Description:
The first mention found of a house on this site was in 1684, after this the property was known as Lord Howe's house, a magnificent mansion, built about 1755. It was erected as the town house of the family of Howe of Langar, whose most distinguished member was Admiral Lord Howe (who celebrated a victory over the French off Brest in 1794).
William Stanford completely remodelled or more probably rebuilt 19 Castle Gate around 1775. Its elaborate portal, decorated with the classic ox-skull and swags of flowers is a decorative feature of the classical period of Ancient Greece and Rome, when the garlands decorated the sacrifices which were hung up as trophies upon altars, and here revived during the neo-classical movement of the Georgian Period.
In 1789 Mr. Stanford, who was a great Royalist, celebrated King George III's recovery from his mental illness by having the house gaily illuminated, and distributed half-a-hogshead of beer to the neighbouring people with which to drink the King's health.
Thomas William Hammond 1854-1935. Born in Philadelphia of Nottingham emigres, and orphaned at the age of four, he came to England with his younger sister Maria and lived for a short while with his grandparents in Mount Street. In 1868 age 14 he enrolled in the Government School of Art. On the 1871 census he is described as a lace curtain designer, and in 1872 he was awarded the 'Queen's Prize for a Design of a Lace Curtain'. Other prizes followed and in 1877 he was again awarded the Queen's Prize, this time for the design for a damask table Cloth.
Hammond was an indefatigable worker, and soon began to use his skills as a draftsman to record aspects of the changing town. He began showing his work at local venues in 1882 and in 1890 exhibited for the first time at the Royal academy. His real hobby was black and white sketching in charcoal. He drew about 350 pictures all together mainly scenes of a Nottingham he knew but which has largely passed away today.
Extracted from 'The Changing Face of Tom Hammond's Nottingham' by John Beckett which is the introductory essay in 'A City in the Making Drawings of Tom Hammond'.