Berkeley Square, North Side
Berkeley Square is not one of the great, planned squares of
London: it owes its existence more to fortuitous circumstances than design. When in 1696 the third Lord Berkeley
of Stratton sold Berkeley House in Piccadilly to the first
Duke of Devonshire he agreed to protect the northward
view from the house as far as the extent of his own land
would permit by refraining from building on a strip of
ground equal to the width of the garden of Berkeley House.
This agreement was honoured when the Berkeley estate
was laid out for speculative building in the 1730's and
1740's and the principal developers, Edward Cock and
Francis Hillyard, carpenters, eventually used the open
space which was thus left to form a square. (ref. 1)
The north side of the square is on the Grosvenor estate,
however, and here, as development had taken place in the
1720's when the Berkeley estate was still farmland, the
frontage was initially occupied by the side elevations and
yards of houses which faced on to Davies Street and Jones
Street, or coach-houses, stables and other back buildings. (ref. 2)
One of the first steps taken by Cock and Hillyard when
they developed the eastern part of the Berkeley estate was
to make a roadway on the south side of these buildings to
link their new streets of Bruton Street and New Berkeley
Street (now the eastern side of Berkeley Square) with
Davies Street, and the opportunity was thus provided for
some early redevelopment to take place. Five houses were
built between Jones Street and the corner house with
Davies Street in the late 1730's and early 1740's including a
coffee house at the corner of Jones Street, kept first by
Roger Henley from 1740 to 1742 and then by Morgan
Gwynn until he moved to another house on the east side of
the square in c. 1754. (ref. 3) In about 1770 a wooden shop was
added at this corner, projecting into Jones Street, and in
1782 the house at the corner of Davies Street was rebuilt to
face the square. (ref. 3) In 1790 the occupants of this row
included a hosier, a fruiterer, a shoemaker, a watchmaker
and a bookseller, while the lock-up shop was used by a
breeches-maker. (ref. 4)
These houses had little depth, and a sketch made shortly
before their demolition in 1820 shows them to have been a
very heterogeneous collection. (ref. 5) All except one had shops
on the ground floor, the exception being the only house
with any real claim to distinction which stood on the site of
the present No. 28. This had three very tall storeys with
what looks to be a Venetian window in the centre of the
first floor and a Diocletian window above. The house was
built by John Shepherd, the plasterer brother of the
architect-builder Edward Shepherd. He had earlier built
some of the other small houses on the north side and
assigned this house to its first occupant, John Barnard, in
1743. (ref. 6) In 1792 it was described as having been 'altered and
fitted up at a great Expence'. (ref. 7) Barnard, who had an
extensive collection of paintings, (ref. 8) lived there until 1784.
Other notable occupants of the house were William
Fullarton, M.P. (1785–8), the sixth Earl of Stair (1791–4),
Edward Bouverie, M.P., brother of the second Earl of
Radnor (1794–1804), Sir William Wolseley, sixth baronet
(1805–9), and General Sir Banastre Tarleton, baronet, a
veteran of the American War of Independence (1810–20).
The unsatisfactory nature of this side of the square was
often a subject of comment. In 1792 Malton described it as
'a situation which deserves to be better occupied' and in
1793 The World included it in a list of 'Fine Situations
Long Neglected'. (ref. 9) In the latter year the minutes of the
Grosvenor Board record that 'one grand object will be to
get the front … next Berkeley Square covered with Houses
of a respectable description', (ref. 10) but concrete proposals
could not be entertained until nearer 1820, when the head
lease of the whole ground, which had been granted in 1721
to Thomas Barlow, the estate surveyor, expired.
From about 1817 a number of proposals for rebuilding
were received including ones from Jeffry Wyatt, Philip
Wyatt and George Basevi on behalf of clients, but William
Porden, the estate surveyor, had decided that the ground
was worth the very high rental of ten guineas per foot
frontage, and at that price there were no takers. Nevertheless preparations went ahead. Greater depth of plot was
provided by moving the roadway at the rear further to the
north, a change which had the concurrence of the local
paving commissioners, the existing houses between Davies
Street and Jones Street were demolished in 1820, and the
ground was advertised in the newspapers. But it was not
until the end of September 1821, very shortly after
Thomas Cundy I had succeeded Porden as estate surveyor,
that an offer was finally accepted when John Bailey, the
proprietor of the hotel which stood on the site of the
present No. 25, agreed to take a plot on the west corner
with Jones Street at a rent of five guineas per foot. This
much-reduced figure was then applied to the rest of the
frontage up to Davies Street which had all been taken by
the end of October 1821. (ref. 11)
Of the four houses, Nos. 27–30 (consec.), which were
built between Jones Street and Davies Street, Nos. 29 and
30 were destroyed by bombing during the war of 1939–45
and Nos. 27 and 28 have been much altered. Originally,
however, they seem, despite their differing widths, to have
been built to an overall terrace design which was treated
with some flexibility in execution (Plate 17a, 17b). Nos. 28
and 30 are known to have been built by Thomas Cubitt, (ref. 12)
but a number of differences between these and Nos. 27 and
29, particularly in the design of the doorcases and the
balcony railings, suggests that the latter two were by
another hand. The only other builder known to have been
connected with these houses was Alexander Mingay,
bricklayer, of St. James's, who built a sewer in the square
on behalf of John Bailey, the lessee of No. 27, (ref. 13) but he is
not known to have undertaken any major works elsewhere.
