Cache is situated close to Chandos House. Built in 1769-71, it was designed by Robert Adam, a leading neoclassical architect and son of William Adam, the most successful Scottish architect of his time. The stonework may look incongruous to its surroundings: probably because it’s from Craigleith Quarry in Edinburgh (my home city). Could it be advertising the quarry the Adams had just acquired...?
The third and last Duke of Chandos acquired the house in 1774 following which it served as the Austro-Hungarian Embassy from 1815 to 1866. It was then acquired by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, a descendant through marriage of the third Duke and, following various other owners, it was bought in 1963 by the Royal Society of Medicine who restored it in 1967 for use by their Fellows. It was sold in 1990 but refurbished again in 2002 and is now used again by the RSM for events, hospitality and overnight accommodation.
The House was used as a location by Ang Lee in the film of the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility. Bizarrely, Jane Austen was a relative of the Dukes of Chandos (her grandfather was the son of Mary Brydges, sister to James Brydge, the first Duke of Chandos for whom Handel composed the famous Chandos Anthems).
This is a nano-cache with log only, so please bring your own pen.