North Side
Nos. 4 and 5
Nos. 4 and 5 consist of a five-storey building at No. 5, and
a lower, two-storey extension, having a canted front to the
corner with Avery Row, at No. 4. No. 5, with its trimmings
of a deep cornice and quoins, was originally a separate
house which was built in 1863 to designs by Sydney
Smirke, but with an elevational treatment largely dictated
by the estate surveyor, Thomas Cundy II. Smirke took a
building lease of the site, which had formerly been
occupied by the Lion and Goat public house, 'that he may
secure an unobjectionable building' opposite to his own
house at No. 80. (ref. 13) An extra storey was added in 1905, (ref. 14) and
in 1928 this house and its neighbour at No. 4 (which had
been rebuilt as two 'kiosks' in 1888 (ref. 15) ) were drastically
altered to their present appearance. The author of the
conversion, which uses vestigial classical mouldings at
first-floor level, was L. Youngman Harris of Gordon
Jackson and Lambert. (ref. 16) Sir Edwin Lutyens acted for the
Estate but it is unlikely that he had much influence on the
design.
Nos. 6–8 (consec.)
Nos. 6–8 (consec.) are the much-mutilated survivors of
a group of four houses (originally including No. 9) which
were built by John Garlick to the designs of Edward
I'Anson III in 1900–1. (ref. 17) They are tall, narrow, red-brick
houses in a Queen Anne style that is rare in the old
residential streets of the estate. Attractive ironwork
survives on the continuous first-floor balcony.
At No. 7 the original house had by 1731 gilt leather
panels in at least one room, a 'bath room' for Lord Paget
and a 'green house' in the garden. (ref. 18)
Occupants include: No. 6, 2nd Earl of Radnor, 1804. (Sir)
Ellis Ashmead Bartlett, (kt.), politician, 1888–96 (previously at
No. 57). Sir Bruce Bruce-Porter, K.B.E., 1905–34. No. 7, Lady
Hillsborough, wife of 1st Viscount Hillsborough, 1725, 1728–9.
Lord Paget, son of 1st Earl of Uxbridge, 1730–7. Sir George
Vandeput, 2nd bt., candidate in Westminster by-election of
1750, 1748–51. James Stuart, architect, 1759–63. Lady Anne
Cecil, da. of 6th Earl of Salisbury, 1771–80. William Butter,
physician, 1780–1805. Kensington Lewis, speculator, 1842. Sir
Walter Riddell, 10th bt., and 3rd Earl of Romney, 1850–7. Sir
James Lewis Walker, 1902–27. No. 8, Dr. John Savage, divine,
lecturer at St. George's, Hanover Square, 1733–47.
Nos. 9–13 (consec.)
Nos. 9–13 (consec.) is a seven-storey block of
showrooms, offices and flats built in 1962–4 to the designs
of Hillier, Parker, May and Rowden (chief staff architect,
Eric H. Davie), (ref. 19) the modular pattern of the main façade
being formed by horizontal stone bands and slender
vertical brick piers.
At No. 10 tenders for a rebuilding were invited in 1867
by the architect E. A. Gruning, doubtless with a Cundy
front specified in 1865. (ref. 20)
Occupants include: No. 9, Gen. Diemer or Diemar, 'ambassador', 1727–41. Sir Roger Burgoyne, 6th bt., 1742–8. Robert
Andrews, London agent for the Grosvenor family, 1750–5 (also
at No. 10). (Sir) James Peachey, latterly 4th bt., later 1st Baron
Selsey, 1755–71 (later at No. 33). Lieut.-gen. Sir Robert
Hamilton, 6th bt., 1777–86: his wid., 1786–1816. William
Claridge, hotelier, 1850–6. Sir Henry Stracey, 5th bt., 1876–80.
No. 10, Col. George Churchill, 1725–30. Robert Andrews,
London agent for the Grosvenor family, 1730–49, 1754–63 (also
at No. 9). Col. (latterly gen.) Felix Buckley (Bulkeley),
1776–1801. Sir Hermann Weber, physician, 1868–1918. No. 11,
Adm. Charles Cotterell (Cottrell), 1730–54. Sir John English, kt.,
surgeon-in-chief to the Swedish army, 1817–23. Sardinian
Ambassador, c. 1841–50. Lady Victoria Templemore, wid. of
2nd Baron Templemore, 1908–22. No. 12, Earl of Burford,
latterly 2nd Duke of St. Albans, 1725–6. Lady Sophia
Leominster, wid. of 1st Baron, 1727–46. 1st Baron Cowley,
diplomatist, 1832–47. Sir Thomas De Trafford, 1st bt., 1847–52.
Lady Louisa Cotes, da. of 3rd Earl of Liverpool, 1856–87. No.
13, Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, 1st bt., latterly comptroller of
the navy, 1787–98. William Huskisson, statesman, 1800–3. Maj.gen. George Russell, 1805–12. 5th Earl of Peterborough, 1814.
5th Earl of Buckinghamshire, 1817–18. William Sotheby, author,
1818–33: his son, Capt. (later rear-adm.) Charles Sotheby,
1833–45. Frederick Skey, surgeon, 1845–64. Maj.-gen. J. F.
Brocklehurst, 1906–10.
No. 14
No. 14, which once formed a pair with No. 13, was
erected in 1852–3 by the builder John Newson to an
elevational design by Thomas Cundy II. (ref. 21) It is a brickfaced two-bay house of four main storeys with the typical
Italianate appendages favoured by the Estate at that period.
Occupants include: 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham,
1839–42. Henry Sturt, later 1st Baron Alington, 1856–64. Henry
Graves, later 5th Baron Graves, 1883–92. 4th Baron Abercromby, 1893–1909.
