Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/251

 iu s. XL MAR. is,

NOTES AND QUERIES.

203

building on Thursday, 9 April. The cost was roughly 38,OOOZ., a sum of 14,OOOZ. being spent on the site alone. The building consists of a basement, ground floor, and three stories. Among those present at the service were the Archbishops of Brisbane, Sydney, and Cape Town, and the Bishops of St. Albans, Southwark, Islington, Columbia, and Singapore. Bishop Mont- gomery (late of Tasmania), the Secretary, was also there, and it may be well to note that he was one of Dr. Farrar's curates at St. Margaret's, where his memory is still cherished. The sale of the old house realized 27,0001. towards the cost of the new home, the remainder being raised by subscription. The outlook here is very different from that at the old home, where it was mainly across St. James's Park, but now it is " upon an endless succession of chimney-pots and some of the poorest streets of London, from which rises a continuous hum that at times becomes a roar." Thus the editor of The King's Messenger Magazine, one of the Society's publications.

It may be worth while to note that the house of the Cowley Fathers (Society of St. John the Evangelist) was early in the year definitely numbered 22 in Great College Street, although the entrance is in Tufton Street.

In my note concerning 1907 changes I referred to the ground then being cleared between Carpenter Street and the river. The building for rehousing the London Hydraulic Power Co. is the only one being proceeded with, and at the end of the year this had reached only the first story ; but it must in justice be said that the work of getting in the foundations was very heavy, as for many months pumping had to be incessant on account of the water discovered at this spot.

In Horseferry Road the premises formerly in the occupation of the Golden Grain Bread Co. (99 to 105) are still empty. They were offered at auction on 23 November by Messrs. D. Burnett, Son & Baddeley, but the result of the sale has not, so far as I know, been made public. One report named Messrs. Lipton as the purchasers, but another (and I believe a more trustworthy one) states that the Westminster City Council are the owners, and that shortly blocks of dwellings will be erected on the site. Close by are the Drill Hall and headquarters of the Westminster Dragoons I.Y., which were opened early in the past year, the finished buildings being an ornament to a neighbour- hood where many such are needed.

At the beginning of last year a proposal was made to commemorate the work of the- Rev. W. B. Trevelyan during the twenty- three years he was Vicar of the district parish of St. Matthew, Westminster. Th& memorial is to take the form of a parish hall, for the erection of which a site has been secured in St. Ann's Lane ; the total cost,, including the. land, will be 3,5001. The funds for this purpose have come in but slowly, so that no start had been made by the end of the year.

The commencement of the year witnessed the completion of the Westminster Technical Institute in Vincent Square, and the West- minster School of Art began its session for the year in its new home. This Art School started its work in the Architectural Museum in Tufton Street ; but when the Museum was transformed into a training college for architects, fresh quarters had to be looked for, which the L.C.C. provided pend- ing the erection of the large extension now finished and in occupation.

The building in Regency Street reported,, at the time of erection, as being for the accommodation of married men of the Metropolitan Police (and so mentioned in my note on 1907 changes), was completed in the April of that year, but not occupied for some time. About the commencement of last year it was appropriately named Peel House, after the first Sir Robert Peel, from whom policemen derive their sobriquets of " Bobby ' and " Peeler." It has become a section-house for the use of candidates for admission to the Metropolitan Police Force, a building very much needed. Closely adjoining is a large block of buildings con- sisting of three distinct houses, named respectively Harcourt, Douglas, and Glad- stone House, and erected as Married Men's quarters. These have been open since about the middle of last year, and seem well adapted to their purpose. Next to them recently stood a building once known as Portcullis Hall, opened as a temperance hall, but latterly occupied by the Salvation Army. In its old days it was much in request for political meetings, and one of the most enthusiastic meetings it was ever my lot to attend was to promote the return of Mr. John Morley (now Viscount Morley of Blackburn) as member for the City of Westminster. The enthusiasm, however, counted for little, as that gentleman was not elected.

The block of buildings on the other side of Regency Street extending round into Frederick Street and Chapter Street,.