Arundel House - IISS

During the Middle Ages, the London residence of the Bishops of Bath and Wells was known as Bath Inn, similar to other grand townhouses such as Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn. In 1539, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, King Henry VIII granted the property to William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton. Upon Fitzwilliam's death, it reverted to the Crown. It was re-granted in 1545 to Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, the younger brother of Jane Seymour (Henry VIII's third wife) and Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, and uncle to King Edward VI. After Thomas Seymour's execution for treason in 1549, the house was sold to Henry Fitz Alan, 12th Earl of Arundel, for about £40.

The property later passed through marriage to the Howard family and housed the renowned Arundel Marbles collection of Thomas Howard, 2nd/21st Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey, and 1st Earl of Norfolk. Most of this collection is now at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, although a 2nd-century AD relief from Ephesus, once kept at the house, can be seen in the 17th-century gallery at the Museum of London.

The Oxford Dictionary of Music (1994) suggests that the first performance of Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet, “Spem in alium, " probably occurred in the Long Gallery of Arundel House in 1568 or 1569. Around 1618, the court architect Inigo Jones designed an Italianate gateway for Arundel House and probably a wing, depicted in a view by Cornelius Bol and in Hollar's engraving.

In the late 1620s and early 1630s, the mathematician William Oughtred had a room at Arundel House, where he instructed the Earl's son and advised other mathematicians. The house also hosted the Earl's protégé, the artist and topographer Wenceslaus Hollar. The Royal Society held its meetings there in the late 1660s.

Known as Bath Inn, it housed Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, after his release from the Tower of London in 1621. Arundel House was eventually demolished, commemorated today by Arundel Street and Surrey Street. The Strand Lane Baths, situated within the former grounds, are now owned by the National Trust.

In the late 19th century, a new building named Arundel House was constructed in the Tudor Revival style at the foot of Arundel Street, on the corner of Temple Place. This building currently serves as a conference centre and the International Institute for Strategic Studies headquarters.