Prince Henry's Room

Prince Henry's Room is a museum on 17 Fleet Street, London in the United Kingdom. The house is one of the few buildings in the City of London which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666.

One large room on the first floor is open to the public, the main feature of which is the fine and rare highly-decorated Jacobean plaster ceiling, with the Prince of Wales feathers and the initials "PH" in the centre. There is one wall of original Jacobean wood panelling left; the other panelling is Georgian.

The site was once owned by the Templars, but after the dissolution of the Order of St John, the building was rebuilt in 1610 and became a tavern called "Prince's Arms". This coincided with the investure of Prince Henry, son of James I, as Prince of Wales. During the 17th century, the house was known as the "Fountain". During the early 19th century a famous exhibition "Mrs Salmon's Waxworks" was held in the front part of the house, whilst the tavern continued in the rear. The house became the property of the London County Council in 1900.

Since 1975, the museum has hosted a Samuel Pepys exhibition — Pepys was born in Fleet Street in 1633.

References

* [http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Local_history_and_heritage/Buildings_within_the_City/prince_henrys.htm City of London website page on Prince Henry's Room]
*"The London Encyclopaedia" p. 639, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, 1995, ISBN 0-333-57688-8