able to reach an agreement, and they eventually signed the contract without his assent. When Wyld began to prepare the site, Webb announced his intention to take out an injunction to prevent the building work proceeding. Wyld restarted negotiations with Webb and eventually (in July 1851, over a month after the building had been completed) Webb agreed to allow the ten-year agreement with the Tulks to stand. Wyld obviously still felt insecure about his claim on the land and, although he was not an MP himself between 1852 and 1857, over the years a number of bills surfaced in Parliament aimed at either establishing the title to the gardens in his favour or confirming the validity of the erection of the globe building. It appears that Wyld initially intended to seek public funding for the construction but after an estimate of the costs he considered it was unlikely that he would be able to secure reimbursement and decided instead on a purely commercial venture. Construction Planning Through an advertisement in The Builder, Wyld contracted Edward Welch as the architect for the project. Welch submitted his first set of plans in January 1851. These plans included the construction of four theatres which Wyld planned to rent out to recoup his expenses, but there was vigorous opposition from the residents of the square, and when Wyld put the plans out to tender, the cheapest quote – from George Myers – was £2,561. Welch negotiated this down to £1,888, but Wyld informed Welch that he considered the price prohibitive. As he was embroiled in negotiations with Henry Webb at the same time, Wyld decided that he would have to settle for something less ambitious and to "give up a great part of the original design of the building". He showed Welch's initial designs to the architect H.R. Abraham who considered that they were impractical. Wyld was worried about Welch's ability to meet his deadlines and asked him to pass any plans to Abraham for approval. On 4 February, Wyld met with the residents of Leicester Square to present his plans for the gardens. At this meeting he claimed that in addition to the £3,000 he had paid for the freehold he had also agreed to pay £4,500 for the building and the works would cost £12,000; he would have to spend around £21,800 on the project in total, which included the outlay for