170 Queen's Gate, South Kensington

Image: © Dylan Moore Taken: 13 Jul 2022

This house was designed by Norman Shaw and completed in 1889, at the commission of Frederick Anthony White. F A White was a director of John Bazley White & Sons, Britain's largest cement manufacturing company. He was a grandson of the founder of the company, and when most of the British cement industry was amalgamated in 1900, he became the first chairman of the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd. The size and stunning location of the house gives some idea of the profits being made at the time. White was a founder member of the National Art Collections Fund and was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. White also commissioned Shaw to build APCM's first head office at 4 Lloyd's Avenue in the City. White sold the house in 1925 to the Marquess of Anglesey, who sold it in 1938, when it was leased to the Secretarial Appointments Bureau. It was bought by Imperial College in 1947. It remained under lease to the London College of Secretaries until 1960, since when Imperial College has used it for various administrative purposes.

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