East Side
No. 9
No. 9 (Plates 77c, 78b, 79c, figs. 66–7: see also fig. 6a in vol.
XXXIX). This is the first of a group of eight good houses
between Hill Street and South Street, built in the late
1730's and all more or less surviving. John Eds, carpenter,
agreed in 1736 to take the site of Nos. 9–11, and No. 9 at
the corner with Hill Street was leased in 1738 to John
Blagrave, carpenter, by consent of Eds and Roger Blagrave
(lessee of Nos. 10, 14, 15 and 16), followed a little later by
the plot behind it stretching through to Union (now
Waverton) Street. In 1739–40 the house and back
buildings passed to their first occupant, Susannah
Jennings. (ref. 5)
The fronts of Nos. 9 and 10 indicate that they were built
as a pair of narrow two-bay houses, with matching
windows and cornices and four original full storeys above
ground (Plate 77c). Though both have kept their character
very well, No. 9 has seen the greater changes. Originally
the entrance was in South Audley Street next to No. 10. (ref. 6)
The house's most striking feature, a three-storey projection overhanging the pavement in Hill Street and
carried on plain stone columns, may be an early addition
made after Hill Street was laid out in c. 1744, and perhaps
the result of repairs recorded in 1754, when the rateable
value increased pronouncedly. (ref. 1) But the entrance remained
in South Audley Street until the nineteenth century.
Within, the house's Georgian character is well preserved. There is a single central stair between front and
back rooms with good wrought ironwork to the balustrade
(fig. 6a in vol. XXXIX). Several of the rooms retain old
panelling, notably at the back, where the bow is original
through all the main storeys except for the topmost.
The finest room here is at ground level, where the ceiling
displays the ornamental plasterwork typical of this group
of houses (Plate 79c). A wooden fireplace featuring a
winged eagle was stolen from this room in 1975, but has
been replaced with another Georgian chimneypiece.
The entrance was moved to its present position under
the projection in Hill Street some time between 1828 and
1872: (ref. 7) a possible date is 1855, when William Cubitt and
Company made changes here. (ref. 8) Further alterations and
additions, perhaps including the attics, were undertaken
by another firm of builders, Colls and Sons, in 1873. (ref. 9)
Thereafter the house's history seems to have been
uneventful until it fell out of lease in 1928, except for the
separation and demolition of the stabling in 1914 to add to
the South Street garden. (ref. 10) In 1930 the second Duke of
Westminster proposed that it should be made available to
Gabrielle ('Coco') Chanel, who was chiefly to use the
house for the business of her cosmetics firm. Works to the
value of £8, 764 were directly undertaken by the Estate
under the superintendence of G. A. Codd, the firm of
Trollope and Sons being the main contractors and
decorators. Despite her rent-free accommodation, Chanel
kept the house only until 1934. (ref. 11) Next year the house
passed to Humphrey Minto Wilson, who employed
Lenygon and Morant to make changes. (ref. 12) The present neo-Georgian aspect of the outer hall, ground-floor front room
and several upper rooms could be due to the works either
of 1930–1 or of 1935.
Occupants include: Capt. David Brodie, R.N., 1755–67. Sir
Simeon Stuart, M.P., 3rd bt., 1767–78. Sir George Paul, 2nd bt.,
1778–80. Dow. Lady de Clifford, wid. of 20th Lord Clifford,
1802–28. 3rd Earl of Ashburnham, 1830. Edward Stafford
Jerningham, son of 8th Baron Stafford, 1831–49.
No. 10
No. 10 is a pleasant, small Georgian house not now very
different from when first leased to Roger Blagrave,
carpenter, in 1738 (ref. 13) (Plates 77c, 78). It was essentially
similar in front and plan to No. 9, but possessed no stabling
behind. There is a central staircase of stone with a
surviving wrought-iron balustrade (fig. 6b in vol. XXXIX),
and Georgian panelling remains in several rooms. The
ground-floor rear room has a door from the hall
surmounted by a broken pediment and a good ornamental
ceiling in plaster. The rear wall, unlike at No. 9, is flat but
incorporates a carefully designed pattern of fenestration
(Plate 78b).
A paucity of documentary evidence on the later history
of No. 10 is redeemed by a fascinating set of pencil
drawings made in 1813 by John Buckler for a new owner,
the antiquary Thomas Lister Parker (ref. 14) (Plate 78). These
show that by then the entrance had a fanlight and opened
directly into the ground-floor front room; the rear room
(as now, the only room to have an ornamental ceiling)
served as a dining-room. Above the hall was Parker's
library, decorated in an up-to-date taste with red walls and
'gray cloth' on the floor. Behind this was a single drawingroom.
Works of 1871 and 1877 may have included the lowering
of the first-floor windows, but the roof was probably not
raised until 1933. (ref. 15) Part of the garden was taken from the
house in 1914 in order to be added to the proposed South
Street garden. (ref. 16)
Occupants include: Thomas Lister Parker, antiquary,
1812–17. Henry Hake Seward, architect, 1826–48. Gen. (Sir)
George Cadogan, son of 3rd Earl Cadogan, later K.C.B., 1855–9.
Lord Arthur Russell, grandson of 6th Duke of Bedford, 1869–76.
Maj.-gen. Inigo Richmund Jones, 1880–1914.
