Victoria’s best cocktail venue

No. 17 first featured in Boyle’s Court Guide in 1824 when it was shown in the occupancy of Philip Edwards, a gentleman of private means, who remained here until about 1832.

No. 19 was the home of Benjamin Jutsham in 1824, who for many years kept the library at Carlton House, the home of the Prince Regent [later George IV]. In his youth, Benny Jutsham was one of the Prince’s fellow roustabouts with both sharing a love of gambling.

No. 19 passed to William Hope, a collector for a brewery, by 1851. Hope continued to occupy this house, with his wife, Amelia, and after her death with his second wife, Rosina. William and Rosina Hope continued here until about 1877, which may have been the year of William’s death.

No. 17 passed to Charles Adam Woolley in 1855, a prosperous cab proprietor or ‘jobmaster’ who rented his horse drawn carriages out to drivers by the day. Charles Woolley died at his house in Egerton Terrace 14 January 1858 aged seventy-two. His widow, Eleanor, lived on here a year or so more.

No. 19 passed to a jeweller William Cooper in 1861, a skilled wire-drawer who could turn an ounce of gold into a strand, thinner than a human hair, that would stretch for several thousand feet. His widow, Elizabeth lived on in this house until about 1880.

No.17 was in the occupation of Countess Berchtold by 1888, the wife of the Austro-Hungarian politician Count Berchtold. He is best remembered for delivering the ultimatum to Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which led to the outbreak of the First World War.

No. 19 was sold to Reginald A. Coleridge by 1889, a descendant of the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His cousin, the author and barrister, Stephen William Buchanan Coleridge was a frequent visitor and co-founder of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

By the late 1890s No. 17 and No. 19 had passed into use as a private hotel. No. 17 returned to single family occupation between the wars but No. 19 continued to take paying guests.

From 1943 onwards until at least the mid-1980s both were occupied by the London Hostels Association, which provided affordable accommodation for visitors to London, including many who flocked to the capital for the 1948 Olympic Games and the present Queen’s coronation in 1953.

By 1992 both properties were appearing in the London Post Office directories as ‘The Egerton House Hotel’. They continue so today as part of The Red Carnation Hotel Collection.

In 2009 this five-star boutique hotel of 28 bedrooms was voted ‘London’s Most Excellent Hotel’ by Conde Nast Johansens.