No. 15
No. 15 was the rectory of St. George's, Hanover Square,
until 1937 when it acquired its present-appearance. The
original rectory house on the site was sold by its building
lessee, John Jenner, bricklayer, to the 'Fifty Churches
Commissioners' in 1724 for £1,300, and in the same year
Sir Richard Grosvenor conveyed the freehold to them for
£135 (thirty years' purchase of the ground rent of
£4 10s). (ref. 22) In 1826 the house is said to have been 'rebuilt' at
a cost of £3,960, (ref. 23) and after ceasing to be the rector's
residence it was virtually rebuilt again in 1937, when the
front elevation was altered to match that of No. 16 so that
the two houses could be occupied jointly by a firm of
dressmakers. The architects for the conversion were
Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie. (ref. 24)
Occupants include the following rectors: Andrew Trebeck,
1725–59. Dr. Charles Moss, latterly Bishop of St. David's,
1760–74. Dr. Henry Reginald Courtenay, latterly Bishop
successively of Bristol and Exeter, 1774–1803. Robert Hodgson,
latterly Dean successively of Chester and Carlisle, 1803–44.
Henry Howarth, 1845–76. Edward Capel Cure, 1876–91. David
Anderson, 1891–1911. F. N. Thicknesse, 1911–33. H.
Montgomery-Campbell, 1933–7.
No. 16
No. 16, one of the largest houses on the estate, was built
by the architect Thomas Ripley, who when he entered into
an agreement to develop the plot in 1720 was described as a
carpenter, but who had risen to the rank of 'esquire' by the
time he was granted a building lease in 1724. (ref. 25) His
advance in the world was largely due to the patronage of
Sir Robert Walpole, (ref. 26) whose eldest son was the first
occupant here. In 1740 Ripley sold the house for £5,000 to
the second occupant, the second Baron Conway, later first
Earl and first Marquess of Hertford. (ref. 27)
Despite later alterations, the decent but unadventurous
street elevation that might have been expected from the
architect of the Admiralty in Whitehall is still visible (Plate
9a, fig. 15). The exceptional width (fifty-five feet) allowed
for five generous bays and probably accounts for the fact
that the house has not been heightened from its original
three main storeys and garrets. The ground storey has
been altered beyond recognition but the upper floors, the
first with straight-headed windows (perhaps altered) and
the second with segmental ones very similar to those of the
Admiralty, have retained much of their Georgian character. Inside little, if anything, has survived from the time
the house was built (unless the lateral corridor in the garret
storey is a remnant of the early arrangement). The first
evidence of the interior is in an inventory and plans of
c. 1763 (fig. 15), when the rather contrived-looking
disposition of the entrance hall and staircase compartment
suggests that some reconstruction, conceivably to replace a
square, front-compartment staircase hall by something
even more stately, may already have been effected. One
change of use had certainly occurred, bringing the diningroom down from the first-floor front room to the highpanelled front room on the ground floor, where the
crimson window curtains contrasted with the black-seated
chairs and the black busts on the white marble chimneypiece. Gilded pier-glass frames and girandoles, gilded
frames supporting marble slabs, and pictorial overdoors
heightened the tone of this room, like that of the front
room above. Ionic columns flanked the doorway to the
back parlour, which was papered above the dado in a blue
en suite with the curtains and furnishings. Lord Hertford's
dressing-room was high panelled. Ceremonial access to the
first floor was by the great stone, iron-balustraded stairs at
the back of the hall, which turned and rose in a long flight,
interrupted by a half-landing, to the front of the house.
The walls of the staircase compartment were 'stuco with
ornamental painting on ditto' and there were 'ornament
frames in the Ceiling and paintings, as the walls'. The
staircase led only to the long drawing-room, which, like the
front room below, also had 'ornamental frames' on the
ceiling. (ref. 28) In 1761 Robert Adam had designed Lord
Hertford a ceiling for a 'drawing room' here (ref. 29) (Plate 16b in
vol. XXXIX). Later references to Adam ceilings and other
decoration in the house (ref. 30) suggest something was done, but
if this was completed by 1763 the Adam ceiling design,
lacking any obvious 'frames', was probably for a back
room. The drawing-room was hung with tapestry on a side
and end wall, and had a fitted Wilton carpet, and a brass
chandelier. Otherwise, in its gildings it was like the room
below, but the curtains and furnishings were green, and
that colour prevailed throughout the first floor, where the
back rooms were wholly en suite, with green damask
hangings above panelled dadoes. The second floor
contained family bedrooms (one also in green en suite) and
a lady's-maid's bedroom. In the garrets the upper servants'
bedrooms were also decorated en suite. The footmen's and
maids' rooms had three and two beds respectively (only the
maids had a table), and there were other servants' rooms,
including the cook's, in the rearward stable-and-kitchen
block. (ref. 28) Even so, some of the twenty-three servants or so
probably lived out. (ref. 31) Throughout, the chimneypieces were
of marble or (in garrets and basement) Portland stone. On
the main floors they were evidently fitted with 'stoves'.
