Crosby Hall has had an interesting life, not all buildings can be said to have been built in one place and then found another. But that’s exactly what happened at Crosby Hall. Built in 1466 from the wool merchant Sir John Crosby in Bishopsgate soon after became the property of King Richard III who lived there frequently. Here in fact took place one of the scenes from the play by Shakespeare in fact, Richard III. The following century the house passed to the Italian merchant Antonio Bonvisi. Thomas Moore and Sir Walter Raleigh also lived there.
Photo: Abravelle, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
During the fire of London of 1666, part of Crosby Hall was destroyed, and the remaining part became a meeting place for Presbyterians and later a freight warehouse. The interesting thing, however, happened in 1910 when in danger of demolition, the entire medieval structure was moved brick by brick up to Cheyne Walk a Chelsea to become a hostel for the British Federation of University Women. Now the roof and some parts of the building are still original, the rest was built by Walter Godfrey. It is the only remaining Tudor merchant house in London. Now it belongs to Dr. Christopher Moran and unfortunately, you cannot visit it.