The general elevation of the range could have been
provided by William Porden, who furnished plans and
what was described as 'a sketch of the proposed improvements' to prospective developers, (ref. 14) or by his successor,
Thomas Cundy I. On stylistic grounds the latter is more
likely, and it may be significant that on Cundy's death in
1825 he was owed money by the lessee of No. 29, Paul
Beilby Thompson, who also seems to have obtained
building materials from Cundy's son, James. (ref. 15)
The plot to the east of Jones Street was not included in
either the rebuilding scheme of the 1730's or that of the
1820's, and its history is described under No. 25 below.
No. 25
No. 25 is a block of flats (now converted into offices)
which was erected in 1905–6 to the designs of Frank T.
Verity.
Most of this large plot was originally let in the 1720's to a
farrier, Francis Cornish, who built a house and other
buildings on the northern part with coach-houses and
stables to the south. (ref. 16) In 1755 Cornish's former premises
were acquired by William Linnell, the carver and cabinetmaker, who rebuilt or substantially altered them to provide
a house and workshops for himself. (ref. 3) The house faced
Berkeley Square, a privilege for which Linnell paid a fine
of £100, presumably to Lord Berkeley. (ref. 17)
In 1760 another small building was erected to the west
of the main house on the corner with Jones Street, and was
first occupied by John Linnell, William Linnell's eldest
son. (It was usually occupied, and sometimes let,
separately from No. 25 and in the nineteenth century was
numbered 26 Berkeley Square. In the late eighteenth
century it was a fishmonger's shop and in the second half of
the nineteenth century was occupied by a succession of
doctors and dentists. (ref. 18) )
On William Linnell's death in 1763 John Linnell took
over his father's business and retained the premises in
Berkeley Square until his own death in 1796. During his
ownership the site was expanded by taking in a small house
to the east which faced John (now Bourdon) Street.
The Linnells were amongst the most important cabinetmakers and upholsterers of the eighteenth century, and a
number of surviving documents and an outline plan of
c. 1795 with a sketch elevation enable the arrangement of
their premises to be reconstructed. Facing Berkeley
Square was a large building with a frontage of over sixtyfive feet, having a basement, three main storeys and
garrets. Above the ground floor there was a normal
domestic façade with five well-spaced windows of the usual
Georgian proportions on the first and second floors and
four dormer windows lighting the garrets above. On the
ground floor the doorway was in the centre and to the east
were two windows ranging in line with those above, but the
sketch appears to show a large shop window on the west
side of the doorway, perhaps lighting a showroom (a 'Fore
Ware Room' is mentioned in an inventory) or the
counting-house which was situated on the ground floor
near the parlour. Behind this building, which principally
housed the Linnells' domestic quarters, there were four,
and in one part five, storeys of workshops and other rooms.
These included three upholsterers' shops, a joiners' shop, a
carving shop, a gilding shop, a cabinet shop, a chair room, a
glass room, ware rooms and store rooms. There was also a
stable yard and a saw pit. (ref. 19)
Shortly after John Linnell's death the premises were
adapted for a hotel by Tycho Thomas, a hotel-keeper of
Dover Street. (ref. 20) Although extensive alterations must have
been made, a complete rebuilding does not appear to have
taken place. On the main elevation to Berkeley Square the
shop window was removed, the windows on the first and
second floors were enlarged and the garrets were made into
a square fourth storey. (ref. 5) The result was a bulky building
which probably fitted in reasonably well with the lateGeorgian range to the west of Jones Street when that was
rebuilt in 1821–4. The hotel was extended to the east,
probably in 1852, (ref. 21) but this extension was largely hidden
by No. 24, the northernmost house on the eastern side of
the square.
