• 1778

10 Saville Row was built in 1735 as part of Lord Burlington's development of the area. The street originally only had houses on the east side. It was a brick house of four storeys over a basement, and according to the Survey of London was built on a particularly deep and narrow plot. Although listed here on Saville Row, it is likely that the house also had an entrance on New Burlington Street, as it is included in the London rate books in that location.

The house was substantially remodelled and redecorated from 1778 by Sir John Griffin Griffin (formerly John Griffin Whitewell) (1719-97), to designs by Robert Adam. Sir John was MP for Andover (Whig) in 1749-84, and an army officer. He served in the Austrian War of Succession, and the Seven Years War, eventually rising to the rank of General in 1778, Field Marshal in 1796, and was installed as Knight of the Bath for his military service. In 1784 he established a claim to the Barony of Howard de Walden through his maternal grandmother, and became the 4th Baron. Later, in 1788, he was also created 1st Baron Braybrooke. Sir John married twice, first Anna Maria (d1764), daughter of John, Baron Schutz in the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1765 he married Catherine (d1807), daughter of William Clayton of Harleyford. Despite this he died without an heir and his titles went into abeyance.

Although only a handful of Adam's drawings for 10 Saville Row survive, it appears from his accounts that considerable work was undertaken. The rooms mentioned most often are the staircase hall, the drawing room, the ante room, and (Catherine) Lady Griffin's dressing room, and there are designs for all of these in the Soane Museum, along with drawings for the dining room. It is not known if the surviving drawings represent the executed designs as the house was rebuilt in 1864.

See also: Audley End, Essex; Audley End, Saffron Walden, Essex: Monument to Elizabeth, Countess of Portsmouth

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1922, Volume II, Index pp. 50, 73; The Survey of London, 1963, Volume 32, pp. 493-95; S. Bradley, and N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: London 6: Westminster, 2003, p. 568; 'Griffin, John Griffin (1719-97), of Audley End, Essex', The history of Parliament online

Frances Sands, 2012

Scheme

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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