ABSTRACT
Standing on part of the Glebe land of St. Anne’s with a bold frontage on Shaftes-bury Avenue, and its back windows looking over St. Anne’s Public Garden, stands the somewhat imposing block of buildings known as the “Sinclair Galleries.” The death of Mr. Bentinck seriously crippled Mr. Sinclair’s resources, and the want of abundant capital caused him constant anxiety and worry. For more than a century the business has been carried on with little or no change in its character, and “Old Curiosity Shop” is still the most appropriate description of the business, as nothing modern seems to be admitted. Occasionally one may still find in old houses some of the plainer oak chimney pieces and cabinets of the time of James I to Charles II, such as are in the South Kensington Museum from the houses pulled down in the City a few years ago.
