Old Devonshire House

Old Devonshire House at 48 Boswell Street, was located between Theobald's Road in Bloomsbury, and Queen Square, London. William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire had the house built in 1668 for his son, also called William Cavendish, who was MP for Derby at that time and eventually became 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694. This house was later sold by William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, who built Devonshire House in fashionable Piccadilly. Major George Henry Benton Fletcher bought Old Devonshire House in 1932, to display his keyboard collection. He donated the house and his collection to the National Trust in November 1937. The house was destroyed in May 1941 by a Luftwaffe bombing raid on Holborn during the Blitz. Most of his keyboard instruments had been evacuated to Gloucestershire before the raid. These survived and are currently on display in Fenton House, Hampstead.

Old Devonshire House was Stuart-period brick-constructed house built in 1668 shortly after the Great Fire of London in September 1666. The house was built according to the regulations of the Rebuilding of London Act 1666, which laid down the new rules for domestic accommodation. This act was drafted urgently to eliminate factors, which had caused the fire. The house was specified as a "Second Sort" type, with three storeys plus basement and garret. Brick or stone construction was mandated, with cellar brick width 2½ br., 'first' and 'second' storey 2 br., 'third storey 1½ br. and garret minimum 1br. The house was elegantly proportioned with the first and second storey 10 feet in height. The four tall second storey front windows unusually featured nine panels in the upper, and six in the lower casement, which gave the large front drawing room an imposing appearance. Fluted pilasters with flattened Corinthian cornices framed the mahogany front door with a fanlight and arched pediment above. Behind the front door a hall led to a broad straight staircase to the first floor. The architect if any is unknown. William Talman (architect) who designed Chatsworth House for the Devonshires was only 18 in 1668.Nicholas Barbon might have been involved. He built Red Lion Square, close to the site of Old Devonshire House and Pepys House at 14 (and 12) Buckingham Street, two of the few surviving Stuart houses built in London after the Great Fire. 41 and 42 Bedford Row are ascribed to him and are closely similar in facade to Old Devonshire House. Nicholas Barbon was known to have been involved with the alteration of the Devonshire’s Bishopsgate property in 1676.

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