Builder and economist, a key figure in the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. Laid out Essex Street in 1675. Also redeveloped Red Lion Fields and the Temple. It seems he was an extrovert rogue, dishonest and manipulative. Died, probably at his home in Osterley House, Middlesex, heavily in debt. Good write up at .
His father, a preacher and politician, had the unusual first name: "Praisegod". That we believe is true since the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has an entry for Praisegod. Wikipedia's entry for Nicholas has his middle name as "Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned". This is not mentioned in the ODNB so we wonder if it is one of those ho-ho-ho jokes for which Wikipedia's less-than-serious contributors are famed.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Nicholas Barbon
Commemorated ati
Essex Street & Essex Hall
This plaque was first erected at 7 Essex Street in 1962 and then re-erected h...
Other Subjects
Temple Bar
A bar is first mentioned in 1293, when it would have been a simple structure marking one of 8 entrances to the City of London. By this time the City was no longer confined within the London Wall, a...
Royal Arsenal Gatehouse
Also known as the Beresford Gate (after William Beresford, Master-General of the Ordnance and Governor of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich), and was formerly the main entrance to the Royal Ar...
Harryram Rambissoon
We are grateful to Rambissoon’s daughter, Meera, who told us that her father designed the plaque. She writes: “He was an architect for London Underground. He was passionate about design and transpo...
Joseph Aloysius Hansom
Architect, founder/editor of The Builder and inventor of the Hansom cab.  Born York as Josephus Aloysius Handsom(e) into a Roman Catholic family.  Made a habit of snatching failure from the jaws o...
Nicholas Stone
Master mason, for George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Other works in London include the statues at the Guildhall of Elizabeth I (c.1622 and intended for the Royal Exchange) and Charles I. Ston...
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