67-70, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London.
John Nash (1725-1835) began his career here in Great Russell Street, in Bloomsbury. According to Elizabeth Hopkirk, this Grade II-listed terrace deigned in 1777 near the British Museum "is his earliest-known surviving development and one of the earliest-known uses of stucco as a complete cladding in London."
Left: The blue plaque marking Nash's first work. Right: The end of the terrace, No. 66, which he took a lease on himself.
No. 66 also bears a blue plaque, added in 2013, to mark the fact that Nash both "designed this terrace and lived here." This all sounds like the smooth beginning of a great career, but soon after he leased the house, Nash's marriage broke up, and a few years later he moved out. In 1783, "all but one of the neighbouring houses having failed to sell, he was declared bankrupt" (Tyack).
Photographs and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Hopkirk, Elizabeth. "Blue plaque for John Nash...". bdonline.co.uk." Web. 23 October 2015.
Tyack, Geoffrey. "Nash, John (1752-1835), Architect." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 23 October 2015.
Created 22 October 2015