ABSTRACT
In 1700 London with an estimated population of 700,000 had become the largest city in Europe, and by 1801 the English capital had maintained its primacy with a population of 959,000 inhabitants. A small number of residential properties of considerable merit were developed in the 1770’s – early 1780’s. To provide a more grandiose building for the government of London, George Dance the Younger, Clerk to the City Works added a new facade to the Guildhall in 1788-1789 screening much of the Late Medieval building. Though his facade embedded the old Gothic porch, it was Indian in style with its ornamentation based on the Corporation’s regalia, a recognition of the increasing importance of Indian trade to the city’s economy. The construction of middle class housing in late-eighteenth century London was, as in the earlier part of the century, conditioned by legislation rather than solely by the endeavours of individual developers.
