In the 20th century, the building functioned as a public lavatory and by the 21st had become derelict and was placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.

Charlton House was built between 1607–1612 for Sir Adam Newton, Dean of Durham and tutor to Prince Henry,[1] eldest son of James I.

[3][a] Jones, the pre-eminent architect of the Jacobean era, was appointed Surveyor-General of the King's Works in 1615 and undertook a great deal of work for James I and then for his son Charles, including the Queen's House, at Greenwich, a short distance along the River Thames from Charlton House.

[5] Cherry also finds support for the Jonesian attribution for the “handsome” summerhouse on stylistic grounds, noting the Tuscan pilasters and the "complete absence of Jacobean frills at such an early date".

[6] These facilities closed in the early 1990s and by the 21st century the garden house was derelict and placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.