Suffolk Place

Suffolk Place was a mansion located on the west side of Borough High Street in Southwark belonging to the Dukes of Suffolk. It was built in the fifteenth century and rebuilt in fine Renaissance style in 1522 by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and boyhood friend of Henry VIII. In about 1536-1543 it was taken over by the King Henry VIII who exchanged it with Brandon for Norwich Place on the Strand, London.

Henry granted it to Jane Seymour in June 1537, but when she died the following October it reverted to the King. In 1545 the house was converted into a mint. It was occupied by Queen Mary and her new husband King Philip on the night before their state entry into London in 1554. This was possibly the time when it was depicted by Anthony van den Wyngaerde in his Panorama of London, to the left of Borough High Street in the foreground of the picture. It was demolished in 1557 and the area built over with small tenements, which became known as The Mint, a notorious rookery. A modern office block called Brandon House at 180 Borough High Street (opposite Borough tube station) now occupies the site of Suffolk Place.