Mansion House, London the columned "Egyptian Hall", was so named because Dance used an arrangement of columns deemed to be "Egyptian" by Vitruvius. No Egyptian motifs were employed. It has twenty niches for sculpture. There was originally an open courtyard, later occupied by a saloon. The residence used to have its own court of law, since the Lord Mayor is the chief magistrate of the City while in office. There were eleven holding cells (ten for men and one, nicknamed "the birdcage", for women). A famous prisoner here was the early 20th-century suffragette women's rights campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst. Mansion House is home to
London House, Aldersgate Street London House, Aldersgate Street London House was the London mansion of the Bishop of London after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Today the site, 172 Aldersgate Street is occupied by a block of flats. About the middle of the west side of Aldersgate street, stood a palace, that was the residence first of the Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, and then of William, Lord Petre. It was here in 1646 that Michael Hudson was imprisoned while being questioned by a Parliamentary committee about the flight of Charles I from Oxford to Newark-upon-Trent. The house was purchased from