2-699-239 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Plan of Arundel and Essex Houses', (1881). In the Middle Ages Arundel House was the town house of the Bishops of Bath and Wells. During the dissolution of the monasteries it passed into private hands, and in the 17th century it housed the Royal Society. At this time it was the home of Henry Howard, later sixth Duke of Norfolk. It was demolished in 1678. Essex House fronted the Strand, and was originally called Leicester House. It was built c1575 for Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and was renamed Essex House after it was inherited by his stepson, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex in 1588. From Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places. Westminster and the Western Suburbs, by Edward Walford, Vol. III. [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris & New York, 1881]