The lost mansions of the Strand

York Water Gate. London. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net).

Behold that narrow street which steep descends Whose building to the slimy shore extends Here Arundel’s famed structure rear’d its frame The street alone retains an empty name There Essex’ stately pile adorn’d the shore There Cecil, Bedford, Villiers – now no more. For several centuries, before the Georgians built Mayfair and when Chelsea was…

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