20-24 Belgrave Road and attached railings, City of Westminster, London

Summary

A row of three houses with attached railings within a terrace, in a classical style, probably constructed between 1830 and 1837 as an early part of Thomas Cubitt’s development of Pimlico.

Description

A terrace of three townhouses, probably constructed between 1830 and 1837 as part of the Cubitt estate in a classical style.

MATERIALS: the houses are constructed from yellow brick laid in Flemish bond, with channelled stucco to the ground floor and basement. There are balcony screens and railings of cast iron and the roof is covered with slate.

PLAN: each former house is approximately rectangular on plan, but with a series of extensions of varying level and depth to the rear of each house creating an irregular rear elevation. The plan of each house was originally linear with front doors opening onto a corridor leading to the back of each house and rooms to the left. Internal staircases towards the back of each house aligned with the front doors and adjacent to the party wall of the neighbouring house. This plan form has been altered by the insertion of a lateral corridor to every floor providing access between the three former houses due to their combination and reconfiguration to create an hotel.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation, facing north-east onto Belgrave Road, has four storeys over a basement, and each of the three houses is two bays wide. The ground floor and basement have channelled stucco while the upper floors are constructed from yellow brick laid in Flemish bond. Most of the windows have been refitted with double-glazed sashes to match the originals. Where the original windows do survive intact, they have been fitted with secondary glazing. Each floor above ground level has two, six-over-six pane sash windows with flat arches of brick, and those to the first floor reach down to the floor level and open onto stone balconies. These balconies have cast iron screens of anthemion design. The ground floor has a single, three-over-three sash window and door to each house, offset from the windows above. The ground floor window to number 22 has a cast iron window box retainer. The front doors each have four recessed panels and are apparently original. There is a plain, rectangular transom light above each doorway. The basement level has a single window for each house in line with those on the ground floor. There is a moulded, stucco cornice above the second floor, and a parapet above the attic storey. The natural slate roofs are pitched, each house divided by chimney stacks continuing up from the party walls. The roof of number 24 is mono-pitched, with only part of its rear half built up above the first floor. The return wall to the south-east steps down towards the rear reflecting the differing levels of the various flat-roofed, rear extensions. This side elevation is blind and constructed of unadorned brick, terminating in another wide chimney stack.

The rear elevation backs onto Hugh Mews and is obscured at ground floor level by a two-storey C20 building at the end of the Mews. The attic storey for numbers 20 and 22 is contained within a steep mansard roof on this elevation, while number 24 has a flat-roofed wing of a single bay for the second and third floors and an adjacent, lower flat roof over the first-floor wing. All three houses have rear extensions of varying heights with flat roofs. A small courtyard between each of the three houses permits light into the rear rooms on the lower levels. Fenestration to the rear elevation comprises timber sashes of various sizes, with segmental arches of brick over the windows up to and including the second floor.

INTERIOR: in the second half of the C20 the interior underwent extensive superficial alteration as part of the building's conversion to hotel use. A representative sample of rooms across all floors were inspected (October 2021). The hotel bedrooms, connecting corridors and stairwells have carpeted floors and simple coving, skirting and dado rails, which appear to be C20 in date. Internal partitions have been inserted into all bedrooms to provide en suite bathrooms.

The staircases remain in their original positions for numbers 20 and 24, as does the staircase for number 22 but only up to the first floor. Above this the original staircase has been truncated and filled in with en suite bathrooms for hotel rooms. The staircases themselves have simple timber handrails and dado rails. Below the handrail most of the staircases are boxed in; it is possible that original balusters could survive behind.

The front door to number 22 has been blocked internally. The original coal vaults, which run under the street in front of the houses, survive well, although they have been completely tiled over internally and additional openings have been created between the vaults associated with each former house to provide through access. The original direct access routes from numbers 20 and 22 have been blocked up. The vaults now collectively serve as refrigeration and laundry areas for the hotel.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: spearhead railings of cast iron, which are probably original, border the basement lightwells to the front of each house and are attached to the front elevation.

