X-Nico

unusual facts about Somerset House, Park Lane


Frank Verity

In 1915, he was the architect of a block of flats on the site of the former Somerset House on Park Lane, the first such building in that important street.


Brook Taylor

Taylor's fragile health gave way; he fell into a decline, and died aged 46, on 30 November 1731 at Somerset House, London.

Brunei Investment Agency

Brunei investors bought The Dorchester on Park Lane in London in 1985 for US$50 million and in 1996 BIA formed the Dorchester Collection, a conglomerate of luxury hotels in UK, USA, France and Italy which includes it.

Charles Heath Wilson

When William Dyce, director and secretary of the recently established schools of art at Somerset House, resigned in 1843, Wilson, who had been director of the Edinburgh school, was appointed his successor.

Christian Schoeler

In 2009 Schoeler collaborated with Louis Vuitton’s Paul Helbers, designing a suit made entirely out of painted canvas for Esquire (UK Edition)’s Singular Suit Project, which was then exhibited at Somerset House in London.

Edward Rooker

Among Rooker's early works are a view on the Thames from Somerset House (1750), and a view of Vauxhall Gardens (1751), both after Canaletto; a view of the Parthenon for Dalton's 'Views of Sicily and Greece' (1751), and a section of St. Paul's Cathedral, decorated according to the

Grosvenor House Hotel

The hotel has a pedestrian entrance on Park Lane in Mayfair but this is not the 'main/courtyard' entrance which is actually on Park Street.

Jean Ker, Countess of Roxburghe

Instead she became the second wife of Robert Ker, 1st Lord Roxburghe (later created Earl of Roxburghe), on 3 February 1614; the wedding was celebrated at Somerset House and attended by the king and queen.

Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd

He took out £220,000 and used it for gambling at the Playboy Club, 45 Park Lane, London which was owned by Karpnale Ltd.

Louis Henry Scipio, Count Duroure

They seem to have been unsuccessful in establishing their claim, for Lord Bolingbroke (the next heir) took possession of the two houses in Park Lane and Albemarle Street that had belonged to Mrs Child.

Max Penson

In 2006 Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich sponsored an exhibition of Penson's photographs of Uzbekistan in agreement with the Moscow House of Photography on 29 November 2006 at the Gilbert Collection at Somerset House in London.

Mikhail Piotrovsky

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Piotrovsky advocated the opening of the Hermitage collections to the wider world, which resulted in the establishment of the Hermitage Rooms in Somerset House, Hermitage Amsterdam and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum.

Pell Office

In 1822 they were transferred to attic storage in Somerset House and were "heaped in some places up to the ceiling and in an exceedingly dirty state".

Sir Richard Paget, 2nd Baronet

Pamela's son and Sir Richard's grandson, Alexander Chancellor, wrote in his "Long Life" column in The Spectator that Pamela had broken her arm when Sir Richard encouraged her to throw herself backwards from the open platform of a London bus on Park Lane to demonstrate his theory that, due to air currents, one could fall horizontally from a bus travelling at a certain speed and land safely on the road.

Turin Brakes

In the Summer of 2004, the band played a successful set at Somerset House, playing a selection of old and new material, including future singles Fishing For A Dream and Over And Over.


see also

Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset

After his first wife's death in 1827 he married, secondly, Margaret Shaw-Stewart (d. Somerset House, Park Lane, London, 18 July 1880), daughter of Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, of Blackhall, Renfrewshire, 5th Baronet, and his wife Catherine Maxwell, daughter of Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet, in Marylebone, Portland Place, London, on 28 July 1836.