This was the best preserved of the triangular sections making up the original layout and contained the greatest number of listed buildings. Its reconstruction by Terry Farrell & Partners between 1982 and 1988 is in many ways a model conservation area development, retaining and restoring parts of the old buildings and adding an original yet sympathetic new architectural dimension.
There is no doubt, however, that this scheme was a very drastic one, and much original fabric has been lost. The whole of the block belonged to Comyn Ching & Co., the architectural ironmongers, who retain their showroom at Nos. 15-21 Shelton street. They are the longest established business still in situ in Seven Dials. They are also one of the oldest Ironmonger, Metal Working and Domestic Engineering businesses in the country, and are known to be over 200 years old. They claim to have begun business in Seven Dials in 1723. Their title deeds date back to June 1736 and their account books to 1816.
About 1800 the Partnership traded as Gostling and Maynard; and in those days when businesses changed hands and partners altered, the trading names changed often. There were eight changes of names between 1800 and 1857 when the name became Huxley & Ching then Comyn Ching & Co. in 1859. It was formed into a Private Limited Company in 1902 and subject to minor alterations in the capital structure, has remained trading under the same name since the beginning of this century. The company is entirely British and Ching is, in fact, an English name occurring, for example, in the name Chingford, a town in Essex, and the River Ching.
The firm has always taken an active part in the building industry, working for architects, builders, government departments and other public authorities. Records show that they were pioneers in gas lighting and installed the original gas lighting at Buckingham Palace about 1835, together with lamp posts, railings, gates, etc. to the Royal Parks. Until recently the name ‘Comyn Ching’ appeared on the bases of many of the lamp posts and bollards in the Mall, St. James’s Park; many of these old Victorian metal fittings have now disappeared, unfortunately. The firm obtained a Royal Warrant to Queen Victoria in 1884 and to King Edward VII in 1902.
The ledgers show accounts to many royal and distinguished people: King William IV, Queen Adelaide, The Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Wellington, and the Duke of Devonshire. A few trade names occurring 100 years ago are still known today; e.g., Thomas Cubitt, Gillow & Co., Holland & Sons, George Trollope & Sons, and J. S. Nettlefold. The firm took over the business of J. N. Boobyer & Son, of Drury Lane, another Old Ironmonger, in 1933, and absorbed their stocks and some of their staff.
During the two World Wars the company was employed entirely on war work of various kinds including the supply of fittings to camps, R.A.F. stations, ordnance factories and the Admiralty. At one time during the last war approximately 100 hands were employed, mostly women, making Air Sea Rescue Equipment for the R.A.F., and special equipment for the Combined Operation Command.
During the London Blitz in 1940, the premises in Seven Dials had several narrow escapes from destruction. They were once set on fire by incendiary bombs, but the fire was put out promptly and very little damage done; a large unexploded bomb was removed from the warehouse on another occasion.
Since 1945 the premises and staff have expanded to meet the demands of building works of all types, in` many parts of this country and also overseas. Since the redevelopment of the site in the 1980s, Comyn Ching only retain a show room in Shelton Street, and the warehouse and head office are now in Golden Lane EC1, north of the City. Sadly they no longer exist.
Over the years Comyn Ching had acquired the whole triangular site which enabled it to be redeveloped as a whole rather than in a piecemeal manner. The result is a scheme which was much praised on completion as an example of sympathetic urban renewal. Comyn Ching appointed Terry Farrell as the architect for the whole development carrying out the projects themselves apart from the three new corner buildings which were sold to Taylor Woodrow for development.
The first phase comprised the clearing of accretions and additions from the centre of the site to create a new semi-public space – Ching Court – and the restoration of the listed buildings as offices, shops and flats. This was conceived in 1977, begun in 1982 and completed in 1985. The second phase carried out between 1986 and 1988 was the redevelopment of the three corner buildings to contain offices and residential, and to provide new architectural landmarks.
The whole scheme was evolved in close consultation with the (then) G.L.C. Historic Buildings Division and the Camden Planning Department. The results are distinguished for their successful combination of correct, self-effacing, repair of the exteriors of the listed buildings, and the distinctive, almost flamboyant design of the new work such as the Vanbrughian inspired `Baroque’ new office entrance-porches in Ching Court, and the glazed `light columns’ in the three corners of the court.
In the words of Ashley Barker, then the G.L.C. Surveyor of Historic Buildings:
‘At one level this is architects’ architecture and some may criticise the new design as wilful and mannered – but it operates on many levels and certainly it has been minutely and freshly considered. The ordinary Londoner who needs the reassurance of the familiar scene will still know where he is and will, without doubt, enjoy something of the novelty that has been added to his town. The connoisseur of architecture will find it well worth a detour, and the character and history of Seven Dials will have been enriched instead of eroded. But, above all, the self-consciousness of conservation has been washed away by the assurance of the architecture.’ The Comyn Ching Triangle retains the following buildings of historic interest:
Nos. 1-5, 9, 11-15, 17-19 Shelton Street all appear to have been rebuilt in the 1790s, when the mid-eighteenth century leases of Seven Dials fell in. Nos. 1-9 were reconstructed in replica by Terry Farrell. Nos. 11-15 have particularly good contemporary shop fronts which were restored by Terry Farrell.
Nos. 21, 25 and 27 Mercer Street still form a group of late seventeenth three-storeyed brick houses. The shop fronts with characteristic reeded architraves were added in the early nineteenth century. No. 23 is a warehouse of yellow stock brick with red brick dressings. It was built in 1894 by the builders Killby & Gayford for Messrs. Pankhurst & Co.
Nos. 53 and 55 Monmouth Street were built circa 1720 and re-fronted and the shopfronts introduced in the early nineteenth century. The interior of No. 53 contains late seventeenth century panelling and staircase salvaged from No. 49 Monmouth Street when it was demolished in 1984. Nos. 57 and 59 Monmouth Street also date from the early eighteenth century, but were re-fronted in the early nineteenth century. The wrought iron Art Nouveau screen in the shop entrance was made by Comyn Ching and this was until recently the main entrance to their premises.
Nos. 61 and 63 occupy plots sixteen feet wide and were built in 1699 by Samuel Chase as part of Thomas Neale’s development. The former (apart from the later shop front) retains the original treatment of the upper part of the elevation; two and a half windows wide, with flush-framed sashes. No. 63 also retains its original seventeenth century T-plan roof structure, making this pair a very rare survival. Few examples of seventeenth century domestic architecture in London survive in anything like original condition.
Nos. 65-71 were also early eighteenth century houses, surviving from the original development of the area but re-fronted and with shop fronts installed in the early nineteenth century. Very little now survives internally. No. 73 is a modern replica rebuilding.