The four-story brick townhouse was constructed in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century.[3] Until 1827 it was the home of British Prime Minister George Canning, commemorated by a plaque on the house today. The house was then bought by the Viscount Bearsted, who rented the property to one Mr. Myers.[4] It was later bought by BP.[4]
From 1937 to 2015,[5] the building was occupied by Maggs Bros, a firm of antiquarian book dealers.[1] In 1998 the building was thought to be the oldest unaltered building in London.[6]