This curious building is situated near the London workhouse, on the west side of , and is well known by the bow and vast extent of windows along the front. The interior was formerly very curious and rich in carved work, the principal part of which has been destroyed in the most wanton manner.

On the floor was an elegant room filled with stucco and carved work, and presenting a fine specimen of the decorative style of the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth. Mr. J. T. Smith, who made a drawing of it in , and engraved it in his Ancient Topography of London, thus describes it:

The ceiling was lath and plaster, together with all its ornaments, and also those of the upper cornice and frieze, including the upper half of the chimney-piece. On the latter was a basso relievo, of two miserably modelled figures of Hercules and Atlas supporting the globe, which the artist, if the person who produced such a thing may be so called, thought proper to make of the shape of an egg.

All the carvings, and every other part of the room, under the upper frieze, were of oak, excepting the lower half of the chimney-piece, which was of stone.

Some parts of the sculpture of the chimney-piece were by no means so badly executed, as the before mentioned basso relievo, particularly the figures in fruit baskets, (caryatidae) supporting the two tablets of stag hunting, the latter of which were precisely a repetition of each other. I have reason to believe that the two adjoining houses, to the south, together with this, were originally one fabric; as fragments of similar ceilings, and grotesque figures of the same workmanship, are still visible in them: and indeed, when we recollect that this house, commonly called sir Paul Pindar's, has only one room on a floor, the back part being occupied by a staircase, we cannot suppose that so eminent a person, holding the rank of a first-rate merchant, and indeed an ambassador. enjoying the countenance of king James, and his son Charles the First, could possibly make any figure in a house containing only four rooms.

In September and , the whole of the ornaments of this room were cut away, and the room rendered, what the possessor was pleased to call

a little comfortable.

The style of architecture used, was that known by the name of king James's Gothic, though it is clear it was in use in London in the reign of Elizabeth.

The only remains are the ceiling and the carved oak window frames; the is in excellent preservation, the pendants and shield of arms in the ceiling being quite perfect.

In Half-moon alley, behind this house, is a low plaister building, known as sir Paul Pindar's garden-house, formerly ornamented with medallions, &c. in stucco-work, the whole of which were destroyed in .

On the east side of , is a court called Montague-court, in which was formerly a mansion called , the residence and property of sir John Harrison, kt. of Balls, in the county of Hertford, in .

Between and , a new church is to be erected, the site is purchased, and preparations are now making to pull down or houses on the south side of , and several behind, with a view of excavating for a foundation.

[] Anc. Topog. of London, 4to, p. 51.