supposing it to have been occupied by Sir Robert Walpole between the years 1732-35.

It was bought by the Earl of Derby about the middle of the nineteenth century.

All the houses on this side of St James' Square are of dull brick, in formal style, with neither beauty nor originality.

The next, at the northern corner of Charles Street, now (1903) the West End branch of the London and Westminster Bank, was known as Ossulston House until 1753, and belonged for a long period to the Bennet family.

It covered two numbers, of which one was occupied by Lord Dartmouth, Lord Privy Seal under Lord North's Administration, and is now the bank, and the other was bought by the second Viscount Falmouth, and is now occupied by the seventh Viscount of that name.

No. 3 has passed through the hands of many titled and distinguished owners, and is at present the property of the Duke of Leeds. It was occupied by the Copyhold Inclosure and the Tithe Commission Office, now the Board of Agriculture.

No. 4, in the corner, belongs to Lord Cowper, and No. 5 to the Earl of Strafford.

The next two belong to Lord Avebury and Earl Egerton.

Next: St James' Square: Ormonde House