Here the window shutters were all of mahogany, and so,
predominantly, was the movable furniture. There was
more than one water closet, at the back of the house, served
by a 'force Engine' in the basement designed 'to throw
water to the Cistern' above them, (ref. 28) and draining to a
cesspool in the back area. (ref. 32) The segregation of the kitchen
from the house is noticeable. (ref. 28)
In 1763 Lord Hertford agreed to let the house furnished
for three years to the third Duke of Portland, (ref. 33) and in 1799
Lord Hertford's son let it to the Duke's son, the Marquess
of Titchfield. (ref. 34) An inventory in the latter year shows that a
rear wing had been added, containing the present Venetian
window. The main stairs had probably been rearranged,
and the old interior reconstructed, to give, at first-floor
level, approximately the present plan. The dining-room
had been moved again, to the former back parlour (now
extended eastward). It retained the favoured red for its
curtains but everywhere else in the main rooms the old
furnishing colours in silk or damask had been replaced by
printed or striped cottons, chintzes and calicoes. There
were 'pink Stormont' curtains with festoon drapery in the
library, for example, and 'geranium calico window
curtains' under 'white and gold cornices' throughout the
rooms on the first floor, where the old rooms now all had
fitted Brussels carpets. In the former dining-room the
panelling was now only dado high. There were water
closets on all floors, still supplied from a cistern at the top
of the house served by the 'hydraulic engine' below. The
yard was 'clayed and gravelled' over lead, for a garden. (ref. 34)
Figure 15:
No. 16 Grosvenor Street, elevation c. 1930 and plans in 1763
In 1801 Lord Hertford granted a nineteen-year lease to
the fifth Duke of Rutland, (ref. 27) but in 1819 the terms assessed
by the estate surveyor, William Porden, for the renewal of
the lease (a rent of £250 and a fine of £13,015) were so high
that there were no takers and the house stood empty from
1820 to 1824, when Thomas and George Seddon of
Aldersgate Street, cabinet-makers and upholsterers, were
granted a twenty-one-year lease at a rack rent without a
fine. (ref. 35) Three years later, having spent £7,000 on repairs
and improvements, they were given a sixty-three-year
lease on particularly favourable terms. (ref. 36) They were to use
the house solely as a showroom and not as a manufactory or
open shop, and all loading and unloading of goods was to
take place at the rear. (ref. 37)
Within a few months of receiving their first lease in 1824
the Seddons had sub-let the upper part of the house
furnished to the newly founded Oriental Club. An
additional staircase and entrance were provided and a
double portico was erected in Grosvenor Street, possibly
to the designs of George Basevi, who was then acting for
both the club and Seddons. The Oriental Club remained at
No. 16 until 1828 when it moved to newly built premises in
Hanover Square. (ref. 38) Part of the house continued to be let
separately, and the (Royal) Institute of British Architects
occupied rooms there from 1837 to 1859. (ref. 39)
In 1860 the house was taken by Collard and Collard,
piano-makers, who engaged Owen Jones to colour the
supposed 'Adam' ceilings and other parts. They also
adapted a room somewhere at the back for afternoon
concerts. (ref. 40) In Grosvenor Street, however, a small brass
plate 'on the inside door was the only outward and visible
sign of the considerable inward activities that took place
there. Only top hats were allowed in the front, caps and
aprons finding entrance at the back. If an unsuspecting
vanman pulled up at the front door the whole street
shuddered . . .' (ref. 41)
The house reverted to single private occupation in 1909
when Collards assigned their lease to Mrs. George
Keppel, the confidante of King Edward VII. She engaged
the architect F. W. Foster to make extensive alterations,
and his plans were shown to and approved by the King. (ref. 42)
Externally the double portico was remodelled and enclosed
(fig. 15), and internally Mrs. Keppel's alterations were said
to have included 'a new branching staircase' and the
installation of a 'Dutch room' for which she paid £5,000.
Little decoration was required, 'the old panelling being
perfect, and the style of the house the best period of
Adam', but Mrs. Keppel seems to have installed some
chimneypieces of her own. (ref. 43) In March 1910 she had been
anxious for the work to be done as quickly as possible as the
King was going to see the house, (ref. 44) but he died on 6 May of
that year, and Mrs. Keppel did not take up residence
herself until 1912. (ref. 45)
In 1927, and again in 1932, Lenygon and Morant made
alterations which included 'rebuilding portions' of the
house for the last private occupant, Captain Gerard
Leigh, (ref. 46) and in 1935–6 the premises were re-adapted for
commercial use by a firm of dressmakers, with Wimperis,
Simpson and Guthrie as architects for the conversion. On
the exterior the portico and a continuous balcony with iron
railings were replaced by pilasters framing the entrance
and individual window guards at first-floor level, while
inside on the ground floor one large open space was created
by substituting columns and beams for the dividing walls.
The columns were designed to match existing ones at the
foot of the staircase (Plate 14d). The rear premises facing
Brook's Mews were completely rebuilt. (ref. 47)
Inside the house there is now little evidence of the
'Adam' decorations which were more than once the subject
of comment in the past. The ground floor is one vast space
with Ionic columns and pilasters, mainly dating from
1935–6 and now artificially marbled. There are, however,
two handsome marble chimneypieces, one with a bas-relief
in the centre and the other with a sculptured frieze (Plate
15e), which are of late eighteenth-century appearance. The
stone, open-well staircase, with lyre-shaped iron balusters
(Plate 14d) does not fit the description of Mrs. Keppel's
'branching' staircase and possibly dates from Captain
Leigh's occupation, although the delicately wrought
balusters may have been preserved from the original great
stairs. There is more decorative work in a mid- to lateGeorgian manner on the first floor. The two main rooms
have ceilings modelled in low relief, and in the large
former drawing-room at the front there are also Corinthian
pilasters and a frieze of acanthus-leaf scrolls picked out in
gilt to the walls. In the rear wing two adjoining rooms have
simple plaster panelling and decorations to the walls and
Adam-style architraves to a communicating doorway.
There is also a marble chimneypiece decorated with urns
here and another imposing one with a bas-relief in the large
room at the front of the house.
Occupants include: 1st Baron Walpole, son of Sir Robert
Walpole the statesman, later 2nd Earl of Orford, 1725–38. 2nd
Baron Conway, latterly successively 1st Earl and 1st Marquess of
Hertford, 1740–63, c. 1766–94. 3rd Duke of Portland,
1763–c. 1766. 2nd Marquess of Hertford, son of 1st Marquess,
1794–7. Marquess of Titchfield, later 4th Duke of Portland,
1799–1801. 5th Duke of Rutland, 1801–14. Oriental Club,
1824–8 (occupying only part of the house). (Royal) Institute of
British Architects (occupying only part of the house), 1837–59.
Collard and Collard, pianoforte makers, 1860–1909. Lieut.-col.
George Keppel and his wife Alice Keppel, confidante of King
Edward VII, 1912–24.
No. 17
No. 17, originally four windows wide, was rebuilt, three
windows wide and set back, by the builder John Newson in
1855–6 for a private tenant. The architect was J. P. St.
Aubyn (with G. R. Crickmay as his clerk of works) but
Thomas Cundy II, as usual at this period, provided the
elevation. (ref. 48) Behind this front, subsequent alterations
include work by or for the architect and speculator, F. W.
Foster, in 1914. A number of alterations have since been
made to the interior and at the rear, (ref. 49) but, apart from
changes at ground-floor level, the façade in Grosvenor
Street remains an excellent example of the kind of street
elevation favoured by the second Marquess of Westminster and his surveyor. Three windows wide and of four
main storeys, it is faced with Suffolk bricks above a
stuccoed ground floor with a Doric porch and balcony of
Portland stone and has cement dressings to the windows,
those on the first floor with hoods carried on consoles, and
a deep, crisply modelled cornice with a Vitruvian-scroll
frieze (Plate 9a: see also fig. 14c in vol. XXXIX).
