In 1608, the stables of Durham House, which fronted the Strand, and
which, says Strype,[7] "were old, ruinous, and ready to fall, and very
unsightly in so public a passage to the Court of Westminster," were
pulled down and a building called the New Exchange erected on their
site, by the Earl of Salisbury. It was built partly on the plan of the
Royal Exchange; the shops or stalls being principally occupied by
miliners and sempstresses. It was opened with great state by James I.,
and his queen, who named it the "Bursse of Britain."[8]
[Footnote 7: Strype's _Stow_, vol. ii. p. 576.]
[Footnote 8: Howel's _Londinopolis_, p. 349.]
In 1640, the estate of Durham House was purchased of the see, by Philip,
Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, for the annual sum of 200_l_., when the
mansion was pulled down, and numerous houses erected on its site; and
in 1737, the New Exchange was also demolished to make room for further
improvements.
Towards the close of the last century the whole estate was purchased of
the Earl of Pembroke, by four brothers of the name of Adam, who erected
the present buildings, named by them the _Adelphi_, from the Greek word
[Greek: adelphoi], brothers.
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