Wardrobe Place, EC4

Walk westwards from St Paul’s along Carter Lane and halfway down on your left, just after Addle Hill, you will come across an archway in the buildings which, if you turn into it, will take you to a small, cobbled courtyard known as Wardrobe Place.

It owes its name to the fact that from 1359 until its abolition in 1782, when its powers were assumed by the Treasury, the King’s (and the occasional Queen’s) Wardrobe was sited here. Originally based in the Tower of London the Wardrobe was where the royal vestments and armaments were housed. But it also was the centre of the monarch’s economic power, where their personal fortunes were stored and where Royal Household accounts were maintained and taxes raised. It soon outgrew its rather cramped quarters in the Tower and following a relatively temporary relocation to Lombard Street between 1311 and 1359, Edward III made the decision to relocate once again.

The royal eyes fixed on the mansion of Sir John Beauchampe who had rather conveniently just died. As John Stow recorded in his Survey of London, published in 1598, “then is the kings greate Wardrobe, Sir John Beauchampe, knight of the Garter, Constable of Dover, Warden of the Sinke Portes builded this house, was lodged there, deceased in the yeare 1359.  His Executors sold the house to King Edware the third.” Having relocated there, the Wardrobe appears to have been a hotbed of intrigue, Stow noting that “The secret letters and writings touching the estate of the Realme, were wont to be enroled in the Kings Wardrobe, and not in the Chauncery, as appeareth by the records”.

There was a change of usage after Charles the First lost its head, the Wardrobe being converted into an orphanage. The restoration of the monarchy and the appointment of the Earl of Sandwich as Master of the Royal Wardrobe saw the eviction of the orphans, although they did not go without a fight. Samuel Pepys, a frequent visitor to the Wardrobe, reported that the orphans sang to the Earl in a last desperate attempt to remain but the crusty fellow was unmoved and showed them the door. Six years later the building was consumed by the flames of the Great Fire.

One of the iconic images of wartime London is St Paul’s cathedral during the blitz. Miraculously, the area to the west of the cathedral, including Wardrobe Place, escaped relatively unscathed and the buildings on the western side of the square are fine examples of town houses dating from the post-conflagration rebuild of the city. No2, Wardrobe Place dates to around 1680 and is a Grade II listed building, retaining “its late-C17 domestic plan and stair, panelling and other original or early features. The two overmantel paintings have outstanding interest as early examples of a once-widespread artisan tradition, and are now of great rarity.” These wall paintings were rediscovered in the 1970s following some rebuilding work.

By 1720 John Strype, in his Survey of London, noted that “the Garden of the King’s Wardrobe is converted into a large and square court, with good houses”, what is now Wardrobe Place. The houses are mainly, if not exclusively, offices now but a still visible painted sign on the wall of No 6, bearing the legend “Snashall & Son. Printers, Stationers and Account Book Manufacturers”, gives a sense of the type of businesses that were to be found in what is now a pleasant oasis in a busy part of the City. Signs such as this must have been an everyday sight in days of yore.