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Kipling House and the ground upon which it stands, enjoys an interesting and illustrious past, standing on the site of Norwich House, the town house of the bishops of Norwich, which dates back to 1237. Upon the great dissolution of the monasteries in 1536, the house was granted to the Duke of Suffolk, and later given to the archbishops of York.

From 1558 to the 1620s the house was given to successors of the Keepers of the Great Seal, and in 1624 it was given to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who added the nearby York Watergate, in order to gain direct access to the river.

A house on this land was first leased in 1674 but burned down four years later, and in 1701, after it was rebuilt, Samuel Pepys, the diarist, lived here, and it was later occupied by the Salt Office.

The property was rebuilt in the 1790s and used as a seedsman's warehouse until it became landlocked when the river was embanked in the 1860s.

Francis Bacon was born here in 1561 and Rudyard Kipling, after whom this building is named, lived here between 1889 and 1891.

Kipling House was totally reconstructed, refurbished and modernised in 1995-1996.