Figure 66:
No. 9 South Audley Street, plans in 1974
Figure 67:
No. 9 South Audley Street, section in 1974
No. 11
No. 11 is now one of the less interesting houses in this
sequence (Plates 77b, 78b). It was leased in 1737 by
consent of John Eds, carpenter, to the first occupant,
George Thwaits, gentleman, who also took some of the
back premises but sub-let them separately. (ref. 17) The house
may have been grouped with Nos. 9 and 10; if so, it was
rebuilt with lower storey heights following a disastrous fire
in 1769. According to Lady Mary Coke, who was dining
opposite at the time and viewed the conflagration, the
house was 'intirely destroy'd' and the occupants 'lost
almost everything'. (ref. 18)
Whatever the scale of subsequent reconstruction, the
plan probably followed that of the previous house, as the
stair is centrally placed and portions suggest it may have
been the original one. Apart from this, few features predate the granting of a long lease to John Balls, cabinetmaker, in 1826. (ref. 19) Balls most likely made substantial
internal alterations before parting with the house. A festive
verandah on the front at first-floor level had existed in 1813
but was replaced or extended in 1864. (ref. 20) An important set of
works occurred when the builder John Garlick took No. 11
in 1899 and added a storey. (ref. 21) In 1914 the back premises
were curtailed for the benefit of the South Street garden
behind. (ref. 22) Since 1945 the verandah has been removed, the
present state of the interior being largely due to a scheme of
alterations carried out by Peter Wood and Partners,
architects, in 1975–6. (ref. 23)
Occupants include: (Sir) Thomas Frankland, M.P., later 6th
bt., 1775–7. Edward Utterson, literary antiquary, 1820–5. Lady
Frances Somerset, da. of 5th Duke of Beaufort, 1830–41. Maj.gen. Samuel Lambert, 1842–6. George Skene Duff, M.P.,
1854–9. George De Grey, son of 4th Baron Walsingham,
1860–71. Maria Louise Carleton, grand-da. of 1st and sister of
4th Baron Dorchester, 1873–98. 3rd Earl Cowley, 1900–5. Maj.gen. Sir Henry Bushman, K.C.B., 1908–20.
No. 12
No. 12 is the larger of two houses agreed for in 1736 by
William Singleton, plasterer, and leased to him in 1737. (ref. 24)
Singleton was a local figure of whom little is known, but on
account of the fine plasterwork in Nos. 12 and 13 and other
houses hereabouts some interest attaches to his name.
From 1738 he was living in a house in Union (now
Waverton) Street, behind Nos. 12 and 13, and at his death
in 1756 he held leases of property in Chapel (now Aldford)
Street and Mount Street. (ref. 25) At No. 12 Singleton soon
disposed of his interest to the first occupant, James
Lumley, M.P. In 1756 Isaac Ware was to publish a
chimneypiece designed for Lumley's house in South
Audley Street, but this probably refers not to No. 12 but to
No. 8 (not on the Grosvenor estate), whither Lumley
moved in 1744. (ref. 26)
Despite frequent alterations inside and out, the house is
an interesting one. Though stuccoed, and enriched with a
first-floor balcony, window dressings and new cornice, and
subsequently heightened, the front still shares with No. 13
some quaint original rustication around the ground-floor
windows (Plate 77a, 77b). Of early interior work the
outstanding survivals are the ceilings of the two main
ground-floor rooms, which are ornamented in the local,
luscious style of plasterwork. The front room has an
octagonal centrepiece and border motifs with baskets of
fruit and Roman heads, whereas the ceiling behind
incorporates embracing cherubs in the centre with putti,
antique heads, birds and flora in the surrounding panels
(Plate 79a, 79b: see also fig. 5a in vol. XXXIX).
Old features remain in some other rooms, notably a
cornice in the back room on the first floor. But the present
hall and stair suggest that a front-compartment staircase
may have been removed at quite an early date. According
to Lady Mary Coke, No. 12 'suffer'd a good deal' in the fire
of 1769 which virtually destroyed No. 11. (ref. 18) The first-floor
drawing-room, which would not have enjoyed its present
breadth if a front-compartment stair existed, certainly now
presents a mid-Georgian appearance consonant with a
reconstruction of the 1770's. It may be added that at the
time of the fire No. 12 belonged to the third Duke of
Atholl. According to an inventory there were then both
front and back stairs, the former in stone, and apparently
only two main rooms on each storey. The dining parlour
on the ground floor had '2 Figures on the Chimneypiece',
and there was at the same level already a 'Water Closset',
thoughtfully equipped inter alia with a cedar bookcase, a
bow and two arrows, two state swords, two foils, a powder
cask, and a 'flower pott'. (ref. 27)
Later evidence hardly helps to interpret the appearance
of the house today. The insertion of the present plain stone
stair and balustrade, remodelling of the hall, and stuccoing
of the front perhaps date from 1848, when the builder John
Newson made an addition. (ref. 28) But in 1876–7 another
builder, Charles Fish, bought the house and stables and
also made major changes, probably mainly at the back. (ref. 29)
Further alterations in 1883, 1890 and 1892 (including the
slight lengthening of the ground-floor back room) did not
deter the estate surveyor, Edmund Wimperis, from
condemning No. 12 in 1913 as 'a very bad old house and
worn out'. (ref. 30) Much of the garden and rear premises, which
as with other houses in this range did not extend right
through to Waverton Street, was then cut off for the
formation of the South Street garden. In 1954 the house
was thoroughly overhauled by W. Turner Lord, decorators, on behalf of (Sir) James Harman. They installed
a lift, paved the hall, and fixed new fireplaces in all the
reception rooms. (ref. 31)
Occupants include: James Lumley, M.P., son of 1st Earl of
Scarbrough, 1740–4. Julines Beckford, brother of William
Beckford, 1744–5. Viscount Petersham, M.P., later 2nd Earl of
Harrington, 1747–8. Rear-adm. (Sir) Charles Knowles, later 1st
bt., 1750–1. John Murray, latterly 3rd Duke of Atholl, 1763–70.
Thomas Bradshaw, M.P., 1770–4. Keith Stewart, M.P., son of
6th Earl of Galloway, 1774–8. Lieut.-gen. James Johnston,
1778–97. Lieut.-gen. Edward Pery Buckley, M.P., 1844–73.
Gen. Sir Charles Ellice, K.C.B., 1878–82. 1st Baron Gerard,
1883.
No. 13
No. 13, leased to William Singleton, plasterer, in
1736 and assigned to Sir John Buckworth a year later, is a
smaller house than its companion No. 12. (ref. 32) But it retains a
front which, though painted, has not been much altered
except for the unfortunate removal of the cornice (Plate
77a: see also fig. 2d in vol. XXXIX). With its rusticated
ground-floor openings, its bandcourse and stringcourse,
and, rising from the latter, its dressed and unlengthened
first-floor windows, it still adheres to a more Palladian type
than did most of the street architecture on the estate and,
for example, the former No. 70 across the road.
