Hamilton House

Hamilton House, located on Victoria Embankment in London EC4, is a distinguished listed building dating back to 1880, with a doorway marked 1899. This grand structure occupies a prime spot on the Embankment, between the Inns of Court and Blackfriars Bridge. The view here is from within the neighbouring Inner Temple Gardens. The building includes No. 1 Temple Avenue, which may explain the dual dates.

According to its Grade II listing, Hamilton House is an "ornamented, gabled building in Portland stone" with four main storeys and dormers. Architecturally, it showcases late-Victorian eclecticism with a hint of Arts and Crafts influence, evident in the foliated patterns on the contrasting faience panels of the fourth storey. The extended chimney stacks and angular gables hint at the upcoming Edwardian style.

Hamilton House was once home to the Callender Cable and Construction Company, primarily serving the aircraft industry and involved in civil engineering. The building is mentioned as the company’s address in various journals, such as The Electrical Engineer (Vol. 39, 1907, p. 805). Although its current name might suggest a connection to Archibald Milne Hamilton (1898-1972), the New Zealand-born civil engineer who patented the Callender-Hamilton bridge system in 1935, the true origins of the name remain unclear. There may have been a family link between the company and Hamilton.