2-914-033 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Remains of the Whittington Club, after the fire, 1854. Aftermath of a London fire: '...the Whittington Club House, formerly the Crown and Anchor Tavern, extending from Arundel-street to Milford-lane, was laid in ashes...The fire...broke out in the kitchen of the Club house, at half past five o'clock in the morning; and so rapid was the spread of the flames, as scarcely to allow time for the escape of the inmates sleeping on the premises...All that the servants could do was to effect a rapid exit through one of the parapet windows, and, by making the circuit of the stone coping round the building, get on to the roof of the Illustrated London News printing-office, abutting on the south side of the Club premises; whence some were rescued by means of the Royal Society's fire-escape, and others were lowered by the "lift" attached to the premises'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.