Within, the plan originally followed the pattern of
narrow-fronted Georgian houses in having a stair between
front and back rooms. But, perhaps in 1928, parts of the
house, probably including the ground-floor rear room and
most of the basement, were taken into No. 14, so obscuring
the old arrangement. (ref. 33) Photographs taken in 1948 show
that rich plasterwork still then survived in the ceiling of
this back room (Plate 79d); more unusually, there were
also plaster panels including a bust in relief set in a
medallion on the wall of the stair between the first and
second floors (Plate 9c in vol. XXXIX). All traces of these
decorations have now disappeared, perhaps in about 1953,
and the only remnants of early work that remain are a
plaster vault to the hall carried on large consoles and the
woodwork of the upper parts of the stair.
Of the history of No. 13 there is little to say. In 1825
Richard Westmacott the sculptor, who lived at No. 14,
took a lease of the house but never occupied it himself;
£1,031 was deducted from the sum owed in consideration
of bills due to Westmacott from Lord Grosvenor. (ref. 34) Later
additions are insignificant except for the raising of the
attics in 1909. (ref. 35)
Occupants include: Sir John Buckworth, 2nd bt., M.P.,
1737–41. Lady Betty Montagu, 1741–2, and Lady Babb
Montagu, 1744–8, da.'s of 1st Earl of Halifax. William Woodley,
M.P., and Governor of Leeward Islands, 1767–72. Sir John
Gresham, 6th bt., 1772–6. Thomas Steele, M.P., 1785–6. Maj.gen. Anthony St. Leger, 1786. Frederick Byng, son of 5th
Viscount Torrington, 1826–30. Charles Edward PoulettThomson, M.P., latterly Governor General of Canada and Baron
Sydenham, 1835–41: his brother, George Poulett Scrope, M.P.,
1843–7. Sir Hyde Parker, 8th bt., 1848–51. 2nd Baron Forester,
1852–7. Capt. Douglas William Labalmondiere, Assistant
Commissioner, Metropolitan Police, 1858–78. Sir William Eden,
7th bt., 1887. 2nd Viscount Tredegar, 1936–46.
No. 14
No. 14, the largest house in this range between Hill
Street and South Street, despite heavy alteration possesses
some distinction in history and appearance. Leased in 1736
to Roger Blagrave, carpenter, it was thirty-four feet wide
and, uniquely among these houses, retained the full depth
through to Union Street, so allowing substantial back
buildings and stabling. (ref. 36) Though these have now disappeared, No. 14 itself has kept its basic early-Georgian
character. The elevation has been raised and recently
stuccoed (Plate 77a), but the old plan still remains with its
front-compartment staircase and secondary stair behind.
The back stair displays its original woodwork throughout
and the front stair, though now having a later iron
balustrade of S-shaped form, retains a good plaster ceiling.
There is also an ornamental ceiling on the ground floor in
the front room, with a central head of Apollo and other
busts in the margins. In the rear room and higher up on the
second floor, much Georgian panelling still survives.
In 1747 the house was sold to the first Lord Galway but
soon passed swiftly to Admiral Edward Boscawen. (ref. 37) The
surviving letters of his wife Fanny, who was to live here for
over fifty years, reveal much about No. 14 and its district.
In 1747–8 she was busy choosing papers from Thomas
Bromwich and china ornaments for the chimneypieces and
furnishings, repaving the street over the vaults 'with broad
stones' and imploring her husband (then on service
abroad) to bring back carpets, matting and muslins. (ref. 38) 'I am
extremely well satisfied with my house and grow more and
more settled in it every day', she wrote in 1748, and to
another correspondent: 'Taste I always pretended to and
must own I shall be greatly disappointed if you do not
approve that which I have displayed in Audley Street'. (ref. 39)
Between 1755 and Boscawen's death in 1761 No. 14 was
sublet. (ref. 1) After his widow's return in about 1764 she seems
to have been much troubled in summer by heat, dust and
noise, speaking once of her street as 'the most horrid place
imaginable', and frequently took refuge in her well-tended
garden. Having apparently made alterations in 1779 and
1791, Mrs. Boscawen remained at No. 14 until her death in
1805. (ref. 40)
In 1818 the sculptor (Sir) Richard Westmacott, having
outgrown his premises in Mount Street nearby, bought
No. 14, doubtless because it combined good residential
accommodation with extensive space at the back for
workshops. He did not however control all these premises,
as there were two small houses facing Union Street divided
by a passage leading to the stables; these houses were
assigned to Westmacott in 1829 but continued to have subtenants. (ref. 41) Westmacott almost certainly undertook major
alterations involving encroachment on the garden. In 1823
he asked for permission to 'disturb his casting pit'. (ref. 42) The
offices and stabling were enlarged at about this time,
presumably to fit them for the needs of his business, while
immediately behind the house a broad toplit corridor
leading to a single-storey room was added. These in part
survive and perhaps functioned as studio and gallery. The
present iron balconies on the front probably also date from
Westmacott's time.
