An early use of the building in fiction was the novel, "The Bachelor of the Albany" (1847) by Marmion Wilard Savage. Still earlier is the hero of Benjamin Disraeli’s novel "Sybil" (1845), Charles Egremont, who lives there; he has a portrait by Christifano Allori hung over his fireplace halfway through the book. Mr Fascination Fledgeby, a moneylender in Charles Dickens' novel, "Our Mutual Friend" (1865) is described as living there. Several scenes from the book take place in his apartment. In the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) by Oscar Wilde, Lord Fermor, the uncle of the character Lord Henry Wotton, resides in the Albany. In Oscar Wilde's play, "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895), the character John (Jack) Worthing has a set at the Albany (number B.4), where he lives while staying in London under the assumed name of Ernest.