The previous house is known chiefly from documents of
1798–9, when the decoration and furnishing materials
(mainly new, from Gillows) matched both within and
between adjacent rooms—striped linen fabrics on the
ground floor, yellow in the first-floor drawing-rooms (with
both the curtain-cornices and the chairs white-and-gold),
green silk in the state bedroom, and flowered or yellow
cottons on the second floor. The carpets were mostly
fitted—imitation Turkey in the dining-parlour and library
and Brussels in the first-floor rooms. The front door was
painted and grained mahogany. At least three of the
servants' beds in the two 'large attics' were double. (ref. 50)
Occupants include James Vernon, clerk of the Privy Council,
1725–55. Lady Sandys, wid. of 1st Baron, 1775–9. Samuel
Whitbread, brewer and politician, 1792–8. Sir John Coxe
Hippisley, 1st bt., politician, 1802–25 (previously at No. 43).
Viscount Milton, eldest son of 4th Earl Fitz William of
Norborough, 1869–73. 2nd Baron Chesham, 1874–82. 5th Baron
Lyttelton, 1884. Sir Benjamin Phillips, warehouseman and
sometime Lord Mayor of London, 1886–9.
No. 18
No. 18 is structurally a four-bay early-Georgian house
erected under a building lease granted to Thomas
Richmond, carpenter, in 1723, (ref. 51) but refronted in stone at
the beginning of this century (Plates 9a, 13a, 14b).
Decimus Burton made additions of unknown extent in
1835–6, (ref. 26) and in 1851 the façade was heightened and
'improved' to the usual Estate specifications (John Kelk,
builder). (ref. 52) In 1901–2 John Garlick, the builder, made, as a
speculation, a number of alterations including the erection
of a new stone front with a canted bay. An advertisement
commended the 'moderate number of bedrooms'—
twelve. (ref. 53) The architects may have been Ayling and
Littlewood, who did other work for Garlick at about this
time. In 1937 Sidney Parvin was granted permission to
replace the bay at ground-floor level with a shop front and
make other alterations to the ground storey. (ref. 54)
Internally the pressures of commercial occupation and
subdivision have resulted in many changes, but a number
of Adamesque ceilings and neo-classical doorcases remain,
perhaps mostly dating from the late nineteenth century. A
grand stone staircase with unusual balusters (Plate 14b)
may date from the late eighteenth century.
Occupants include: Elizabeth Strangeways, latterly Duchess
of Hamilton, 1725–9: her husband, 5th Duke of Hamilton, 1729.
Baron Hervey, politician, 1740–1. John Crewe, latterly 1st Baron
Crewe, 1777–1829. Baron Norreys, latterly 6th Earl of Abingdon,
1845–84: his son, Francis Bertie, later 1st Viscount Bertie,
1884–96.
Nos. 19 and 20
Nos. 19 and 20 received their present appearance in
1935–6 when No. 19 was rebuilt with three neo-Georgian
red-brick storeys and an attic above a ground-floor shop,
and No. 20 was refaced to match. The architects were C. S.
and E. M. Joseph. (ref. 55)
No. 20 had been rebuilt in 1852–3 for the builder and
speculator, Wright Ingle. His architect was Henry
Harrison but the façade had to adhere to the Estate's usual
Italianate formula (ref. 56) (Plate 9b). Ingle contracted the
building work out to R. Watts of Motcomb Street. (ref. 57) In
1929–30 Frederick Etchells designed a Georgian-style
shop window and doorcase, but these too were removed in
1935–6. (ref. 58)
Occupants include: No. 19, Col. John Laforey, Huguenot,
1744–8, 1751–3. Gen. William Hargrove, 1750. Sir Frank
Standish, 3rd bt., 1780–1812. Viscount Normanby, latterly 2nd
Earl of Mulgrave, 1822–34. James Stuart-Wortley, lawyer and
politician, 1843–6. Lord Kenlis, later styled Earl of Bective,
1868 (later at No. 34). Viscount Maidstone, later 14th Earl of
Winchilsea, 1913–18. No. 20, Lady Stapleton, wid. of Sir
William Stapleton, 4th bt., 1745–8. Dow. Countess of Essex
(d. 1784), wid. of 3rd Earl, and Lady Mary Ker, da. of 2nd Duke
of Roxburghe, 1780–6. Sir Thomas Stepney, 8th bt., 1814–20.
Nos. 21 and 22
Nos. 21 and 22 were erected as private houses in 1898–9
to the designs of Eustace Balfour, the estate surveyor, and
Thackeray Turner, his partner. Above the ground floor the
only serious alteration since has been the enlargement of
the attic windows, and the buildings are excellent examples
of the forceful and original domestic style of this
partnership. Even the chimney-stacks with their decorative brick and stone arcading have survived. Originally
it was intended that the façades should be entirely of stone,
but the first Duke of Westminster, displaying his usual
predilections, wanted them to be of red brick. (ref. 59) The result
was a felicitous compromise in which irregular bands of
brick and stone alternate in a display of polychromy of
almost Butterfieldian intensity, relieved by a boldly
projecting cornice of unusual design above the fourth
storey and a subsidiary one above the ground floor which
forms the base for a Philip Webb-derived arcade in shallow
relief. Originally the houses had a remarkable double
portico with a pitched roof and arched entrances and side
openings, the latter filled with decorative ironwork (Plate
8a). The builder was Walter Holt of Croydon. (ref. 60)
The houses were built as speculations for Dr. Joseph
Walker, a dentist, who had had premises at No. 22 for
several years. He was granted new ninety-year leases in
consideration of rebuilding, but the houses proved difficult
to let. In 1900 Dr. Walker complained that he had 'been
trying for more than a year to let the houses as private
residences, and the tenants complain of the smallness of
the rooms and state that there is not a good one in the
houses. The premises are badly planned for private
residences; the elevations and the small panes of glass in
the windows are also objected to.' The Estate Board gave
permission for the houses to be turned into a private hotel
and they continued in this use until 1930. (ref. 61) They were
afterwards converted into shops, showrooms and flats with
consequent alterations to the ground floor, which was
again altered in 1976 to the designs of Nicol Stuart
Morrow. (ref. 62) Some of the original ironwork of the area
railings survives.