The 'wing buildings' together with the basements were
apparently much rebuilt about fifteen years after
Westmacott's death in 1856, and the house continued to be
well tenanted, though the outbuildings were becoming
dilapidated. (ref. 43) In 1914, when the South Street garden was
formed, not only were these back premises removed but a
small part of the house itself had to be demolished. (ref. 44) But
the rear wing essentially remained and was one of the chief
objects of alteration in 1922–3, when Sydney E. Castle
(architect) and Head and Thurlow (builders) undertook
major works for Captain D. S. P. Howard. A wall was cut
away to make one large reception room with new windows
at the back; bay windows were thrown out from the
corridor and the first-floor back room, the entrance hall
was repaved, a lift installed and a storey and a very
inappropriate brick porch added. Much of this work was
undertaken in a self-conscious, vernacular taste. (ref. 45) In 1928
part of No. 13, probably including its back room on the
ground floor, seems to have been added to No. 14. This
room is now featureless, having in about 1953 lost its fine
plasterwork ceiling. Other alterations here and in the
adjoining wing area of No. 14 have been made in the past
thirty years, perhaps chiefly in 1952–3, the surprisingly
late date at which the front elevation appears to have been
stuccoed. (ref. 46)
Occupants include: Adm. Edward Boscawen, 1747–55. 3rd
Earl of Tankerville, 1755–62. 'Earl of Kinmare',? Thomas
Browne, 4th titular Viscount Kenmare, 1762–4. Mrs. Frances
Boscawen, wid. of Adm. Boscawen, 1764–1805. Adm. George
Cranfield Berkeley, 1813–14, 1817–18. (Sir) Richard Westmacott, latterly kt., sculptor, 1818–56. Edward Frederic
Leveson-Gower, M.P., son of 1st Earl Granville, 1864–1906.
Capt. D. S. P. Howard, M.P., latterly 3rd Baron Strathcona and
Mount Royal, 1922–41.
No. 15
No. 15 was leased in 1736 to Roger Blagrave, carpenter,
and soon afterwards occupied. (ref. 47) It was perhaps built
together with No. 14, as the cornices align (Plate 77a), but
its history is obscurer. Having a frontage of three windows'
width but no full depth of plot, it was compensated in the
original lease with a return front on part of the ground now
occupied by No. 38 South Street, where stables were built.
In 1790 No. 15 itself was said in a notice of auction to
possess two good rooms on each floor, a stone staircase and
a detached kitchen, wash house and laundry. (ref. 48)
In 1831–2 the lease was renewed to John Feetham, a
speculator then much concerned with the properties
opposite at Nos. 72–74 South Audley Street. Feetham
curtailed the house, building new stables still extant and
currently numbered No. 32 South Street on part of the
back premises; these he let to Lord Cawdor of No. 74
South Audley Street. (ref. 49) The front was perhaps stuccoed at
this time, but a portico and balcony erected in 1867 have
been removed, perhaps in 1924. (ref. 50) A top storey may also
have been added in 1867 (it was there in 1892) and the front
otherwise elaborated. As for the interior, works were
undertaken by the builder John Garlick and the purchaser
from him, E. H. Cunard, in 1900–01. (ref. 51) A later occupant,
Countess Zborowski, seems in 1904 to have indulged in
some lavishly Edwardian expenditure. She failed at the
end of her lease in 1914 to reinstate the chimneypieces she
had removed, but some of the features were perhaps put
back soon afterwards. The house narrowly escaped
demolition when the South Street garden was laid out. (ref. 52)
Occupants include: Frederick Cornwallis, Bishop of Lichfield
and Coventry, later Archbishop of Canterbury, 1750–67. Baptist
Leveson-Gower, son of 1st Baron Gower, 1773–6. William
Sturges-Bourne, M.P., 1819–31. Adm. Henry Raper, 1832–45.
Rear-adm. Sir Thomas Hastings, kt., 1845–60. Rev. Annesley
Gore, son of 3rd Earl of Arran, 1869–77. Ernest Haliburton
Cunard, director of Cunard Steam Ship Co., 1901–3. Countess
Zborowski, 1904–13. Frank Whiteley, 'formerly in the ivory and
ostrich feather trade', Mayor of Mafeking during the siege,
1914–17. 3rd Earl of Kimberley, 1937–41.
No. 16
No. 16, a small corner house with a return frontage to
South Street, was leased to Roger Blagrave, carpenter, in
1736 and first occupied by a chandler. (ref. 53) It was therefore a
shop and so remained until 1900 (see Plate 86a), though in
the later nineteenth century the upper parts of the house
were separately and quite fashionably tenanted. (ref. 54) In 1900,
however, the whole house was converted to private use and
a Mr. Rhodes fathered a scheme of conversion, with
Garlick and Horton as builders. (ref. 55) Shortly afterwards in
1903, some leaded windows were inserted and the door was
altered. Other such temporarily fashionable accretions
have since appeared on the fronts, while others have
disappeared. (ref. 56) The interior retains few traces of Georgian
work. Nevertheless the house is still the original one and
has not been heightened (Plate 77a).
Nos. 17–22 (consec.).
This large and arresting pile
ranks among the finest and best-preserved Victorian
commercial premises in London (Plate 86: see also Plates
32, 33a, 33b, figs. 19, 23a, b in vol. XXXIX). In essentials it is
due to reconstruction carried out between 1875 and 1891
for the firm of Thomas Goode and Company, china and
glass merchants, to designs by Ernest George and Peto.
Thomas Goode (1794–1870) moved from a china shop
in Mill Street, Hanover Square, to South Audley Street in
1844, where he took No. 19, promptly making an
addition. (ref. 57) At this time the range between South Street
and Chapel Place South still consisted of plain, small
buildings, leased in 1730 to the consortium that also
undertook the erection of the Grosvenor Chapel. (ref. 58) The
ground floors were chiefly in commercial use, but Edward
Martin Foxhall, district surveyor to the parish, inhabited
No. 18 between 1828 and 1861. (ref. 59)
Goode's fashionable trade fast enlarged, especially after
he was joined by his son William James Goode (1831–92).
After Foxhall's death they took No. 18, and soon
afterwards expanded into adjacent buildings on the north
side of South Street. (ref. 60) The trend continued after the elder
Goode's death, and in 1875 W. J. Goode began petitioning
for a new lease of his premises, all of which he held as an
under-tenant. So far as can be seen, Goode wished at this
stage merely to improve the fronts, but in view of the
complexity of the sites the Grosvenor Board made no
promises. (ref. 61)
Soon, however, the first Duke took an interest in his
case. In June 1875 Goode submitted an elevation that was
rejected, but was told he might receive a new lease 'if he
will build the front of the house … of red brick and terra
cotta and of a design to be submitted to and approved of by
the Duke, at an extra outlay'; with this went further
advice that he should 'see the house which the Duke
refers to in South Kensington'. This front was duly used as
a 'model' for a new design, which the Duke quickly
approved and admired. (ref. 62) Whatever the identity of this
model (J. J. Stevenson's No. 8 Palace Gate seems the most
likely candidate), the Duke plainly himself steered Goode
and his architect towards a red-brick front in the fledgling
Queen Anne style. At what exact point Ernest George was
chosen architect is not clear, but none of his previous
buildings had been in the full Queen Anne manner he was
to adopt at Goodes and so often thereafter.
