20 Frith Street
The most famous inhabitant at this address was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who lived there aged eight from September 1764 during his grand tour of Europe with his father and his sister.
20 was demolished and rebuilt in 1858, and since 1930 it has served as the stage door entrance for the Prince Edward Theatre situated on Old Compton Street.
[1] The 18th-century house was described in the 1966 Survey of London: Quite apart from its association with Mozart, it is of interest as one of the best early eighteenth-century fronts known to have existed in the street.
The windows had segmental gauged arches and the jambs were probably dressed with red brick, while within the openings were slightly recessed boxframes.
[1]The 1725 building was pulled down in 1858 and rebuilt with a similar brick façade, shown in a photograph from The Musical Standard, 3 Oct.
The young Mozart gave daily afternoon public recitals, and published his Opus 3 (Violin Sonatas, K. 10–15) from that address.
Mozart dedicated the set to Queen Charlotte, whose music teacher was Johann Christian Bach.
4 in D major, K. 19, here,[6][n 1] as well as the concert aria for tenor "Va, dal furor portata", K. 21/19c, and the short motet for chorus, God is our Refuge, K.
"[9] Troye was the pupil or (assistant) of the geologist and chemist Charles-François Exchaquet, who made the first accurate relief models (in wood) of the Mont Blanc chain, a part of Valais and the St. Gotthard group.
Gersdorf authenticated the first ascent of Mont Blanc by Jacques Balmat and physician Michel-Gabriel Paccard in 1786.
Exchaquet was also the director of mines and foundries at Servoz in Haut-Faucigny, where attempts were made to emulate the success of the English steel-makers who, however, were using the very best imported Swedish Oregrounds iron.
[citation needed] In 1816 Troye co-authored with one S. Glover A Description of the Inundation of the Valley of Bagnes in Swisserland.
[14] Born in Lausanne in 1808, he studied art in England for a number of years before moving to the United States.
[16] A certain felon named John Green was transported to Australia on board the Morley[17] and arrived in Newcastle, New South Wales on the Elizabeth Henrietta on 14 March 1821.
[18] Frederick Rothenburg, late of No, 20, Frith-Street appeared on 13 July 1827 at the Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, as did Augustus Armand, formerly of No.
[26] The first royal yacht to be powered by steam, HMY Victoria and Albert, was launched the previous year.
; the property of "William Witley Coorze", his master for four years; and Richard Garrett, aged 27, for feloniously receiving the same, knowing it to have been stolen.
Maude Stanley in order to improve the lives of young women workers in London and provincial towns.
The premises, after a few months, proved too small, and a workshop at the back of 20 Frith Street was secured, at a rental of £50 a year.
[33] Joseph Menchen, an American inventor and theatrical lighting designer with his own profitable electrical equipment business, arrived in London in late 1911 or early 1912.
It seems possible that Menchen was connected with a business whose address was at 20 Frith Street from 1912, the National Bioscope Electric Theatre.
[36] Menchen was also involved in negotiations to produce a film of The Miracle, a spectacular stage production by Max Reinhardt of Karl Vollmöller's play which ran for three months from December 1911 at Olympia.
Menchen shot his film on location in Austria in October 1912, and The Miracle received its première at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in December 1912.
The film, which was his own personal project, was as much of a success as the stage production, running to full houses all over the UK until Easter 1913.
[38] He was planning to stay in France, but as the invading German army neared Paris at the start of the First World War Menchen fled in his automobile with many cans of film and was evacuated to England on board the USS Tennessee.
[39] During the war Menchen, probably quite annoyed with the Germans, designed an experimental flame-thrower tank for the British Army, and 20 Frith Street appears as his address on a patent application for a more portable device.
[40] There were two businesses at 20 Frith Street in 1915: the Cinema Auction Mart and Exchange (agents for theatre property),[41] and the American Export Co.
[n 6] In a similar enterprise Frank J. Godsol (or Goldsoll), an associate of Menchen's from the film world, was importing Pierce-Arrow trucks into France for the French Ministry of Munitions in 1915: Godsoll was falsely accused of profiteering by the US government in 1916 and briefly imprisoned in the US from March to July 1916.
