Newcastle House is a mansion in Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...

 in central London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was one of the two largest houses built in London's largest square during its development in the 17th century, the other being Lindsey House

Lindsey House

Lindsey House is a Grade II* listed villa in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is owned by the National Trust but tenanted and only open by special arrangement.-History:...

. It is the northernmost house on the western side of the square.

The house had a complex history. The first version was built in 1641-42 for the Earl of Carlisle

Earl of Carlisle

Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1322 when the soldier Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay was made Earl of Carlisle. He had already been summoned to Parliament as Lord Harclay in 1321...

. In 1672 it was purchased by William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis

William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis

William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, PC was an English nobleman.He succeeded his father, the 2nd Baron Powis, as 3rd Baron Powis in 1667, and was created Earl of Powis in 1674 by King Charles II and Viscount Montgomery, of the Town of Montgomery, and Marquess of Powis in 1687 by King James II,...

 and renamed Powis House, but in 1684 it burned down. Reconstruction of a new house - effectively the one which still stands, albeit greatly altered - to designs by Captain William Winde

William Winde

Captain William Winde was an English gentleman architect, whose Royalist military career, resulting in fortifications and topographical surveys but lack of preferment, and his later career, following the Glorious Revolution, as designer or simply "conductor" of the works of country houses, has...

 commenced promptly, but in 1688 the house was ransacked by a mob in consequence of Lord Powis's association with the recently deposed James II

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

. The following year Lord Powis's estates were attainted and he fled to France. Powis House was designated the official residence of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal

Lord Keeper of the Great Seal

The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain, was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. This evolved into one of the Great Officers of State....

. In 1694 the charter of the newly formed Bank of England

Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

 was sealed there.

By 1705 the house had been returned to the Powis family and in that year they sold it to John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle

John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle

John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, KG, PC was the son of the 3rd Earl of Clare and his wife Grace Pierrepont. Grace was daughter of The Hon. William Pierrepont and granddaughter of the 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull....

, who had alterations made by John Vanbrugh

John Vanbrugh

Sir John Vanbrugh  – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...

. Thereafter it was called Newcastle House. The building was a compact block with three main storeys, plus two storeys of basements below and two storeys of attics above. It was built of brick with bold stone quoins

Quoin (architecture)

Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...

, band courses and cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

. There were two projecting wings to the rear, so a large amount of accommodation was fitted into the compact site.

Holles left the house to his nephew Thomas Pelham-Holles

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...

, who was confusingly also created 1st Duke of Newcastle (his uncle's was the second creation, his the third). This latter duke was a prominent politician and latterly Prime Minister of Great Britain. He held court at Newcastle House for several decades and died in 1768. He used it as his premier London residence throughout his life (preferring it to 10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

 when he was Prime Minister), and threw many lavish parties there which were attended by much of London society.

The Prime Minister was Newcastle House's last aristocratic occupant. His widow sold the house to the banker Henry Kendall for £8,400. He had it divided in two and in 1790 one half was purchased by James Farrer. The solicitors Farrer & Co who still occupy the building, and in the early 20th century they purchased the other half and reunited the building. Also in the early 1900s, the rear wings were removed in connection with the construction of Kingsway

Kingsway (London)

Kingsway is a major road in central London in the United Kingdom, designated as part of the A4200. It runs from High Holborn, at its north end in the London Borough of Camden, and meets Aldwych in the south in the City of Westminster at Bush House. It was built in the 1900s...

, a major thoroughfare which was driven through the small streets just to the west of Lincoln's Inn Fields. Farrer & Co commissioned alternations by Sir Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...

 in the 1930’s, but the building still retains much of its late 17th and early 18th century fabric and appearance.

In the 17th century there was a mansion called Newcastle House in Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...

, which belonged to an earlier Duke of Newcastle.