At first the reconstruction was scheduled to take in only
Nos. 18 and 19. But in July 1875 Goode also acquired No.
17 at the corner with South Street, purposing in time to
rebuild this site also. George's design, with two equal
gables over Nos. 18 and 19, was amended to allow for an
addition at this end with a lower gable. The contractors
Manley and Rogers executed Nos. 18 and 19 in 1875–6,
but before it was entirely finished Goode was able to get
possession of No. 17, where the afterthought was duly
built on in 1876. (ref. 63)
The original conception of Nos. 18 and 19, with double
gables, a central entrance to the shop incorporating a self-opening door (still extant) and another door on one side
leading to flats above, is typical of the slight asymmetries
beloved of Queen Anne architects (fig. 19 in vol. XXXIX).
This emphasis was diffused by the addition of No. 17,
which in compensation was more richly decorated, notably
with a series of cut-brick reliefs and ornaments carved by
Harry Hems on the return front towards South Street
(Plates 32, 33a in vol. XXXIX). In detail the whole building
adheres faithfully to picturesque ideals, featuring prominent roofs, tile-hanging on the flanks of the gables,
exaggerated chimneys (one ornamented with sunflowers)
and frail wrought ironwork. The Building News adds: 'all
the walls are built in cement, the brickwork being finished
with a struck joint, as it was built. None of the work is
gauged, and a fair width of joint is allowed to show through
the carved panels as elsewhere. The window sashes and
frames are finished white… . The woodwork of the ground
floor is ebonised, and this with the red granite makes a
setting for the ceramic wares for which Messrs. Goode are
known.' (ref. 64) One surprising but apparently original feature is
the blank arcade facing South Street behind No. 17, in
stucco rather than brick and displaying ornamental tiles on
the piers. Within, parts of the upper floors suggest that the
rebuilding of 1875–6 was not a complete one. But the
ground-floor showrooms are replete with the motifs of
contemporary aestheticism. Several piers are decorated
with Minton Hollins tiles, (fn. a) and one remarkable room is
intact, with leather paper on the walls, a fine painted frieze
incorporating birds, and some mellow panels of secular
stained glass.
After Nos. 17–19 were completed W. J. Goode continued to make changes behind the front, particularly in
1880–2. (ref. 65) In a bid for further premises he in 1886–7
considered building either on the opposite side of South
Audley Street or further south, at No. 16. (ref. 66) In 1889 he
negotiated instead for expansion northwards on to the site
of Nos. 20 and 21, 'in order to exhibit goods immediately
after the French Exhibition'. Providing that the tenant of
No. 22 could be satisfied, the Duke promised Goodes the
whole frontage up to a widened Chapel Place South, as it
was then contemplated to rebuild the Grosvenor Chapel
and open out its surroundings. Goode therefore had his
way, and after some delays due to difficulties with the
London County Council over the nature of the proposed
fireproof flooring, in 1889–91 A. Bush and Sons built a
large extension by George and Peto. (ref. 67)
The extension closely follows the Queen Anne style of
the original, with one broad gable facing west towards
South Audley Street, and one facing north towards the
chapel, and similar walling, ironwork, and shop fronts
divided by columns of red granite (Plate 86a). The external
detailing is however simpler and the style of the main
showrooms themselves chaster, having round-arched
openings and, originally, painted figures in the spandrels
(Plate 86b). Possibly these interiors were decorated by
Liberty and Company, who made changes for Goodes
towards South Street at this time. (ref. 68) The upper floors were
also differently treated, for they were devoted to one
expansive and cleverly planned house, No. 22 South
Audley Street. In 1902–3 Detmar Blow, architect,
undertook alterations here in a neo-Georgian taste for John
Gordon, with Patman and Fotheringham as builders and
Keeble Brothers as decorators. The structural work was
not extensive, but other changes were made for the
Gordons in 1905–6 and 1908. (ref. 69)
Among later changes at Goodes itself was an extensive
set of alterations made by the architects Balfour and
Turner behind No. 37 South Street, in 1907–8; an unusual
stained-glass window in the rear of the shop may date from
this time. (ref. 70) Small additions were made in 1911, 1928 and
1932, all (like those of 1907–8) by the local builders
Haywood Brothers. (ref. 71)
No. 23
No. 23, at the east end of the short cul-de-sac between
Goodes and the Grosvenor Chapel formerly named
Chapel Place South, stands on land once disputed but now
agreed not to be part of the Grosvenor estate. A building
was perhaps first erected here in the early nineteenth
century: a two-storey house with a pediment is shown in a
drawing of 1830 (Plate 12b in vol. XXXIX). In 1889, when
the Estate first claimed possession, it was called No. 5
Chapel Place South and it was described soon afterwards
as a 'small red house'. Its proximity to the Grosvenor
Chapel was one of the factors that prevented a rebuilding
of the chapel at this time. (ref. 72)
The house's present appearance is due entirely to the
Countess of Denbigh, the American second wife of the
ninth Earl. Alterations were made in 1923 before the
Denbighs moved in, and in 1926–8 further changes
including an extra storey were made under the directions
variously of W. J. Price, architect, and Victor Wilkins,
architect. (ref. 73)
Figure 68:
Grosvenor Chapel, longitudinal and cross sections as built. Pews in nave and font as altered in nineteenth century
The Grosvenor Chapel
The Grosvenor Chapel (Plate 76, figs. 68–70: see also
Plate 12b, fig. 7 in vol. XXXIX). A site for a chapel on the east
side of South Audley Street, opposite Chapel Street, had
been provisionally settled as early as 1723, when John
Mackay made his map showing the layout of the
Grosvenor estate. In that year, Sir Richard Grosvenor sold
an acre and a half to the south of Mount Street for use as a
burial ground for the new parish of St. George, Hanover
Square; the projected chapel was presumably conceived as
a natural adjunct to this, though it was to have been sited to
the south of the burial ground, not the west.
