A view of the row of houses in New Bridge Street, City of London, known as Chatham Place, which was once situated by Blackfriars Bridge. Originally named after former Prime Minister William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (other nearby streets including the first name for Blackfriars Bridge, which was William Pitt Bridge, were named after the Earl of Chatham), the group of houses possibly date from the Georgian period with typical George features, tall sash windows and arched windows and semi circular fanlights above the entrances. On the right hand side on one of the houses can be seen the 'R' in the sign for the 'Royal Hotel' owned by Polydore De Keyser which stood at numbers 6, 8, 9 and 10 Chatham Place. In front of the houses can be seen an enclosed builders' yard bordered by a tall wooden fence the entrance of which is visible on the left hand side of the image. The builders' yard contains a builders' hut with sash windows, adjacent to a large building crane or winch. On the left and right of the foreground of the photograph are street gas lamps with domed glass. The builders' yard possibly relates to the start of building work on De Keyser's Royal Hotel which in c1874 eventually replaced the original Royal Hotel and other houses which formed Chatham Place. Some of the windows show signs of broken glass, suggesting that the buildings were close to being demolished. The new Royal Hotel was eventually demolished to make way in 1931 for Unilever House, the majority of which covers most of the Chatham Place site.
