Abstract

This article uses plans and other documentary evidence to examine two London houses of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s (in)famous first minster. In the 1520s Cromwell lived in a townhouse in Austin Friars that had recently been built in a revenue-raising project by the prior of the friary. In the 1530s Cromwell developed a much grander urban mansion next to the friary, spending over £500 on land and at least £1,000 on construction costs. The two houses and their gardens are analysed with supporting evidence presented in tables, reconstructed plans and an elevation. Details from an important early-17th-century survey are also shown. The mansion had many of the features of a Tudor status-house, including courtyards, oriel windows, long galleries and grand staircases; it may also have had some Italianate decorative features.

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