This house was built in 1776 in a street which now forms the core of Marylebone's private medical quarter. One of the early residents was Admiral the Hon Thomas Pakenham. Another, who had retired from the East India Company, in 1813 spent nearly as much on decorating the house as he did buying it - the list of expenditure survives. A few doors away was the home and virtual prison of poet Elizabeth Barrett who eloped with Robert Browning in 1846.
But from the early days the street was the home of medical men, including Sir Frederick Treves, friend of the 'Elephant Man'; and Arthur Conan Doyle in his days as an ophthalmic practitioner. When this house was the home and practice of Dr. Richard Asher, Paul McCartney moved into a top floor room for three years. Several of the Beatles' songs were written in the basement music room, including I Want to Hold Your Hand, Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday.