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Staple Inn. High Holborn, London WC2. The following appears carved on the right-hand wall (as one enters the interior court): "Erected 1545-1589 by Vincent Enghame and Another. The rear elevation was cased in brick in 1826. The front after various alterations was restored to its original design in 1886. The entire building was reconstructed in 1937, the old front being retained." It was also restored after World War II damage.
Now occupied by the Institute of Actuaries, Staple Inn was one of the Inns of Chancery until the 1880s. Then the Patent Office bought part of it in 1884, and the Prudential bought the rest in 1886 and restored it (Weinreb, London Encyclopaedia). Although definitely a part of Victorian legal London, Staple Inn was not actually one of the Inns of Court.
Photograph by George P. Landow, 2009. Text by GPL and Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
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Sources
Weinreb, Ben and Christopher Hibbert, eds. The London Encyclopaedia. London: Macmillan, rev. ed. 1992.
Last modified 1 January 2012