Benjamin Brecknell and his nephew-by-marriage, Samuel Turner, were tallow-chandlers with premises at 31-32 Haymarket. Samuel's son, Benjamin Brecknell Turner, was born at this address and became a pioneering amateur photographer. Soane designed three houses incorporating shops and a public house for Brecknell in August 1800. The location of the intended houses is revealed by references to the Lemon Tree Public House on drawing [3]. A plan in the British Library (BL Maps Crace Port. 12.34) shows that this was at the north-west corner of the Haymarket and had three houses to the south with a combined frontage of approximately 50 feet. The new houses have a total frontage of 49 feet 10 inches (drawing [3]). It is unclear whether the houses were ever built. P. Peckham - who is recorded as signing the drawings along with Brecknell - has yet to be identified.

Literature:
P. Dean, Sir John Soane and London, 2006, p. 209; Benjamin Brecknell Turner, <www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/benjamin-brecknell-turner-biography>; Plan for a new outlay of the Lemon Tree Public House, <www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/crace/p/ 007000000000012u00034000.html>

Tom Drysdale, March 2015