Lisle Street

Leicester Square (WC2) Occupies the site of the gardens of Leicester House, of which the last royal tenant was the Duke of Gloucester, grandson of George II. The mansion was then let to Sir Ashton Lever for his collection of natural curiosities, called the Leverian Museum. When the king knighted him, it was observed in the newspapers of the time that "his Majesty could do no less in remembrance of a house that had produced one of the greatest curiosities the world ever saw in his own person." The Museum was removed in 1788. Leicester House was then taken down. (Reference: Timbs's London and Westminster, vol. I, p. 161)