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In the alcove in front of the window in the Library is an enormous mahogany partners’ pedestal desk. It was designed to be placed in the middle of a large room so someone could work on either side of it. It is thought to be Georgian, or early Victorian. Its woodwork is in magnificent condition, and its inlaid leather top is now protected by a sheet of glass.
The desk was given to the Merchant Taylors by the Saddlers’ Company after the Second World War. This was a token of thanks to the Merchant Taylors’ for help after the Saddlers’ own Hall in Cheapside/Gutter Lane had been destroyed by enemy action. It is said that the desk originally came from Osborne House, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s family home in the Isle of Wight.
It is not clear exactly how the Company was able to help the Saddlers. Many of the Merchant Taylors’ own rooms had been burnt out through enemy action, principally the Western Entrance, Great Hall, Parlour, Staircase, King’s Gallery and Drawing Room. Although the Court Room and Library survived, they too had been damaged. The Saddlers’ gift to the Merchant Taylors was very practical, at a time when the Company desperately needed to replace furniture that had been destroyed.
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Above the kneeholes on either side are two drawers, which pull out in opposite directions. One of these drawers faces into the room, and can be used; the other (apparently locked) now faces the window and is inaccessible. Curiously, although the desk pretends to have further drawers in the pedestals, either side of the kneeholes, these are in fact dummies. The spaces behind are accessed not from the front and back, but from the ends. Here the mahogany panels swing up and slide in, to reveal a number of wide, flat drawers for drawings, maps or plans. Currently, these drawers contain materials for card games late at night!
