Lot Essay
Crowley House was built for Gregory Clement, M.P., around 1647. In 1704 it became the property of Sir Ambrose Crowley, Alderman for Dowgate Ward and Director of the South Sea Company. Crowley's involvement with the South Sea Company led to vast wealth. He enlarged his house to contain 39 rooms, and filled it with works of art. An inventory of his possessions can be seen in the Guildhall Library (GL MS 8763).
The house was demolished in 1854. In 1861 the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital bought the site and sold it to the Trustees of the Merchant Seamen's Hospital, who in turn disposed of it to the adjacent Trinity Almshouses. The wharf is still known locally as Crowley's Wharf and the site is now occupied by the London Transport's Generating Station. It is the proposed site of the Cosmosphere for the Millenium celebrations.
The house was painted by other artists. W. Bligh Barker produced a lithographic view entitled Ancient House adjoining Norfolk College, while the British Library has a watercolour drawing of it (Add. MSS 16, 946). The Greenwich Local History Collection has an early photograph of the building, along with a watercolour of it by Thomas Scandrett.
We are grateful to Ralph Hyde, Keeper of Prints and Maps at the Guildhall Library for his help in preparing this entry.
The house was demolished in 1854. In 1861 the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital bought the site and sold it to the Trustees of the Merchant Seamen's Hospital, who in turn disposed of it to the adjacent Trinity Almshouses. The wharf is still known locally as Crowley's Wharf and the site is now occupied by the London Transport's Generating Station. It is the proposed site of the Cosmosphere for the Millenium celebrations.
The house was painted by other artists. W. Bligh Barker produced a lithographic view entitled Ancient House adjoining Norfolk College, while the British Library has a watercolour drawing of it (Add. MSS 16, 946). The Greenwich Local History Collection has an early photograph of the building, along with a watercolour of it by Thomas Scandrett.
We are grateful to Ralph Hyde, Keeper of Prints and Maps at the Guildhall Library for his help in preparing this entry.