STAPLE INN, HOLBORN. An Inn of Chancery, appertaining to the Gray's Inn. ... The new buildings (erected in 1843) are in good taste.
Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850
STAPLE INN is a quaint and picturesque old group of buildings situated in High Holborn, not far from Chancery Lane. Staple Inn was once one of the nine Inns of Chancery connected with the four Inns of Court, but is now let out to barristers, solicitors, and others. It was attached with Barnard's Inn to Gray's Inn, but now has little beyond local connection with it. The hall of Staple Inn has recently been restored. Of recent years, this picturesque group has been purchased by the Prudential Assurance Co. and has been thoroughly repaired, and the outer coat of stucco removed, and the old timber construction shewn.
George Birch, The Descriptive Album of London, c.1896