Occupants include: No. 21, Gen. William Phillips, 1769–81.
James Moore, surgeon, 1791–1802. With No. 22, Hagen's Hotel,
1901–6. Earle's Hotel, 1909–30.
Nos. 23–25 (consec.)
Nos. 23–25 (consec.) were rebuilt in 1854–7 with the
usual elevational treatment dictated by the estate surveyor,
Thomas Cundy II (Plate 8a). The builder of Nos. 23 and
24 in 1854–5, and most probably of No. 25 in 1856–7, was
John Newson, and the architect for all three was F. W.
Bushill (restricted, of course, by Cundy's watching brief).
Nos. 23 and 24, at least, were rebuilt as speculations. A
periodical commented on the similarity of the planning
(which provided a 'gentleman's business room' on the
ground floor) to that of houses in Rutland Gate. (ref. 63)
Apart from the insertion of a shop window the exterior
of No. 23 has been little changed, but Nos. 24 and 25 have
been joined together and altered at ground-floor level so
that No. 25 has lost its portico and the balcony at first-floor
level has also been removed. Anachronistically smallpaned sashes have been substituted for Victorian ones in
some of the windows.
Occupants include: No. 23, Governor Morris, ? Bacon
Morris, Governor of Landguard Fort, 1726–7. Lady FitzWalter,
wid. of 18th Baron, 1728–38. Viscount Wallingford, son of 4th
Earl of Banbury, 1739–40. Edward Lascelles, latterly Viscount
Lascelles, 1801–14. Sir Humphry Davy, bt., natural philosopher,
1816–24. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, kt., colonial governor,
1825–6: his wid., 1827–36. Lieut.-col. Lord Frederick Fitzroy,
younger son of 4th Duke of Grafton, 1857–1916. No. 24, Dr.
Jeremiah Mills, President of the Society of Antiquaries, 1745–71.
Lady Dorothy Hotham, wid. of Sir Charles Hotham-Thompson,
8th bt., 1794–8. Lord George Seymour, son of 1st Marquess of
Hertford, 1800. No. 25, Italian Legation, 1875–6.
No. 26
No. 26 was built in 1913–16 as a speculation by the
builder William J. Garlick to the designs of Wimperis and
Simpson. Edmund Wimperis was the estate surveyor at
the time but this individualistic neo-Georgian house (Plate
9c: see also fig. 26c in vol. XXXIX) is more likely to have been
the work of William Begg Simpson, who 'explained' the
plans and elevation to the Grosvenor Board. (ref. 64) Planned to
include nine bedrooms, it is a tall house for its narrow
twenty-five-foot frontage, with five main storeys and an
attic.
Occupants include: Adm. Richard Edwards, 1788–94. Aylmer
Bourke Lambert, botanist, 1803–42. Caesar Hawkins, surgeon,
1842–84.
No. 27
No. 27 was erected by Richard Davies, joiner, under a
building lease granted in 1725. (ref. 65) At some time in the early
nineteenth century the house was heightened and the
façade stuccoed, but since then it has been relatively little
altered externally and provides an attractive example of a
stucco front dating from before the period of the second
Marquess's elevational improvements (Plate 9c). Of four
main storeys and garrets with three closely spaced
windows to each floor, it has a balcony at first-floor level
with elegant, thin iron rails, shallow mouldings to the
windows, those on the first floor also having detached
hoods carried on consoles, a plain cornice at third-floor
level, and at the top of the house a decorative panel of
anthemions and palmettes. Inside little of interest
survives.
Occupants include: Duchess of Atholl, wife of 2nd Duke,
1746.
No. 28
No. 28, a corner house with a long frontage and entrance
in Davies Street, was built in 1906–7 for Lord Edward
Spencer-Churchill, son of the sixth Duke of Marlborough,
to the designs of C. W. Stephens, the architect of
Claridge's and Harrods (Plate 9c). The builders were W.
King and Son of Vauxhall Bridge Road. (ref. 66)
There is little of the ornateness of Claridge's or Harrods
in this rather sober design by Stephens for a four-storey
town mansion in red brick with stone dressings, in which
'Queen Anne' is modified by the onset of Edwardian
Baroque. The interior has little of interest.
Stephens found himself in difficulties with the Estate
over this house. After having had to change his designs
because he 'had not read the building contract', he
stubbornly refused to carry out the specifications requiring
fireproof floors. Eventually the Board resolved 'that Mr.
Stephens' name be not approved of as the architect for any
other buildings on the estate'. (ref. 67)
The previous house had had some work done to it by
(Sir) William Chambers for Charles Turner in c. 1774–5. (ref. 68)
Occupants include: 7th Viscount of Falkland, 1750–5. (Sir)
Charles Turner, latterly 1st bt., 1766–83. Christopher Wilson,
Bishop of Bristol, 1784–92. Richard Beadon, Bishop of
Gloucester, 1792–1801. Dow. Countess of Carnarvon, wid. of 1st
Earl, 1813–26. 6th Viscount Allen, 1827–31. Sir William
Domville, 2nd bt., 1835–8. 2nd Baron Templemore, 1852. Dow.
Duchess of Marlborough, wid. of 6th Duke, 1868–97: her son,
Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, 1899–1911: his wid., 1911–40.
Nos. 29–31 (consec.)
Nos. 29–31 (consec.) were rebuilt with Nos. 29–37
(odd) Davies Street in 1926–8 (see page 76).
Occupants include: No. 30, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, 1746. 4th
Baron Bellew, 1747–51. James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie,
son of 3rd Earl of Bute, 1809–18. 2nd Baron Auckland, later 1st
Earl of Auckland, 1820–34. Henry Bence Jones, physician and
chemist, 1843–55. No. 31, Charles George Perceval, later 2nd
Baron Arden, 1782–4. Robert Barnes, obstetric physician,
1870–8. Lieut.-col. C. L. Fitzwilliam, consulting surgeon,
1920–4.