History

Up until the early C19 the Pimlico area was the site of market gardens known as the Neat House Gardens, on land owned by the Grosvenor Estate. From 1825 to 1835 the area was leased to Thomas Cubitt, one of the most respected and influential builders in London in the first half of the C19. Cubitt laid out the straight streets and squares of Pimlico from the early 1830s, and development of stucco-fronted terraces of mid C19 Classical design was carried out partly by his own workforce but predominantly by other builders who leased plots from him. The area around Eccleston Square was among the first to be developed and completed, while streets towards the south of Pimlico were not completed until the 1870s.

The 1830 edition Greenwood Map of London shows a terrace of houses laid out along the south side of Grosvenor Road (renamed Belgrave Road by 1837) turning the corner onto the north-west side of Eccleston Square, which on the map is labelled ‘New Square’. The depicted terrace includes the site of 20-24 Belgrave Road but it is not clear if the houses had in fact been built by 1830 or if the map simply depicts Cubitt’s intended development. Conversely though, none of this development is shown on either Smith’s New Map of London of about 1830 or Mogg’s Strangers Guide to London of 1834. On Cary’s New Plan of London and its Vicinity of 1837, Eccleston Square has been laid out and buildings are shown on the sites of 1-3 Eccleston Square and 16-24 Belgrave Road. Cross’s London Guide of 1844 shows the completed terrace on the north-west side of Eccleston Square turning the corner onto Belgrave Road. The conflicting evidence presented by the Greenwood Map presents some uncertainty about the exact date of construction of 20-24 Belgrave Road, but it is clear from subsequent maps that the houses had probably been completed by 1837.

Cubitt’s biographer, Hermione Hobhouse, writes that in 1831 Cubitt had built or sub-leased the houses on the west side of Belgrave Road between Eccleston Bridge and Eccleston Square, which suggests that 20-24 Belgrave Road may have been completed by that year. According to Hobhouse the first three houses in Eccleston Square, numbers 1-3 adjacent to the site of 20-24 Belgrave Road, were built by Cubitt himself and completed by 1836, but little further development around the square took place until the 1840s. This account, combined with the various historic maps, provides a probable date range for 20-24 Belgrave Road of between 1830 and 1837.

Hobhouse attributes few of the houses south of the Grosvenor Canal to Cubitt himself, who built prototype houses in the squares and some of the surrounding streets but elsewhere leased plots to smaller builders who often followed Cubitt’s design principles and built houses on top of sewers and vaults laid down by Cubitt’s own builders. In many cases Cubitt provided the elevations and approved the ironwork to be used. 20-24 Belgrave Road most likely fall into this category of houses built by someone other than Cubitt on sub-leased plots. 22 and 24 Belgrave Road are recorded within the Lloyd George Doomsday Survey as having an original lease of 86 years from June 1842.

The houses were originally rectangular on plan with various ranges extending into the rear yards, giving numbers 20 and 22 almost U-shaped plans, while number 24 had an L-shaped plan. Historic mapping suggests that the external envelope of the buildings remained unaltered until the 1951 Ordnance Survey (OS) Map, which indicates that the south-eastern rear range to number 20 had been demolished by that time.

The 1945 Bomb Damage Map indicates general, non-structural blast damage for the site of 20-24 Belgrave Road.

In the second half of the C20 the houses underwent several phases of internal alteration to facilitate the building’s use as a hotel, with numbers and 16 and 18 incorporated into the group in the early 1990s and late 1980s respectively. An internal corridor connecting the former houses has been added to every floor, and bedrooms have had internal partitions installed to create en suite bathrooms.

Reasons for Listing

20-24 Belgrave Road and attached railings, constructed between 1830 and 1837, is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the compositional qualities of the façade and the good survival of the exterior;
* for the quality and craftsmanship of its exterior details, particularly the ironwork to the railings and balcony screens.

Historic interest:

* as an early part of the development of Cubitt’s Pimlico in the mid-C19.

Group value:

* with the other listed houses around Eccleston Square (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entries: 1211463, 1357010, 1211466 and 1211499).

External Links

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.