Interior of hall looking
west, from a watercolour which shows the gothicisation
carried out under Joseph Jekyll, Treasurer in 1816. |
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The present buildings were designed by Sir Hubert
Worthington, R.A., to replace those destroyed in the Blitz. The
foundation stone was laid by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, the Hall
was opened in 1955, and the whole range completed in 1958. On either
side of the pegasus over the north entrance to the library are carved
the arms and initials of Sir John Singleton, Treasurer 1952, and
Sir Patrick Spens (later Lord Spens), Treasurer 1958; over the hall
entrance is a pegasus with O T-1955, for Lord Oaksey. The Hall stands
on the site of three earlier halls: that of the knights Templar
(12th-14th centuries), the old hall built by the lawyers in the
14th century, and Sydney Smirke's neo-perpendicular replacement
of 1870. The terrace fronting the Hall and Library was considered
in Georgian times the pleasantest part of the Inn, and it is still
a fine prospect from the gardens.
South
side, from the gardens. Mezzotint by Samuel Ireland, 1800.
Only the parliament chamber (1680) and clocktower (1686)
had survived the fire of 1737. The Georgian facade (in
Portland stone) was added in 1740 when Thomas Blencowe
was Treasurer. At the left is the Crown Office Row building
of 1737 (destroyed 1941). |
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The old hall underwent many changes before its
demolition in 1868. None of the rich Elizabethan and Jacobean armorial
glass seems to have survived. In 1816 a gothicisation programme
by Robert Smirke brought an oak screen with pinnacles, a new ceiling,
and wainscotting, with the readers' painted coats of arms (formerly
in the Parliament Chamber and Library) placed around the frieze;
three statues of kings in terracotta, by Rossi, were erected in
niches at the west end. For all this attention, it was too small
and decrepit a building to survive.
Smirke's Hall, looking
west, c.1900. |
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The new hall of 1870 reflected the same architectural
taste, but was 92 feet long, and with much ornamental detail. The
windows included scenes from English history, such as the battle
of Hastings and the Assize of Clarendon, pictures of Bracton (writing
his book) and various other legal figures, together with historical
personages from Alcuin to the Duke of Wellington; the great west
window depicted Queen Victoria with four virtues representing Law
and Government. At the east end was a marble bust of Queen Victoria,
and (in the gable) Thornhill's painting of Pegasus from the old
hall.
Smirk's Hall and Library,
from the Gardens, c.1900. |
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At the west end were two carved Elizabethan doors,
one of them dated 1575; high above them hung the drums and colours
of the Law Association Volunteers; and in 1875 were added at ground
level four bronze statutes of knights Templar and Hospitaller, by
Henry Hugh Armstead. Rossi's kings were placed in the corridor and
vestibule. Almost all of this perished in 1941. Also lost in the
inferno were the old Treasury Office, Parliament Chamber and Benchers'
Rooms, which had been rebuilt in the 1830s and left largely intact
by Smirke in 1870, with the insertion of an entrance on the south
side in 1895.
No attempt was made in the 1950s to reproduce the
medieval appearance of the older halls, but a neo-Georgian style
was preferred, with light coloured oak. The tradition was nevertheless
continued of placing the readers' coats of arms around the walls;
the present shields were painted by Frank Newsome Berry. The armorial
windows (mostly by Hugh Easton) commemorate members of the Inn who
have held the great seal, two Royal Benchers who acceded unexpectedly
to the throne (James II and George VI), and (in the west window)
Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. Dudley's arms were ordered in
1561 to be displayed in Hall 'as a continual monument of his lordship's
goodness and great good will towards this House' in saving Lyons
Inn from the claims of the Middle Temple.
The
crypt beneath the medieval buttery. |
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The old buttery and crypt at the west end of the
Hall date from the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and are the
oldest rooms still in use in the Temple. On a bracket over the fireplace
in the crypt is an angel holding two carved shields of arms, which
seem to represent Sir Peter Arderne (Chief Baron of the Exchequer
1448-62, d. 1467) and Brian Rouclyff (Baron of the Exchequer 1452-88,
d. 1495).
The Parliament Chamber,
at the present day. |
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In the Parliament Chamber is a piece of elaborate
wood carving, inscribed 'T Thoma Walker Ar 1705' and formerly attributed
to Grinling Gibbons, which was removed for safety during the bombing.
A carving of pegasus in marble by J. M. Rysbrack, made in 1737 for
the Hall entrance, was also saved from the ravages of war and is
now set above the benchers' doorway opposite the Parliament Chamber.
Most of the paintings belonging to the Inn were removed during the
Blitz and still adorn the walls of these central buildings; they
include the full-lengths of Coke and Littleton (given in 1662) which
used to dominate the old Hall, and those of King William III, Queen
Mary II and Queen Anne, commissioned by the Inn from Sir Godfrey
Kneller (1694, 1702).
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