Description

CAMDEN

TQ2981NE BEDFORD SQUARE
798-1/99/77 (North side)
24/10/51 Nos.12-27 (Consecutive)
and attached railings
(Formerly Listed as:
BEDFORD SQUARE
Nos.1-54 (Consecutive))

GV I

Symmetrical terrace of 16 houses forming the north side of a
square. 1776-1781. Mostly built by W Scott and R Grews;
probably designed by either Thomas Leverton or Robert Palmer;
for the Bedford Estate. Yellow stock brick with evidence on
most of the houses of tuck pointing. Plain stucco band at 1st
floor level. The 2 centre houses, Nos 18 & 19, are stuccoed.
Slate mansard roofs with dormers and tall slab chimney-stacks.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, attics and basements. 3 windows each.
Recessed round-arched entrances with Coade stone vermiculated
intermittent voussoirs and bands; mask keystones. Enriched
impost bands and cornice-heads to doors. Side lights to
panelled doors, some 2-leaf. Fanlights, mostly radial
patterned. Gauged brick flat arches to recessed sashes, most
with glazing bars. The following have blind boxes: Nos 16-19,
No.20 to 1st floor only, Nos 21 and 25. The following have
cast-iron balconies to 1st floor windows: Nos 12-15, 18-21,
23-25. No.12 has a good early C19 cast-iron balcony with
round-arched trellis and tented canopy. Cornice and parapets,
Nos 12 & 27 having balustraded parapets.
INTERIORS not inspected but noted to contain original stone
stairs with cast and wrought-iron balusters of various scroll
designs, decoration and features; special features as
mentioned:
No.12: 5 window return to Gower Street, some blind, plus
single storey extension. The doorway is stucco, not Coade
stone.
No.13: Leverton's own house, occupied in 1782 but he did not
settle here until 1795. Stucco doorway, not Coade stone. Rear
elevation with canted bay to lower 3 floors and cast-iron
balconies. INTERIOR: stair replaced by a timber version late
C19. 2 fine plaster ceilings.
No.14: rear elevation with full height canted bay. Plasterwork
friezes and ceilings. Some curved doors.
No.17: plaster ceiling.
Nos 18 & 19: rusticated ground floor; 5 Ionic pilasters rise
through the 1st and 2nd storeys to support a frieze with

roundels above each pilaster, and pediment with delicate swag
and roundel enrichment on the tympanum. At 2nd floor level a
continuous enriched band running behind the pilasters.
INTERIORS with curved staircases; No.18 with original cellar
including a storage cupboard. Attached to and facing the rear
of No.19, a finely proportioned contemporary 2 storey and
basement stuccoed building. 3 windows. Round-arched ground
floor openings; windows set in architraved Coade stone
surrounds with guilloche impost bands and female head
keystones. 1st floor palm leaf string course. A rare survival
of this kind of building attached to the rear wall of the
coach-houses.
No.21: screens and a plaster ceiling. Attached to and facing
the rear, a well detailed contemporary 2 storey brick
building. 3 windows. Arcaded ground floor with stucco impost
bands. Entrance with radial patterned fanlight. Gauged brick
flat arches to all sashes. Brick mutule cornice which
continues around the pediment containing a blind
oeil-de-boeuf. A rare urban survival of an ancillary building
of the period.
No.23: panelled doors and a plaster ceiling.
No.24: rear elevation with canted bay to lower 3 floors.
Plaster ceilings and panels.
No.25: rear elevation with full height bow and full height
half-canted closet. Wood carving and plaster ceilings, one
originally with painted panels.
No.26: plasterwork and closet room behind the stairs.
No.27: original basement door with interesting metalwork.
Some houses with original lead rainwater heads and pipes.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached cast-iron railings to areas with
urn or torch-flambe finials. No.17 with a wrought-iron lamp
bracket and snuffer. Most houses with good wrought-iron foot
scrapers.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the houses in Bedford Square form a most
important and complete example of C18 town planning. Built as
a speculation, it is not clear who designed all the houses.
Leverton was a country house architect and may have been
involved with only the grander houses; he lived at No.13.
Palmer was the Bedford Estate surveyor and may be responsible
for the vagaries of the square. The majority of the plots
leased by the estate were taken by Robert Grews, a carpenter,
and William Scott, a brickmaker. No.22 was the residence of
Sir J Forbes Robertson, actor (plaque).
(Byrne A: Bedford Square, An architectural study: London:
-1990).

Listing NGR: TQ2979181708

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526608

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6