This produced adverse reaction from local inhabitants who directed their wrath against the vicar, the Reverend James Wilkinson.
In August 2005, London & Associated Properties bought the Stone House for £2,500,000 and plan to incorporate it within the nearby Orchard Square shopping centre which they own.
Designed by Charles Hadfield in Tudor Gothic style for the solicitors Henry & Alfred Maxwell, the chambers have decorative exterior stonework by Frank Tory including a four-foot statue of Earl Cairns, a former Lord Chancellor.
Although officially on St. James Row, the buildings have a substantial frontage onto Church Street and are an integral part of the thoroughfare.
The buildings are Grade II listed and were saved from demolition in 1976, the interior being re-designed as offices and the exterior facade left intact.