Thomas's Hotel (or Bailey's Hotel as it was sometimes
known after John Bailey, one of its early proprietors)
rapidly established a reputation as one of the leading
private hotels in London, (ref. 22) and it retained its cachet
throughout most of the nineteenth century.
The building of such grand new hotels as the Cecil, the
Savoy and, close at hand, Claridge's made such establishments as Thomas's seem old-fashioned, however, and in
1902 William Symonds, a solicitor, whose mother had
been the proprietress for several years, applied to the
Grosvenor Board for an extension to the lease of the hotel
in order to rebuild. (ref. 23) Initially the Board refused because
the lease still had several years to run, but other approaches
were made in 1903 when the building was described as
'quite unfit for modern Hotel requirements', and eventually the Board agreed to grant a new ninety-year lease at a
ground rent of £1,500 per annum. The successful
applicant, Ernest Whitehead, who was described as having
'a large private income', decided to build flats instead of a
hotel. The demolition of Thomas's Hotel began in March
1904. (ref. 24)
Several architects were involved with the site including
Delissa Joseph and Ernest Runtz and Ford, but finally the
job was given to Frank T. Verity in consequence of his
expertise in planning luxury flats. Even Verity's position
was threatened when Whitehead and Symonds, who had
been brought in again as a co-developer, wanted to use a
contractor who insisted on having Paul Hoffmann as
architect. The Grosvenor Board, however, supported
Verity, and he eventually found other contractors, Mark
Patrick and Son, who agreed to erect the building at their
own cost, Whitehead and Symonds having the option to
purchase it on completion for £55,000. This option was
not exercised, and in 1907 the new lease was granted to
Colin Grant Patrick. The cost of construction was £50,000
and the flats were let at rents of about £800 to £850 per
annum. (ref. 25)
Verity's six-storey block (another storey has since been
clumsily added behind the parapet) has a fine Portlandstone elevation to Berkeley Square with the flat, attenuated
neo-Grec detailing and excellent ironwork in the Parisian
manner that were to become hallmarks of his style in later
works such as Nos. 139–140 Park Lane. The entrance hall,
staircases and corridors are luxuriously decked out with
classical mouldings executed in compo. Much later Sir
Albert Richardson claimed that the building had been
'detailed entirely' by him, as Verity's young assistant. (ref. 26)
No. 27
No. 27 (Plate 17b, 17c) was built in 1821–3 under the
circumstances described above. The building lessee was
John Bailey, the proprietor of Thomas's or Bailey's Hotel
at No. 25. On completion he sold the house for £5,000. (ref. 27)
A number of alterations have been made since the
photograph of the house reproduced on Plate 17b was
taken. In 1938 the discreetly hidden garret storey was
crudely extended to the front, and in the same year the
insertion of a shop front with a wide stone surround
completely transformed the ground floor. (ref. 28) Other alterations, which were probably done at the same time,
include the enlargement of the third-floor windows and the
replacement of the continuous iron balcony at first-floor
level with individual iron balconettes to the windows. The
brickwork has been painted grey over tuck pointing.
In 1909 the young H. S. Goodhart-Rendel provided a
design for a new house here for William Brass, the
contractor, who was apparently intending to rebuild as a
speculation. (ref. 29) Goodhart-Rendel exhibited the design at
the Royal Academy in the following year and it was
illustrated in The Building News. The plan was ingenious,
and the stone elevation, which was basically neo-classical
but with sharp, angular detailing and a variety of motifs,
was very striking. (ref. 30) Had the design been carried out, it
would have provided an excellent foil to Verity's flats at
No. 25, but it would have jarred insistently with its
decorous late-Georgian neighbours to the west.
In the event the house was not rebuilt but was
extensively altered internally in 1910–11 at a cost of over
£3,000 to the designs of G. A. Codd, then an assistant
surveyor in the Grosvenor Office and later estate
surveyor. (ref. 31)
Much of the decoration of the interior dates from the
late-Victorian or Edwardian periods. The ground floor has
a Louis XVI flavour, but the first floor is neo-Adam with
attenuated festoons, fans and paterae all but smothering an
early nineteenth-century cornice and ceiling rose. The
staircase, however, survives from the 1820's with cast-iron
lotus-patterned balusters.
Occupants include: Col. William Henry Meyrick, 1823–45.
Marquess of Worcester, latterly 8th Duke of Beaufort, 1846–55.
5th Earl of Airlie, 1856–60. Edwin John James, Q.C., M.P.,
1860–1 (in 1861 he was disbarred, the first Q.C. to obtain 'this
infamous pre-eminence', and emigrated to the United States).
Chandos Wren-Hoskyns, agricultural writer, 1863–6. Maj. E. A.
