Numbers 28-38 And Attached Railings

Terrace of eleven houses forming the west side of Bedford Square, built 1776-1781 by William Scott and Richard Grews, possibly designed by Thomas Leverton or Robert Palmer for the Bedford Estate. The terrace includes Nos.26, 26A and 27 Morwell Street.

Nos.28-36 form a symmetrical composition. The buildings are constructed of yellow stock brick with evidence of tuck pointing on most houses, featuring a plain stucco band at first-floor level. The centre house, No.32, is stuccoed throughout. Slate mansard roofs with dormers and tall slab chimney-stacks crown the terrace.

The exterior presents three storeys, attics and basements, with three windows to each house. Recessed round-headed entrances feature Coade stone vermiculated intermittent voussoirs and bands with mask keystones, enriched impost bands and cornice-heads to the doors. Panelled doors with side lights (some two-leaf) have fanlights, mostly with radial patterns. Gauged brick flat arches span the recessed sash windows, most retaining glazing bars. Cast-iron balconies to first-floor windows are present at Nos.29, 30, 32-36 and 38. Cornice and parapet details vary; Nos.28 and 36 feature balustraded parapets.

The interiors, examined only for Nos.34-36, contain original stone stairs with cast and wrought-iron balusters of various scroll designs. No.28 has a three-window return to Bayley Street and a full-height bow to the rear elevation; it underwent major renovation in 1910 and retains three plaster ceilings, one from this renovation. No.29 features a full-height canted bay bowed internally and a plaster ceiling. No.30 has a full-height bowed bay to the rear with fine ceilings, one incorporating painted cameos. No.31 presents a full-height bowed bay with two fine ceilings.

No.32 is the architectural centrepiece, with a rusticated ground floor and four Ionic pilasters rising through the first and second storeys to support a frieze with roundels above each pilaster and a pediment enriched with delicate swag and roundel ornamentation on the tympanum. At second-floor level runs a continuous enriched band behind the pilasters. The entrance features Doric columns supporting an entablature beneath the fanlight, with double panelled doors. The rear elevation has a full-height bowed bay. Interior detailing and joinery are particularly fine. No.33 contains a full-height bowed bay to the rear and an internal distyle-in-antis screen with capitals derived from the Athenian Tower of the Winds, with a plaster ceiling. No.37 has a full-height bowed bay and an original wine cellar in the basement. No.38 contains a late nineteenth-century timber staircase. Nos.34, 35 and 36 all feature full-height bowed bays to their rear elevations.

Some houses retain original lead rainwater heads and pipes. Subsidiary features include attached cast-iron railings to areas with urn or torch flambé finials, and most houses have good wrought-iron foot scrapers.

Nos.34 and 35 were acquired by the Architectural Association—Britain's first full-time school of architecture—in 1917. Robert Atkinson, the Association's Head and from 1920 Director of Education, undertook extensive alterations and added studios to the rear in 1919-21, designed in very austere style. Ground-floor and first-floor front rooms were knocked into single spaces, now serving as a lecture room and library respectively. Missing mouldings to No.34 were matched with those surviving in No.35, including the first-floor ceiling. The first-floor library functions as a war memorial, with fitted bookcases by Atkinson and a memorial tablet to fallen members unveiled in 1921 and recarved after 1945 to commemorate both World Wars. No.35 lacks a staircase but retains original fireplaces and mouldings.

No.36 was acquired by the Architectural Association in 1927 and adapted as offices and members' rooms by Atkinson, who added further studios to the rear in similar austere style. The presence of the Architectural Association in one of London's most important squares significantly promoted the special interest and importance of Georgian London among international architects and writers who visited the premises.

The houses in Bedford Square represent a most important and complete example of eighteenth-century town planning. Built as a speculation, the attribution of designers remains unclear. Leverton, primarily a country house architect, may have been involved with only the grander houses; he lived at No.13. Palmer, the Bedford Estate surveyor, may account for certain variations in the square's design. The majority of plots leased by the estate were taken by Robert Grews, a carpenter, and William Scott, a brickmaker. No.35 was the residence of Thomas Wakley, reformer and founder of The Lancet, and of Thomas Hodgkin, physician, reformer and philanthropist (commemorated with London County Council and Greater London Council plaques).