House of St Barnabas

The House of Charity, founded in 1846, moved from its home No. 9 Rose (now Manette) Street to the new premises at 1 Greek Street in 1861, which had been purchased for £6,400.[7]

Behind the House of Charity was an ideal of practical Christianity, spurred on by the Oxford Movement.[11] The first list of members included William Ewart Gladstone.

One of the original functions of the Charity was to keep families together when the husband of a family went into a workhouse. Between January 1847 and February 1851, 487 people were admitted. Of these, 103 were families ranging from a single mother to a family of ten with both parents and eight children. These families were a typical example of the way in which the House of Charity set out "to offer to those who are sunk in the depths of temporal, and frequently spiritual, wretchedness, the example of the discipline of a Christian family".[12]

The House of Charity described itself as one of the few institutions in London where men, women and children of all walks of life, were able to 'apply for aid without a loss of self-respect'. Temporary guests of the House included 'all who found themselves in a condition of friendlessness and destitution that is not the manifest result of idleness or vice.' [11]

Between 1862 and the outbreak of the Second World War the Charity broadened its functions and over the years helped the homeless of London in many different ways: it helped people who were emigrating to Australia and were awaiting the long sea journey, people who had to come to London for surgery in hospitals, servants who had lost their jobs, teachers between positions and émigrés from Russia and the Balkans – an association which still continues to this day with the monthly services of the Macedonian community in the chapel.[11]

After the outbreak of the Second World War, during the blitz, the nuns moved back to Clewer and the House was requisitioned for war duty. In November 1940 a bomb fell on the House, causing sufficient damage though fortunately no fatalities.[11] The Air Training Corps used the premises as a Headquarters during the war, having first applied to repair the bomb damage sufficiently to allow use of the building.[11] Following this the London County Council were granted use of the building for 'the purpose of training Students in Child Welfare'.[11]

After the war the House opened as a women's hostel, originally helping ex-service women, and at one time providing 'as many as 802 beds'.[3] The hostel had many supporters and friends, among them Joyce Grenfell, the comic actress, who was a constant visitor and fundraiser. The House closed as a women's hostel in 2006. All the residents were re-housed.

The individual stories of the people who made the House their home over this long period are recorded in the House archives, which are now kept in the Westminster Archive. Then, as now, the Charity was overseen by a board of trustees.

The House of St Barnabas has the vision "to create a future where sustained employment is a reality for those affected by homelessness." It has been constituted as a members' club since 2013.[13] The club hosts music and entertainment events, and also showcases visual art from established and emerging artists. The founding members of the club were Andrew Weatherall, Gilles Peterson, Miranda Sawyer, Ekow Eshun, Brian Cox, Margot Bowon, Richard Strange, Rob Da Bank, Rankin, Hew Locke and Jarvis Cocker.

In July 2019 it was reported that the House was running a 12-week scheme in which participants work in the club, in hospitality and administrative roles, alongside attending workshops, before graduating with a City and Guilds qualification. Graduates are provided with a minimum of one year post-programme support to help them back into lasting paid work and to help break the cycle of homelessness.[14]

The interior detail, the moulded plasterwork, is one of the finest examples of the English Rococo style surviving in London. Whilst it is not known for sure who instigated this work, it is probable that Richard Beckford commissioned the additions to the House's interior. Similarly, the designers of the elaborate plasterwork are thought to be George Fawkes and Humphrey Willmott, the plasterers employed at Mansion House at around the same date, though there is no solid evidence to support this.[15]

The front door is original and the Charity still has the large key for the lock; 18th century London was a dangerous place, hence the enormous safety chain.

The simple decoration of the hall was a deliberate device to attract the visitor's eye to the decorated staircase leading to the rooms on the first floor.[15]

The wrought-iron balustrades of the staircase are original. The original chandelier held candles and the mechanism for raising and lowering still exists. The Angel on the landing is the oldest object in the house. It dates from the 1600s, is made of wood and is Flemish. This has been embellished by the artist Nancy Fouts.

There is a galleried landing from which the plasterwork can be viewed more closely: there is a deep relief of female busts, a lion's head and scrollwork. In Richard Beckford's time, the panels would almost certainly have held oil paintings, probably of members of his large family. Their places are now occupied by paintings by the artist Alan Rankle.

• 
  Entrance hall and staircase

The office for the Charity's Hostel Director and Personal Support Workers, who provided the one-to-one counselling, advice and support to the residents, was almost certainly the dining room, known as The Soho Room. This room, together with the Dickens room that leads from it, has plasterwork from the 1750s, although it is not quite as ornate as the decoration in the rooms above.

The Dickens Room has a fireplace with four roundel paintings of nuns, installed when the House of Charity moved into the buildings.

These rooms now hold the members' restaurant and private dining facilities.

• 
  The Dickens Room

The ceiling of The Drawing Room has in its corners heads representing the Four Seasons. The central oval medallion shows four putti, holding in their hands the symbols of the four classical elements: earth, water, fire and air.

At the top of the wall panel in the drawing room opposite the chimneypiece are two dragons made of papier-mâché. These are the dragons of the city of London which, as an alderman, William Beckford was permitted to use.[8] It is believed, although there is no concrete evidence, that the plasterers William used for Mansion House were engaged to plaster this, his brother Richard's house, as there are distinct similarities between the plasterwork, including the presence of the city of London dragons.

When the House of Charity acquired the property three of the marble chimneypieces from the House, including the Council Room chimneypiece, were sold to fund the building of the chapel. The overmantel and chimney piece were designed as part of the restoration in 1960 by Lawrence King.[8]

The Drawing Room is the largest member's lounge in the club.

• 
  The Drawing Room

The Silk Room is a silk-lined room which also has its original plasterwork ceiling and carved wooden chimneypiece. It is also called the Withdrawing Room, because in Georgian times it was the room that ladies would have withdrawn to.

The Silk Room is currently used as both a board room and private dining space.

• 
  The Silk or Withdrawing Room

At the rear of the House, The Bazalgette Room was the principal bedroom. The chimneypiece and overmantel are original and the entrance door is matched by a false door at the southern end of the same wall. This was to give the room symmetry, but the plain plasterwork indicates that the room has been reduced in size to provide storage space for the Metropolitan Board of Works. The room takes its name from being the offices of the civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who designed London's sewage system. The House of Charity used the Bazalgette room to house its archives, including all the records of those helped.

• 
  The Bazalgette Room

The Library has a Victorian fireplace with the badges of the House of Charity, inscribed with the Charity's founding date, 1846, and 1862, the date the Charity moved into the House. Between the two badges is a text from the Gospel of Matthew "I was a stranger and ye took me in".

This is currently the club bar and central hub.

The Monro Room and the Garden Room were created by the Charity out of an extension devised by the Metropolitan Board of works on part of the site of the stables that complimented the Georgian House.[16]

A tavern clock about four feet high and made entirely of black lacquered wood with gold painted numbers hangs in the chapel corridor. The dial of these types of clocks was big and bold enabling them to be seen in dimly lit, smoke filled taverns. These clocks were also known as Act of Parliament clocks because they became popular after the British Parliament passed an Act in 1797 levying a tax on domestic clocks with the result that people relied on public clocks for their time-keeping.

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  The Garden Room

• 
  The Crinoline Stairs

On the outside of the house is the Penny Chute attached to the railings in Soho Square. Coins fall down the pipe to the alms box in the kitchen. People today still donate to the Charity using this method.

• 
  Penny Chute