Cook, 1869–72: his wid., 1872–7, and her 2nd husband, Lord
George Charles Gordon-Lennox, son of 5th Duke of Richmond,
1875–7. Charles James Murray, M.P., 1879–1900. (Sir) Robert
Ludwig Mond, chemist, industrialist and archaeologist, later kt.,
1901–8.
No. 28
No. 28 (Plate 17a, 17b) was built in 1821–2 by Thomas
Cubitt under the circumstances described above. The first
occupant, Henry Powell Collins, purchased the house
from Cubitt for £6,500. (ref. 32)
The attractive shop front shown on Plate 17a was
inserted in 1929 by the Central Joinery Company of
Kilburn for a printseller, (ref. 33) but its Gothick tracery has since
been removed. Otherwise the façade has been relatively
little altered apart from the addition of a plain railing above
the parapet and shutters to the windows. The brickwork,
however, has been tuck pointed and crudely painted red.
The original iron railings survive at each side of the
building. Inside, much of Cubitt's work remains, mainly in
its original state, with anthemion-patterned friezes and a
plain toplit staircase having cantilevered stone steps and an
austere cast-iron balustrade.
Occupants include: Henry Powell Collins, sometime M.P.,
1823–9. Sir John Benn Walsh, 2nd bt., latterly 1st Baron
Ormathwaite, 1830–81: his son, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite,
1881–4. Lord Archibald St. Maur, latterly 13th Duke of
Somerset, 1883–91: his brother, 14th Duke of Somerset, 1891–4:
the latter's twin sons, Lord Percy St. Maur, 1894–1907, and Lord
Ernest St. Maur, 1894–1920 (intermittently).
No. 29 (demolished).
With a frontage of fifty-five feet,
this was the largest of the four houses which were built on
the north side of Berkeley Square in 1821–4 (see above).
The building lessee was Paul Beilby Thompson, later first
Baron Wenlock. (ref. 34)
The Morning Post reported on the notable social
gatherings which were soon held in the house, Mrs. Beilby
Thompson's first rout taking place in May 1824. In 1829,
when describing a ball which had been held there, the
paper commented that, 'The house possesses all the
requisites for entertaining a numerous circle, it having
suites of spacious apartments above and below. The
decorations of the walls, their gilding and furniture, may
be said to vie with the most far-famed dwellings of the rich
and great … . There were eight rooms illuminated in the
most resplendent style; also the grand staircase, the
gallery, or corridor. The inner hall was decorated with
flowering shrubs.' (ref. 35)
In 1882 the seventh Duke of Marlborough purchased
the house and made a number of alterations and additions,
including the erection of a partially enclosed portico with a
verandah above (Plate 17a). The builders were Macey and
Sons. (ref. 36) The Duke had little time to enjoy his new London
house, however, for he died there on 5 July 1883.
In 1940 the house was largely destroyed by bombing
and the remains had to be pulled down.
Occupants include: Paul Beilby Thompson, M.P., latterly 1st
Baron Wenlock, 1824–52: his wid., 1852–68: their son, 2nd
Baron Wenlock, 1860–80: his son, 3rd Baron Wenlock, 1880–2.
7th Duke of Marlborough, 1882–3. Albert Brassey, M.P., son of
Thomas Brassey, the railway contractor, 1883–1918: his wid.,
1918–40.
No. 30 (demolished).
This house (Plate 17a), formerly
situated at the corner of Berkeley Square and Davies
Street, was built by Thomas Cubitt in 1821–4 in the
circumstances described above. Cubitt sold the house to
John Frederick Pinney, whose wealth was derived from
sugar plantations in the West Indies and a West-India
merchant's business. (ref. 37) It survived in a virtually unaltered
state externally until destroyed by bombing in 1940.
Occupants include: John Frederick Pinney, 1824–45: his son,
Col. William Pinney, M.P., 1845–98: the latter's brother-in-law,
Sir John James Smith, 3rd bt., also here 1854–62, and latter's
wid., 1862–95.
Alcan House: Nos. 30–31 Berkeley Square
Alcan House: Nos. 30–31 Berkeley Square, which
replaced the war-damaged Nos. 29 and 30 Berkeley
Square, was built in 1955–8 by F. G. Minter to the designs
of Gunton and Gunton. It is a conventional neo-Georgian
office block in red brick above a stone ground floor. (ref. 38)
Nos. 33 and 34
Nos. 33 and 34 see pages 319 and 329.
No. 35.
The freehold of this house was purchased by the
Grosvenor Estate Trustees in 1926, but when built it stood
on the Berkeley estate and its history will be described in a
later volume covering that estate.