No. 32
No. 32 was rebuilt in 1933–5 to the designs of Toms and
Partners as a shop with six storeys of flats above, the top
storey contained within a mansard roof (Plate 9d). The
style is a mechanical neo-Georgian with regularly spaced
window openings and red brick as the principal facing
material. The builders were William Moss and Son. (ref. 69) <From 1935 to 1937 No. 32 was the showroom for Frazer Nash Cars.>
The original house on the site was erected under a
building lease granted in 1725 to Robert Scott, carpenter, (ref. 70)
who in the following year sold it for £2,800 to Charles
Edwin, later M.P. for Westminster. (ref. 71) Until its demolition
in 1933 this house remained one of the best early-Georgian
houses in the street, despite the addition of a portico and
balconettes in 1865. (ref. 72)
Occupants include: Lady Catherine Edwin, wid. of Samuel
Edwin, M.P., 1726: her son, Charles Edwin, M.P., 1726–56: his
wid., 1756–76. Lady Fetherstonhaugh, wid. of Sir Matthew
Fetherstonhaugh, 1st bt., 1777–80. Francis Charteris, known as
Lord Elcho after the death in 1787 of his uncle David Wemyss,
who, but for his attainder in 1746, would have been 6th Earl of
Wemyss, 1787–8 (later at No. 51). Felix Ladbroke, later owner of
the Ladbroke estate in North Kensington, 1826–46. 22nd Baron
Dacre, 1871–87. 7th Viscount Galway, 1898–1904.
No. 33
No. 33 was thoroughly recast, inside and out, in 1912 by
Turner Lord and Company, but structurally it is still the
original house erected under a building lease granted to
Richard Lissiman, mason, in July 1725. (ref. 73) In 1867 various
'improvements' were made to the façade in the usual
manner of that period. (ref. 74)
Several alterations were made to the interior before the
house was taken under a new sixty-three-year lease in 1910
by Auguste Lichtenstadt, a stockbroker. (ref. 75) He engaged the
architect W. L. Lucas with Howard and Sons as decorators to carry out an internal remodelling which
included fitting up a back drawing-room 'in the German
medieval style' with elaborately carved panelling and a
highly ornate wooden hooded chimneypiece with the
monogram AL repeated several times on the hood (Plate
13b): other rooms were in pleasantly simple Georgian
styles. (ref. 76)
The following year, however, Lichtenstadt arranged to
sell the house to the recently widowed Princess Hatzfeldt.
She was the former Clara Huntington of Detroit, an
heiress in her own right, whose husband, Prince Francis
Hatzfeldt, had been a member of the German diplomatic
service and owner of the winning horse in the Grand
National of 1906. (ref. 77)
Princess Hatzfeldt promptly engaged Turner Lord and
Company to replace the brand-new decorative scheme by
another. Outside, they intended to alter the façade by
removing the 'compo work' (presumably dressings
added in 1867). The Estate refused to sanction this ('the
Duke's friends would tell him that the appearance of the
house had been spoiled'), but agreed to a complete
refronting in stone. The refacing was begun during the
London Season of 1912, and then postponed for a few
months on protests from neighbouring tenants. The
builder was Charles Ansell of Chicheley Street. (ref. 78)
Although structurally still a Georgian house, No. 33 is
to all intents and purposes a first-rate town house of the
period before the war of 1914–18, executed with great care
and fine craftsmanship. The felicitous proportions of the
façade (Plate 9d), which is four windows wide and four
storeys high, were determined by the existing house, but
the distinctive detailing is entirely work of 1912. The
mouldings, which stand out sharply from the smooth
ashlar facing of the upper storeys, are executed with great
precision and the ironwork of the balcony railings, the
sides of the portico, and of the entrance door is particularly
inventive and delicately handled.
Figure 16:
No. 33 Grosvenor Street, plans in 1803 and 1975
In sharp contrast to the front, the rear of the house is
made up of a picturesquely accretive jumble of projections,
some of them no doubt the work of John Newson and Son,
who, in 1856, had enlarged a back drawing-room. (ref. 79)
Inside a stone staircase with elegant wrought-iron
balustrading (fig. 6c in vol. XXXIX) is the only important
early-Georgian feature to survive. Originally it was wallhung, but the underside is now partially enclosed. The
panelling and much, if not all, of the plasterwork of the
staircase compartment is, however, later. Elsewhere
Turner Lord completely transformed the main rooms,
even replacing the existing chimneypieces with 'copies of
old French mantelpieces'. (ref. 80) The two principal rooms on
the first floor are panelled throughout, the front room with
rich carving in the manner of Grinling Gibbons, a wooden
Corinthian cornice and pilasters and plasterwork modelled in high relief to the ceiling. The back room is treated in
a different manner with oak panelling intricately carved
with trophies and musical instruments, apparently
incorporating sections of original boiseries of the French
Régence period imported by Princess Hatzfeldt. (ref. 81) Above
the panelling, on the coving of an otherwise plain ceiling, is
a delightful plaster frieze in low relief of goddesses and
cherubs among intertwining plants and animals.
Occupants include: Baron Sparre, Swedish Envoy, 1727–36.
John Spencer, son of 3rd Earl of Sunderland, 1738–45. Viscount
Trentham, later 2nd Earl Gower and 1st Marquess of Stafford,
1747–54. John Spencer, later Viscount and 1st Earl Spencer of
Althorp, 1754–60. (Sir) John Fleming, latterly bt., 1761–3. 8th
Earl of Northampton, 1764–8. Duchess of Beaufort, either wid.
of 4th Duke or wife of 5th Duke, 1768–9. Sir James Peachey, 4th
bt., latterly 1st Baron Selsey, 1772–1808 (previously at No. 9): his
son, 2nd Baron, 1808–16: the latter's wid., 1816–37. 9th
(Scottish) and 1st (U.K.) Baron Kinnaird, 1850–64. Lord
Stanhope, latterly 7th Earl of Chesterfield, 1865–7. 8th Viscount
Doneraile, 1868–80. Lady George Lennox, wid. of younger son
of 5th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, 1881–2. 7th Baron
Rodney, 1893–6. Princess Hatzfeldt (née Clara Huntington of
Detroit), 1912–15. 6th Earl Cadogan, 1918–28.