The proposal did not come forward until 1729, when a
committee of the Vestry was appointed to look into the
matter. But by an oversight on the part of the rector of St.
George's, Sir Richard Grosvenor was able in April 1730 to
conclude an agreement with four builder-proprietors,
whereby they would erect a chapel under a long lease,
while he would retain the freehold; and this meant that the
vaults of the chapel could not be used for burials. By this
agreement Benjamin Timbrell and Robert Scott, carpenters, William Barlow senior, bricklayer, and Robert
Andrews, Sir Richard's lawyer and agent, agreed in return
for low ground rents of adjacent properties to take a
ninety-nine-year lease of the present site, and spend at
least £4,000 on building a brick chapel with tower, steeple,
portico, and internal galleries. Other minor stipulations
were made in the agreement, and drawings which accord
roughly with what was built were attached. The preamble
made clear that both landlords and undertakers saw the
chapel as a commercial proposition, which would derive its
income from pew-rents and by serving the local residents
would encourage other building. (ref. 74)
Figure 69:
Grosvenor Chapel, plan
The foundation stone was laid by Sir Richard Grosvenor on 7 April 1730. (ref. 75) Building went speedily ahead, and
the chapel was finished in about a year. By this time an
accommodation with the Vestry had been reached,
whereby in return for £500 Sir Richard Grosvenor agreed
to grant to the rector and churchwardens the immediate
freehold of the vaults and the yard between the chapel and
the burial ground, and the freehold reversion of the chapel
building once the leasehold term had expired; he also gave
up the annual ground rent of £20 due to him from the
chapel's proprietors. Two ministers having been appointed, the rector was requested in April 1731 to open the
chapel, and the new arrangement was regularized in fresh
deeds of the following year. (ref. 76) Of the four original
undertakers William Barlow died in 1743, his share passing
to his son John, and in 1751 Timbrell, Scott and John
Barlow disposed of their interest to Robert Andrews. (ref. 77)
The later presence of a Reverend Mr. Andrews as a
minister until 1793 suggests that the Andrews family
retained their interest in the chapel for many years. (ref. 1)
In attributing the design of the Grosvenor Chapel, there
is no need to go beyond the best known of the four original
undertakers. It bears telling resemblances to St. Peter's,
Vere Street (originally the Oxford Chapel), for the
construction of which Benjamin Timbrell had been largely
responsible under James Gibbs in 1723. (ref. 78) The Grosvenor
Chapel represents a cruder version of the same type of
design, entirely consistent with the work of a capable
master builder.
The west fronts of the two chapels were originally very
similar. As first built, the Grosvenor Chapel had a
substantial pedimented portico like that of St. Peter's, with
windows left and right. Above, the roof line made two sides
of a massive triangular pediment, here (unlike St. Peter's)
brusquely interrupted by the lower stages of the tower. In
execution, this tower's upper stage was altered from a
Baroque cupola to a rather heavy-handed steeple (Plate
76a, 76b: see also Plate 12b, fig. 7 in vol. XXXIX). The sides of
the Grosvenor Chapel had similar fenestration to that of
St. Peter's, before stucco surrounds were added.
The general dispositions of the two interiors also
conform. Both buildings have segmentally arched nave
ceilings and simple cross-vaults in plaster over the
galleried aisles (Plate 76c, 76d), but at St. Peter's there is an
arcade of full Corinthian columns which helps to unify the
design. At the Grosvenor Chapel the galleries project well
forward, dividing the supports into square piers below and
modest Ionic columns above, upon which rests a
continuous entablature effectively dividing off nave and
aisles. At the east end is a shallow chancel with a single,
broad window and some more elaborate plasterwork in the
ceiling. A substantial pulpit (of which only part survives),
originally centrally placed, must have masked much of the
altar rails, altar and reredos (fig. 70). To the north and
south of the chancel there were once just two small rooms,
accessible from the ends of the aisles. In the body of the
chapel were pews of the old, high type, since cut down.
The west gallery at first had two levels, in the higher of
which stood the fine organ made by Abraham Jordan and
given in 1732 by Sir Richard Grosvenor. (ref. 79) At either end of
the lobby are two original stone staircases to the gallery.
The eighteenth-century history of the Grosvenor
Chapel remains obscure and was probably not eventful.
The most significant addition to the building was the
elegant marble font on its slim, fluted pedestal, probably
installed in about 1790. A number of pleasant memorials
dotted about the walls (some, like Flaxman's tablet to
Wilkes, 'A Friend of Liberty', commemorating the
famous) indicate that the proprietors were successful in
luring local fashionables to the services; but it must be
remembered that the chapel functioned partly as a burial
place for the parish church.
In 1828 the Grosvenor Chapel, evidently in a poor state
of repair, was pilloried by John Britton as 'one of the most
hideous chapels in the Metropolis' and contrasted
unfavourably with the new church of St. Mark, North
Audley Street. (ref. 80) In the following year, the freehold
ownership reverted to the parish on the expiry of the
original lease, and a committee of the Vestry was appointed
to right matters. The local builder and architect William
Skeat proceeded in 1829–30 with £2,850 of repairs, done
'in a plain and simple architectural Style' under the partial
superintendence of a Mr. Abrahams (possibly the
surveyor Robert Abraham). (ref. 81) A drawing of the chapel
made by John Buckler in May 1830, when work was
complete, shows the exterior much as it looks today (Plate
12b in vol. XXXIX), and it is likely that many of the changes
from the original plain brick appearance of the west front
were made then. (ref. 82) It was probably Skeat who removed the
pediment from the portico, supported the main cornice to
the tower on brackets, and interrupted the coping hiding
the roof with scrolly volutes, so imparting a faintly
Baroque flavour. The windows also received stucco
surrounds, and some of them were lengthened. The tower
clock was also installed at this date. Of alterations to the
interior we know only that it was painted, cleaned and
better ventilated.
