Lauderdale House

Lauderdale House, High Gate, new convalescent home of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 1872. 'A seven years' lease of the house and grounds, rent free, has been munificently presented to the governors of the hospital by Alderman Sir Sydney Waterlow, who has also furnished the house to receive thirty-four male patients. This old-fashioned mansion [in north London] has some associations of historic interest. It was built in the time of Charles II., and belonged to the Duke of Lauderdale...Close to this is Cromwell House, which belonged to Ireton, son-in-law of the Protector, during the Commonwealth, but which is now the Convalescent Home of the Hospital for Sick Children. Lauderdale House was some time the residence of Nell Gwyn, King Charles's favourite mistress, whose illegitimate child, born here, was created Earl of Burford and Duke of St. Albans. It is a plain, low building, with two fronts, each surmounted by a simple pediment, one facing the high road, the other looking down towards Holloway; on the south side is a colonnade. The terraced gardens have an extent of nearly two acres, besides a large kitchen garden'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)