No. 34
No. 34 has always been one of the finest houses on the
estate, and, despite considerable alteration both inside and
out, it still conveys much of the grace and elegance of the
great Georgian town house. The builder was Richard
Lissiman, mason, who was granted a building lease in July
1725. (ref. 82) Almost three years later, in March 1728, when the
house was nearly complete, he sold it for £4,500 to the
diplomatist Sir Paul Methuen, (ref. 83) whose fine picture
collection (now at Corsham Court) attracted Queen
Caroline and Lord Hervey to breakfast with him in 1735 to
view it. (ref. 84)
The stucco façade (Plate 9d), parts of which look to be
quite early, may have been added by Paul Cobb Methuen,
who, in 1796, obtained a renewal of the original lease until
1858. (ref. 85) The architect John Nash, who remodelled part of
Corsham Court in Wiltshire for Methuen, was directing
work by Joseph Trollope's paperhanging firm at Grosvenor Street in 1798 for Methuen. (ref. 86)
In 1866 the estate surveyor found the floors shook (ref. 87) and
in the 1870's William Cubitt and Company did extensive
work for Lord Vernon including 'forming new rooms',
apparently under the direction of George Devey. (ref. 88) The
full nature of the changes made is now obscure, but a small
single-storey lobby which has a surprisingly elaborate
Palladian façade to the garden was added at the rear, next
to No. 33, and the present secondary staircase may also
date from this time. Work was also done in 1880 for
Samuel Morley, (ref. 89) but the alterations most affecting the
present interior were, however, made in 1909–13 to the
designs of Owen Little for the banker Rupert Beckett. In
1912 The Lady reported Mr. and Mrs. Beckett's 'amazement' on finding out that 'having spent large sums in
decorating, panelling and beautifying their new house',
structural defects necessitated 'pulling down all their
charming boiseries'. In fact the remedial work appears to
have been confined to the party wall with No. 33 and part
of the front. (ref. 90)
When Beckett left the house in 1936 it was taken by
Keeble Limited, the firm of decorators and antique
dealers, who immediately inserted a grossly over-large
shop window in the ground floor covering all three bays to
the east of the entrance porch. (ref. 91) During restoration work
by Haslemere Estates in 1976–7 the shop window was
replaced by three new sash windows aligned with those of
the upper storeys. A plan of 1795 inexplicably shows only
two windows to the right of the entrance. (ref. 92)
An immediately striking feature of the façade of the
house (Plate 9d) is the height of its three main storeys,
which makes it almost as tall as its four-storeyed
neighbours on each side. All three houses were built by
Richard Lissiman under one building agreement, (ref. 93) and the
discrepancies in storey heights as well as in the widths of
the frontages indicate how little the early-Georgian builder
was concerned with uniformity.
The present front must date from several periods but
documentary evidence is lacking. The plain stucco of the
upper storeys with mouldings in low relief to the windows
looks to be early, but the portico and balconettes were
probably added later and the enclosing of the portico was
done later still.
The original plan of the house has survived with little
alteration except for the elimination of the 'passage room'
(as it was called in 1761) at the rear of the secondary
staircase and the consequent enlargement of the 'great
room' in the rear wing (ref. 94) (fig. 17).
One of the best rooms in the house must always have
been the main double-storey staircase compartment (Plate
9b, figs. 5d, 6f in vol. XXXIX). When Sir Paul Methuen
bought the house in 1728 he held back £500 of the
purchase money until certain items had been completed to
his satisfaction. The most important instructions were that
the staircase was to be wainscotted with oak in the same
manner as No. 52 and the walls and ceiling above the
panelling were to be plastered 'with Ornaments of Stucco'.
For the latter work Lissiman (who signed the agreement
with his mark) was to incur no greater expense than £40,
Methuen having to pay the remainder if he 'should be
desirous to have it done very finely'. (ref. 95)
Figure 17:
No. 34 Grosvenor Street, plans in 1975
The principal feature of the staircase compartment—by
far the finest part of the house to have survived—is the
great stone staircase itself which rises around three sides to
first-floor level where a gallery occupies the fourth side.
The stairs are wall-hung with a wrought-iron balustrade of
delicately worked lyre pattern up to the gallery, where, in
the level railings, the pattern becomes more complex: the
wooden handrail appears to have been renewed relatively
recently. The floor of the hall is paved with diagonally-laid
black and white marble squares which have probably been
renewed but equally probably repeat the original floor
pattern. The walls are covered with long raised-andfielded panels, and on the wall side of the staircase there is a
moulded dado-rail with small-scale Composite pilasters at
the turns. Above the panelling is a plaster cornice and the
ceiling of the compartment and the underside of the gallery
have pleasant, rather conventional decorative plasterwork
with acanthus-leaf scrolls and rosettes, which looks likely
not to have cost more than the £40 specified. The
doorcases have richly carved friezes and pediments with
modillion cornices.
The principal rooms on the ground and first floors are
almost entirely panelled, but only in the ground-floor front
room does some of this panelling look original, although
this room has undergone many changes. Here there are
raised-and-fielded panels with carved borders, a dado-rail
carved with a wave motif and a modillion cornice. The
chimneypiece, an overblown affair with Composite
pilasters supporting an open pediment and decorated with
a cartouche and other carvings, looks to be Edwardian or
later. The remaining rooms are panelled in a variety of
woods and are principally the work of Owen Little.
The secondary staircase occupies the same position as the
original one but is a replacement, probably of the 1870's.
The rooms on the second floor, which have good
panelling, box cornices and some simple marble fireplaces
with shouldered architraves, have been altered less.
Occupants include: Sir Paul Methuen, K.B., diplomatist,
1728–57: his cousin and heir, Paul Methuen, 1757–95: the latter's
son, Paul Cobb Methuen, 1795–1816. Sir William Rowley, 2nd
bt., 1818–29. 2nd Earl of Glengall, 1840–58: his wid., 1858–61.
