Suffolk Place

Suffolk Place was a mansion located on the west side of Borough High Street in Southwark belonging to the Dukes of Suffolk. It was built in the fifteenth century and rebuilt in fine Renaissance style in 1522 by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and boyhood friend of Henry VIII. [Jerry White (2007) "London in the Nineteenth Century": 9] [Felix Barker and Peter Jackson (1974) "London: 2000 Years of a City and its People": 52] In about 1543 it was taken over by the King and one wing used to house a mint. ["Mint Street" in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (1983) "The London Encyclopaedia": 521] It was occupied by Queen Mary and her new husband King Philip on the night before their state entry into London in 1554. This was possibly the time when it was depicted by Anthony van den Wyngaerde in his Panorama of London, to the left of Borough High Street in the foreground of the picture. [Felix Barker and Peter Jackson (1974) "London: 2000 Years of a City and its People": 48-52] It was demolished in 1557 and the area built over with small tenements, which became known as The Mint, a notorious rookery. ["Mint Street" in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (1983) "The London Encyclopaedia": 521] [Jerry White (2007) "London in the Nineteenth Century": 9-10] A modern office block called Brandon House at 180 Borough High Street now occupies the site of Suffolk Place. ["Borough High Street" in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (1983) "The London Encyclopaedia": 78]

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