The Old Crown House, Birmingham, 1865. The Old Crown House is described by Mr. Toulmin Smith, in his "Memorials of Old Birmingham," as one of the most ancient specimens of English domestic architecture now extant in good preservation. Its date is either 1401 or 1404, and it still remains a dwelling-house. It is mentioned as "the mansion-house of timber" by Leland, who saw it in 1538, when he came into "Bermingham towne," as he says, "through as pretty a street as ever I entered." The solidity of the wooden framework of this house is the more worthy of remark as St. Johns Chapel, built of stone about the same time as the Old Crown House, went to decay 130 years ago, and was rebuilt, while the Old Crown House is still in excellent condition. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.