Before
the reign of George II the Lord Mayor of London had no place of fixed
residence for administering the city. Finally in 1734 the House of Commons
resolved that £18,000 paid into the coffers of the City of London
by men who had declined to fill the office of sheriff "should be
applied to building a Mansion House for the Lord Mayor". Sir George
Dance designed the building and the first stone of the Mansion House
was laid on 25th October 1739 on a site once occupied by the Stocks
(or general produce) Market at the eastern end of Poultry in line with
Cheapside (at a position now very close to the Bank of England). There
was much trouble building here as the site as discovered to be full
of natural springs.
Originally
the Mansion House was constructed with two curious clerestories protruding
from its roof line: these were called Mayor's Nest and Noah's Ark (one
of them can be seen on the roof in the engraving above). They were eventually
removed.
See
a different
view of the Mansion House, also a view of the Egyptian
Room.
