Stamp Office Staircase
This view looks down the stairwell of the Stamp Office in Somerset House. The floor below my location is at ground level with an exit off to the right onto the quadrangle in the centre of Somerset House. At the bottom of the staircase is the workers' entrance, via the lightwell about which I posted a photo yesterday. The decor (and height between floors) changes much for the better once at ground level and above. Note the scrollwork 'S' in the wrought-iron railings, which I assume represents the 'S' in Somerset.... Considering it is over 230 years old, the stone cantilevered staircase seems to have worn pretty well.
Located in the eastern half of the South Wing from 1789, the Stamp Office was responsible for marking all kinds of documents with an official stamp to indicate that the correct tax had been paid. Until 1855 (when the duty on newspapers was removed) every newspaper in the country was brought to Somerset House to be individually stamped here!
From the late 19th century, the noisy stamping machines and presses could be heard by passers by on the Embankment. According to one visitor the basement rooms of the stamping department were far from pleasant, "In these damp, black and comfortless recesses the clerks of the nation grope about like moles... and stamp, sign, examine, indite, doze and swear as unconscious of the revolving sun as many miserable demons of romance condemned to toil for ages in the centre." (Raymond Needham and Alexander Webster, 'Somerset House Past and Present').
In 1834, the Stamp Office was amalgamated with the Tax Office, which was taken over by the Inland Revenue in 1849. Much of Somerset House continued to occupied by tax and stamp offices until the early 21st century, the last elements only leaving in 2013.
Stamp Office Staircase
This view looks down the stairwell of the Stamp Office in Somerset House. The floor below my location is at ground level with an exit off to the right onto the quadrangle in the centre of Somerset House. At the bottom of the staircase is the workers' entrance, via the lightwell about which I posted a photo yesterday. The decor (and height between floors) changes much for the better once at ground level and above. Note the scrollwork 'S' in the wrought-iron railings, which I assume represents the 'S' in Somerset.... Considering it is over 230 years old, the stone cantilevered staircase seems to have worn pretty well.
Located in the eastern half of the South Wing from 1789, the Stamp Office was responsible for marking all kinds of documents with an official stamp to indicate that the correct tax had been paid. Until 1855 (when the duty on newspapers was removed) every newspaper in the country was brought to Somerset House to be individually stamped here!
From the late 19th century, the noisy stamping machines and presses could be heard by passers by on the Embankment. According to one visitor the basement rooms of the stamping department were far from pleasant, "In these damp, black and comfortless recesses the clerks of the nation grope about like moles... and stamp, sign, examine, indite, doze and swear as unconscious of the revolving sun as many miserable demons of romance condemned to toil for ages in the centre." (Raymond Needham and Alexander Webster, 'Somerset House Past and Present').
In 1834, the Stamp Office was amalgamated with the Tax Office, which was taken over by the Inland Revenue in 1849. Much of Somerset House continued to occupied by tax and stamp offices until the early 21st century, the last elements only leaving in 2013.