Staircase in Southampton House, John Wykeham Archer, 1873 (1887 copy)

Staircase of southampton house, holborn. After an earlier engraving: an open doorway looking on to a staircase with a carved balustrade and a cat climbing up the stairs; on the left doorpost is the number 4, on the right, a bell, with "m humbly" on a plaque below it; published state. 1851 bloomsbury square was developed for the 4th earl of southampton in the early 1660s and was initially known as southampton square. It was one of the earliest london squares. The earl's own house, then known as southampton house and later as bedford house after the square and the rest of the bloomsbury estate passed by marriage from the earls of southampton to the dukes of bedford, occupied the whole of the north side of the square, where bedford place is now located. Date: 1873 (1887 copy). Image taken from page 1135 of 'Old and New London, etc' (11187340434)