Lion's head carved panel

Oak panel from Suffolk House. Suffolk House, ‘a stately palace’ in Charing Cross, was the largest Jacobean mansion in London. It was one of a string of noble palaces on the south side of the Strand with gardens stretching down to the Thames. The house was first built by the Earl of Northampton in around 1605. In 1614 Northampton’s nephew, Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, took over the ownership of the house, which therefore became known as Suffolk House. Suffolk held office as Lord High Treasurer, but lost his post in 1618 when he was accused of extortion and fraud. The name of the house later changed to Northumberland House after it was sold to the Earl of Northumberland in the 1640s. It was bought by the Metropolitan Board of Works and demolished in 1874 to make way for a new road, Northumberland Avenue, which linked the Strand to the Embankment.