This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 edition. Excerpt: ... (Sljaptu III. CROSBY HALL. Crosby Hall, as the finest remaining specimen of the domestic architecture of old London, has seen changes, humiliating and otherwise, since the days in which it was forsaken by its lordly possessors and the Nonconformists. By turn it has served as a packing-shed and a wine ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 edition. Excerpt: ... (Sljaptu III. CROSBY HALL. Crosby Hall, as the finest remaining specimen of the domestic architecture of old London, has seen changes, humiliating and otherwise, since the days in which it was forsaken by its lordly possessors and the Nonconformists. By turn it has served as a packing-shed and a wine-cellar. About seventy years ago a tradesman of the former calling used it for a workshop; and posterity has witnessed how pipes of claret and Sauterne can desecrate the timehonoured pavement. The hall is now a dining establishment; but as the premises have been offered for sale, some reasonable fear may be entertained respecting this interesting relic, which, if permanently eecured, might properly be transformed into a library and reading-room for the City of London. Crosby Hall, as it now exists, is a portion of a sumptuous mansion erected by Sir John Crosbie in 1470. The present room was known as Richard the Third's Chapel, that tyrant having once been lodged there for a few nights, on which occasion some of his villanies were planned. Originally the house was the most lofty of London private residences, and to the citizens of a ruder age it was doubtless an object of prominent interest. The site was bought of Alice Ashfield, the Prioress of Saint Helen's. About five years only did Sir John Crosbie survive the completion of his mansion. Subsequently the property passed out of his family. Years later the house was inhabited by Sir Thomas More. In Elizabeth's reign the apartments served as a lodging for some foreign ambassadors, and occasionally for a lord mayor. On the accession of James the First, the French ambassador, with a grand retinue, occupied the place, imparting to the chambers a magnificence such as had seldom or never been...
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