Suffolk House

Suffolk House was the London palace of the Dukes of Suffolk and the Archbishops of York on the Strand, next to Durham House.

History

When the Archbishops of York were deprived of Whitehall Palace in the reign of Henry VIII, they were left without a London palace. Mary granted them Suffolk House in the Borough for this purpose. This had been the stately home of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, but it proved to be too far from the centres of court and parliament and was sold off, with the proceeds used to buy an old mansion of the bishop of Norwich on the Strand site. This was demolished and a new palace built by archbishop Nicholas Heath.

Heath was the only archbishop to reside in the palace however, and during the occupancy of the See by his five successors it was leased to the Lord Keepers of the Great Seal, with several Lord Chancellors lived here in succession. Lord Chancellor Bacon was born here in 1560, and here his father, Nicholas Bacon, died in 1597.

Archbishop Tobias Matthew allowed the first Duke of Buckingham of the Villiers family to reside in it until an exchange could be made. It remained in their possession until the second duke sold it for £30,000 to speculators, who built streets and houses on the site, and fancifully named them after him, George Street, Villiers Street, Duke Street and Buckingham Street.

ources

* [http://www.londononline.co.uk/history/tudor/7/ London Online]