2nd Viscount Lismore, 1863–7. Lord Kenlis, later styled Earl of
Bective, 1870 (previously at No. 19). 6th Baron Vernon, 1871–80.
Samuel Morley, philanthropist, politician and textile manufacturer, 1880–6. Sir Theodore Henry Brinckman, 2nd bt.,
1893–1905: his son, Sir Theodore Francis Brinckman, 3rd bt.,
1905–9. Rupert Beckett, chairman of Westminster Bank Ltd. and
of Yorkshire Post, 1909–36.
Nos. 35 and 36
Nos. 35 and 36 were completely rebuilt in 1976–7 but
their façades are facsimiles of those of the previous houses
on the two sites. The architects were the Rolfe Judd Group
Practice and the builders were F. G. Minter and, in the
later stages, A. E. Symes Construction Limited. Rebuilding became necessary when a partial collapse occurred
during extensive alterations to the interiors of both houses.
At No. 35 the original house was erected under a
building lease granted to Richard Lissiman, mason, in
1725, (ref. 96) but the façade that has been reproduced dated
largely from the nineteenth century when the ground
storey was stuccoed, a Doric open portico was erected (in
1865 (ref. 97) ) and stucco dressings were added to the windows
(probably in 1882–3 (ref. 98) ). In the rebuilding no attempt has
been made to duplicate the shop window that had been
inserted, and the ground storey has been given its
nineteenth-century form.
The present red-brick façade at No. 36 duplicates as far
as possible the dignified Georgian elevation of four main
storeys, each four windows wide, of the house which was
demolished. The fourth storey was, however, a later
addition, the house consisting of only three main storeys
and garrets when originally erected under a building lease
granted to John Simmons, carpenter, in 1726. (ref. 99) Individual
cast-iron window guards which were added to the firstfloor windows in the late eighteenth or nineteenth century
and a blockish Doric doorcase inserted during the present
century have also been reproduced.
The house was originally square on plan without a closet
wing, and had the unusual arrangement of a main staircase
rising to first-floor level at the back of the house, with a
secondary staircase serving all floors immediately adjacent
(fig. 3e in vol. XXXIX). The dining-room was originally on
the first floor. (ref. 100) Little of note remained inside by the time
of demolition.
Occupants include: No. 35, Col. (latterly gen.) George Warde,
1804–12. Col. (latterly Sir) Henry Bentinck, K.C.B., 1852–65.
(Sir) Alfred Webb-Johnson, surgeon, later Baron WebbJohnson, 1913–37. No. 36, 6th Earl of Salisbury, 1736–79. Sir
Henry Dashwood, 3rd bt., 1783–8. Gen. (?Joseph) Smith,
1788–91. Sir Edward Leslie, bt., 1791–7. Peter Latham,
physician, 1824–68. (Sir) Robert Burnet, (kt.), physician,
1896–1909. (Sir) Henry Simson, K.C.V.O., physician, 1906–28.
Nos. 37–40
Nos. 37–40 (demolished) occupied part of the site of the
large block of flats and offices now numbered 1–3
Grosvenor Square and 38–41 Grosvenor Street. The
houses, all four storeys high, were built under leases
granted to John Simmons, carpenter, in 1731. (ref. 101) At No. 37
in 1737 the dining-room was on the first floor: the rooms
and great staircase were panelled, the hall stone-paved, and
the chimneypieces of marble or stone. (ref. 102) This house was
demolished in 1858 to make way for a two-storey stable
block for No. 2 Grosvenor Square which had its rear
elevation in, but set back from, Grosvenor Street (ref. 103) (Plate
8b). The remaining Georgian brick houses were demolished in 1935.
The best of these houses, No. 38, was three windows
wide and had a modillion cornice, a plain Doric porch and
a balcony with particularly elegant iron railings of an early
nineteenth-century type (Plate 8b). William Haldimand,
who was one of the leading developers of Belgrave Square,
occupied the house from 1819 to 1825 and George Basevi,
his architect in Belgrave Square, acted for him in
negotiations over the renewal of the lease, although it is not
known whether Basevi was responsible for the 'improvements' made to the house. (ref. 104)
Occupants include: No. 37, Sir Thomas Hesketh, 1st bt.,
1761–9. Sir Robert Lawley, 6th bt., later Baron Wenlock,
1794–1801. Sir Culling-Eardley Smith, 1st bt., 1802–12. Richard
Ryder, politician, 1815–28. Lieut.-gen. Sir Edward Bowater,
1850. 3rd Baron Wodehouse, later 1st Earl of Kimberley,
politician, 1852. No. 38, Lady Gray, ?wid. of Sir James Gray, 1st
bt., 1733–4. Sir James Calder, 3rd bt., 1768–75: his wid, 1775–7:
their son, Sir Henry Calder, 4th bt., maj.-gen., 1777–83,
1788–90. Sir John Bridger, kt., 1783–8. Baron Shuldham,
admiral, 1791–8. William Haldimand, philanthropist and
director of the Bank of England, 1819–25. Fox Maule, later 2nd
Baron Panmure and 11th Earl of Dalhousie, politician, 1838–51.
Marshall Hall, physiologist, 1852–7. Richard Cobden, statesman,
1855–8. (Sir) John Reynolds, latterly bt., physician, 1854–96.
William Playfair, obstetric physician, 1898–1903: his son, (Sir)
Nigel Ross Playfair, actor-manager, later kt., 1898–1902. Dow.
Duchess of Roxburghe, wid. of 7th Duke, 1904–8. Earl of
Ronaldshay, later 2nd Marquess of Zetland, 1909–22. No. 39,
Marquess of Graham, later 2nd Duke of Montrose, 1734–42. 3rd
Viscount Lisburne, 1744. 2nd Earl Cowper, 1744–50: his
brother, Spencer Cowper, Dean of Durham, 1751–7. Sir George
Wombwell, 2nd bt., 1811–12. Gen. Bayley Wallis, 1823–7.
No. 40, Henrietta Wyatt-Edgell, latterly suo jure Baroness Braye,
1875–9: her son, 5th Baron Braye, 1880–9. Marquis de Casa
Maury, 1929–30. Sir Alexander Roger, kt., company chairman,
1936.