Gladstone, the second coming

So, leaving the Square, past the wonderful London Library (of which more later), we cross Pall Mall close by the Athenaeum, Reform & Travellers Clubs to pick up our Gladstone link again.
Carlton House Terrace is a Georgian terrace in Classical style conceived by John Nash (1752-1835) to replace the original Carlton House, given to the Prince Regent as a 21st birthday present by his father George iii.   Not content with a 202’ x 130’ pad, on taking the throne the new king had the house demolished from 1829.   According to Ed Glinert in The London Compendium, the columns were used by Nash for the National Gallery and the Ionic Screen was transferred to the Buckingham Palace Conservatories.
Though damaged in WW2, the facades of the stucco fronted terraces have been restored and many of the individual buildings are now occupied by societies and institutes.
10-11, home of the British Academy since 1998, has maintained much of the early C20 interior features (No 10) and is also available for hire for weddings, conferences, location filming etc.
These pics are from the venue site:
Photographer: Claudine Hartzel.

Photographer; Colin Streater.
Our man Gladstone, ‘the people’s William’ took up residence at number 11 with his wife in 1857, living here for 18 years spanning his first and longest premiership.    In 1866 after the defeat of the Reform Bill, crowds gathered round the house shouting for Gladstone which were only dispersed by the appearance of his wife on the balcony.  Can’t see that happening these days - the closest we got was Cherie Blair opening the door to the press in her nightie.
 A number of sources record his personal diaries showing he hosted cabinet meetings in the house - this is a bit more familiar - taking work home!

Gladstone was no stranger to the area, occupying number 6 Carlton Gardens with his father and two brothers from 1837 and as sole resident from 1849 - 54.    He also briefly rented number 4 CHT in 1856… I’m guessing he didn’t use a shopping trolley to shlep his stuff up and down the road though.   He finally sold number 11 after his resignation in 1875 to Arthur Edward Guinness and it remained in the Guinness family throughout the C20.

The BA undertook a year long renovation starting March 2010, knocking walls down to unite numbers 10-11 in one venue.

There are other plaques to Gladstone in W1, SE18 and round the corner in St James Square.