By an Act of 1831, the Grosvenor Chapel became a
consecrated chapel of ease to St. George's, Hanover
Square. Provision for burials in the vaults was continued,
but these were, like the ground to the east, by now almost
full, so henceforward nearly all burials took place in St.
George's Row, Bayswater Road. A hundred free sittings in
the chapel were provided, but most of the pews continued
to be rented. (ref. 83) The rector of St. George's appointed as first
minister his curate Evan Nepean, who remained there for
many years. Under his regime the Grosvenor Chapel was
known as 'a very old-fashioned and steady-going place of
worship', and the tall pulpit retained pride of place in the
centre. (ref. 84) A watercolour of these years kept in the vestry
depicts a christening attended by Prince Albert in 1840,
and shows stained glass in the east window which has since
disappeared.
Changes began to be made soon after Nepean's death in
1873, at which time there were 120 free seats in the chapel
and 842 rented ones yielding an average annual income of
just over £1,000. (ref. 85) In that year R. H. Burden, a local
surveyor, superintended repairs and painting. (ref. 86) Then in
1877, with Dove Brothers as builders, Burden reduced and
moved the pulpit, put in a few choir stalls and cut down
some of the pews. (ref. 87) A decade later, plans for rebuilding the
chapel were taken in hand by the incumbent, W. Foster
Elliott. By this plan, approved in 1886–7 by the Vestry and
the Duke of Westminster, the new chapel was to be set
back twenty feet from South Audley Street and to extend
over fifty feet into the burial ground. (ref. 88) This was
presumably the scheme referred to in 1904, when Eustace
Balfour spoke of plans prepared by his old master Basil
Champneys 'some years ago when a popular preacher filled
the chapel'. (ref. 89) For some reason this scheme was abandoned.
Though the rector of St. George's continued to urge a
rebuilding in the 1890's, the Duke of Westminster
declined to take any responsibility for it. (ref. 90)
By 1899 the Grosvenor Chapel had again fallen on hard
times, as the pew rents were inadequate and the structure
was becoming dilapidated. So a new Act was obtained
vesting the building more completely in St. George's,
whose rector took on the pastoral responsibilities. (ref. 91) The
preamble to this Act still anticipated reconstruction, but
the chapel remained in a poor state for the next thirteen
years and was often closed. The second Duke of
Westminster thought that rebuilding was unnecessary,
and rejected the rector's suggestion 'that Sir William
Harcourt's Act [i.e. death duties, 1894] caused the late
Duke to change his mind in regard to the Grosvenor
Chapel'. In 1912 a new rector thought of moving the parish
church to the chapel site, to which the Grosvenor Estate
was even more averse. (ref. 92)
But revival was now soon to come. Later in 1912 the
Reverend W. B. Trevelyan, rector of St. Matthew's,
Westminster, and first warden of Liddon House, a High
Church body recently founded to promote social service,
agreed to come to the Grosvenor Chapel and establish his
headquarters in the old infants' school next door. In the
event Trevelyan never came because of illness, but with
the help of influential patrons (among whom the Duke's
mother Countess Grosvenor was prominent) the new
arrangements were carried through. J. Ninian Comper was
appointed architect, and after a series of alterations the
chapel was re-opened in November 1913 with the popular
H. R. L. Sheppard, a curate of St. George's, in charge. (ref. 93)
Figure 70:
Grosvenor Chapel, pulpit. Balusters rationalized
Comper's works at the Grosvenor Chapel occasioned
some controversy. To the exterior he made few or no
alterations (though the strong quoins on the lower stages of
the tower were added at some time between 1890 and
1920). But, inspired by his recent Mediterranean travels,
he began with the romantic conception of the interior as a
fragment of one of the ancient Roman temples converted
to Christian use, wherein he could carry out his ideas of
'unity by inclusion'. The side galleries were to disappear,
and overscaled columns were to stride down the small
nave. The chancel was to be cut off by a screen and turned
into a Lady Chapel, while the high altar was to be
enshrined under a baldachin with a rood above.
This scheme soon ran into trouble. The 'Roman temple'
conception was reduced, and the attempt to erect a
baldachin met with difficulties in the ecclesiastical courts,
where it was blocked. (ref. 94) Nonetheless Comper was able with
comparatively few changes to effect a substantial transformation. Behind the altar he set a screen of quattrocento
character, to which were attached two fluted columns
intended as the rear supports of the baldachin, and
surmounted by angels. Then, at either side of the
sanctuary, came just two giant Ionic columns of plaster,
carrying 'fragments' of a massive entablature. These
columns merely braced the rood beam, which was thrown
across at high level and carried figures in Comper's style.
New sanctuary rails of wrought iron were installed, and the
choir stalls and pulpit were moved (Plate 76c).
Comper continued to be associated with the Grosvenor
Chapel for many years, and though he was never to realize
a long-held ambition to carry out the baldachin, he did
make some modest additions. In 1920 an elaborate pyx to
his designs was hung from the top of the old reredos in the
Lady Chapel, which at about this time was also supplied
with a new cross and candles. Then in 1927 Comper's
decorative painter H. A. B. Bernard-Smith at last painted
the figures on the rood and the screen, though the screen
itself has never received its intended colours. In the same
year Comper installed the first of three characteristic
windows in the south aisle. (ref. 95)
The only other major change between the wars was the
rebuilding of the organ. This had already been moved in
1907, when the upper-tier western gallery in which it was
sited disappeared. It then occupied a position with the
case parallel to the gallery front and the console behind. In
1930 it was reconstructed, enlarged and moved to its
present position by J. W. Walker and Sons (Plate 76d); in
the process, the original inscription with Abraham
Jordan's signature was lost. (ref. 79)
In a restoration of the exterior of the chapel by A. G.
