Time Walk
A Refuge Twice Over
Two Westminster charities, cleared out by Victorian improvement works, found a permanent home in this small close beside Vauxhall Park. Walk in off Fentiman Road and the close opens straight onto the park's edge, with brick cottages carrying gothic gables and tall chimneys facing the greenery.
Beneath those gables lies an older story: the charities housed here were founded in Westminster more than a century and a half before the close itself existed. That earlier life, and the name attached to it now, are where the story properly begins.
Name Origin
An Unexplained Name
Stanley Close takes its identity from what stands within it rather than from any explained naming. The sources used here do not explain why the close is called Stanley; what they do establish is its purpose, as the site built for the relocated Whicher and Kifford almshouse charities, on land once part of the Caron House estate in South Lambeth.
History
From Westminster to Vauxhall Park
Both charities began life in Westminster, a long way from Vauxhall. George Whicher's almshouse, funded by his 1680 will, stood in Little Chapel Street, since renamed Caxton Street. Judith Kifford's almshouse, funded by her 1698 will, was built in 1705 in Brewer's Green on land belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, for two "decayed virtuous poor gentlewomen".
"decayed virtuous poor gentlewomen"Judith Kifford's will, 1698, as recorded in the Survey of London
By 1853 Whicher's almshouses were judged unfit for habitation and were sold by the Dean and Chapter to the Westminster Improvement Commissioners under the Westminster Improvement Act. Two years later William Evans sold a strip of land on the west side of the Caron House estate, in South Lambeth, as the site for new almshouses to serve both charities together. The buildings that resulted, now forming Stanley Close, were put up in the mid-19th century in a Tudor style, with ornamental timber barge boards, pendant finials, decorative chimneys and porch canopies.
People
Two Benefactors, Centuries Apart
George Whicher and Judith Kifford founded their almshouses eighteen years apart, in Westminster, long before Stanley Close existed.
William Evans appears later, as the man who in 1855 sold the land in South Lambeth on which both charities were finally brought together. His sale closed a gap of more than a century and a half between Whicher's founding gift and the almshouses that now stand in Stanley Close.
Today
Facing the Park
Nos. 1 and 2 Stanley Close are two-storey former almshouses in brick with gothic bargeboards, recorded in Lambeth's heritage list as formerly part of the Caron Almshouses, though the Survey of London describes the almshouses here as Whicher's and Kifford's. They face directly into, and are visible from, Vauxhall Park, which forms the backdrop to the close's eastern boundary.
The almshouses at Stanley Close began as two separate Westminster charities, founded 18 years apart in the 17th century, and were only brought together on this site after their original buildings were cleared for Victorian street improvements.
On the Map
Stanley Close Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Stanley Close?
The sources used here do not explain the name. What is documented is the close's purpose: it was built to house the Whicher and Kifford almshouse charities, relocated here from Westminster.
What is Stanley Close known for?
It holds the Whicher and Kifford Almshouses, two 17th-century Westminster charities rehoused here in the mid-19th century after their original buildings were cleared, in Tudor-style cottages facing Vauxhall Park.
How old are the almshouse charities at Stanley Close?
George Whicher's charity was founded by his will of 1680, and Judith Kifford's by her will of 1698. Both were originally built in Westminster before moving to this site shortly after 1855.