The Albany, home to AJ Raffles
Albany's bachelor flats - home to AJ Raffles and Lord Byron.
Location: Albany Court, St James, London
Description: Part club, part cloister, the Albany, is a discreet 18th centuiry mansion. It was named after the Duke of York, the second son of George III, who owned the central block. In 1804 it was converted into 69 chambers for bachelors. The grandest 15 are in the main mansion, others accessed via marble-lined corridors filled with stone busts of former residents.
According to the late antiques dealer and resident Christopher Gibbs, there was/is a rule list that goes 'no pets, no children, no whistling, no noise and absolutely no publicity'. Women were not permitted until the 1880's. When Prime Minister William Lambs wife Caroline Lamb disguised herself as a page boy to sneak into Lord Byrons set.
Famous tenants included William Gladstone, William Lamb, Edward Heath, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Bill Nighy, Lord Byron, Lord Snowdon, Aldous Huxley, Kenneth Clark, Terence Rattigan, JB Priestley, Canning and Lord Lytton.
Author EW Hordung, who was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brother in law, created the fictional gentleman thief AJ Raffles, a diametric opposite of Sherlock Holmes, lived here.
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Albany's bachelor flats - home to AJ Raffles and Lord Byron. |
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Other places nearby:
Mount Pleasant - or is it?», 1.5km
The Wind in Holland Park», 2.5km
Poet Stevie Smith's House», 8.1km
The Rainbow Coffee House», 1.2km
George Orwell Lived here», 2.9km
Hazlitt's Hotel», 0.5km
The House by the Thames», 1.7km
Orwell's Booklovers Corner», 3.3km
Where Boswell met Johnson», 0.7km
Lord Byron & 1st ever plaque», 0.5km
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