Nisbet of J. Douglass Mathews and Partners in 1951–2,
the ornamental stucco elements of the west front were
considerably simplified, while in 1966 and 1969 alterations
were made to the roof and the old Victorian ventilating
stacks removed. (ref. 96)
No. 24.
This little building, attached to the north-east
end of the Grosvenor Chapel, began life as the Grosvenor
Schools, a girls' and infants' school connected with the
main parish schools in South Street. When building an
infants' school for the parish was first contemplated in
1830, this site was considered; but because it would have
been necessary to build 'partly upon pillars and partly
upon walls which already form the sides to the engine
house and entrance to the Vaults', it was passed over in
favour of a site to the north of St. Mark's Church, North
Audley Street. However, more infants' accommodation
was evidently soon needed, for in 1841 the Vestry of St.
George's agreed to allow a new school to be built here. The
plan was devised by John Morris of John Morris and Sons,
builders, of Mount Street, but Charles Jearrad, the parish
surveyor, was asked to look over the plan. Living
accommodation was provided for a teacher above the
schoolroom. (ref. 97)
In 1855 the Grosvenor Schools were placed under
separate management. There were enlargements in
1849–50, 1859–60 and 1874, when the parish surveyor
R. H. Burden made a new entrance at the back, put in a
new stair and added a classroom. At this time the
attendance was frequently over two hundred, but subsequently the school declined. (ref. 98) From 1895 the premises
were used merely as Sunday schools, with the curates of St.
George's who served the Grosvenor Chapel living above.
The school seems to have closed in 1905. (ref. 99)
In 1913 the premises were taken over for Liddon House,
and much internal alteration has subsequently occurred. (ref. 87)
The building has a plain, amply fenestrated rear
elevation to St. George's Hanover Square Gardens, but at
the front only one bay is visible by the side of the
Grosvenor Chapel. This is rendered and embellished with
surprisingly Baroque features including an open pediment
with scrolled sides above the entrance and a tall,
free-standing Dutch gable.
Nos. 25–33 (consec.).
The history of present buildings
on these sites, including the library (No. 25) in the former
Chapel Place North, will be found on page 326.
Some interest attaches to a few of the preceding
buildings. The houses facing South Audley Street had
mostly been built following an agreement of 1726 with
John Ellis, joiner, but those facing North Chapel Court (as
Chapel Place North cul-de-sac was at first called) were
leased in 1732 to the undertakers of the Grosvenor Chapel
opposite. (ref. 100) About seven houses faced the court and were
in 1807 under lease to John Foulston, an architect then
unknown but soon to gain celebrity in the West Country. (ref. 101)
In 1823 the Foulston family apparently declined renewal
of the lease in favour of the local solicitor T. J. Burgoyne,
and three houses at the east end of the court were rebuilt in
1828–9 by a Mr. Weston. (ref. 102) Nevertheless the boldly
archaic Greek style of some details of the house at the
corner of South Audley Street and Chapel Place North as
shown in 1859 hints that Foulston may have been involved
in a reconstruction here (ref. 103) (Plate 83a).
Later, a spectacular but short-lived rebuilding on the
site of the former No. 26 juxtaposed the most aggressive
Gothicism next door to these few Greek details. This was
the work of the architect Thomas ('Victorian') Harris, who
with John Hale, builder, in 1858 reconstructed, at what
was said to be modest cost, much of the premises for
Robert U. Potts, a chemist. Harris was currently
experimenting in the free deployment of Gothic elements
to create a Victorian style, and No. 26 was a rare
monument to his queer ingenuity. It had an elevation of
red, yellow and white bricks, dressings of Portland stone
and much exposed ironwork in and over the shop front; all
these materials were combined in a medley of profiles and
segmental and relieving arches (Plate 83a). Within, the
building exhibited a mélange of practical details and of
'honest' construction. There were sunk skirtings and
architraves, ingenious iron shutters, coved cornices, and
open-timber ceilings. Naturally Potts' premises occasioned controversy, and for several weeks two anonymous correspondents battled in The Building News over
their merits and defects. (ref. 104) The building's notoriety did
not, however, lengthen the lease, and in 1892 3 it
disappeared along with its neighbours.
Nos. 34–42 (consec.).
The building now on this site,
erected to designs by Thomas Verity in 1888–9, is
described on page 324. Of its predecessors here there is
little to be said. The frontage between Mount Street and
Adams Row was part of a large plot stretching up to
Grosvenor Square for which agreement was made in
1725. (ref. 105) From early times it was occupied by small shops
and businesses, with a public house (the Bricklayers'
Arms) on the site of the Audley Hotel at the corner with
Mount Street. (ref. 59) Some rebuilding had taken place prior to
their demolition; in 1858 Thomas Harris, doubtless on the
strength of his efforts at No. 26 nearby, was enabled to
erect a shop front of which nothing is known at the former
No. 35 for Anthony Blackborne, lace dealer. (ref. 106)
Nos. 43–48 (consec.).
Though the present building
here, stretching from Adams Row to Grosvenor Square,
belongs to the story of modern Grosvenor Square (see page
168), mention may here be made of the neo-Georgian shop
front and interiors designed for the showrooms of
Holloway Brothers, builders and decorators, by Stanley
Hall and Easton and Robertson in about 1935–6. Holloway
Brothers had occupied premises here since 1903. (ref. 107)
The buildings previously on these sites, situated behind
No. 35 Grosvenor Square, were originally erected
following an agreement of 1725. (ref. 108) Many of the premises
were subsequently rebuilt, and two examples may be
mentioned (Plate 29d). One was a narrow brick house of
four storeys capped by a pediment, which had according to
the ratebooks been rebuilt in 1823. (ref. 1) Between this and No.
35 Grosvenor Square was another house, the simple stucco
elevation of which was probably the work of Wright Ingle
in 1834. (ref. 109) All the old houses here were in use as shops
except for the corner house at Adams Row where was a
public house, the Nag's Head, until its suppression in
1880. (ref. 110)