56, Goodge Street

56 Goodge Street is a house, now functioning as a ground-floor restaurant, dating from around 1760 on land owned by the Goodge family. The building features brown brick construction with a mansard slate roof behind parapets and a party wall stack. It has four storeys and a basement, with the uppermost level treated as an attic at the rear. The layout is a regular two-bay plan, with a staircase located at the rear and two main rooms per floor.

The exterior has been altered on the ground floor in the 20th century, but above, it retains a regular facade with five of the original six 18th-century sash windows, which have small-paned glazing bars and are set under gauged brick heads. At the rear, the ground floor has been built out. The first floor features a projecting bow, which is a rare architectural element, and has a 20th-century door leading onto a protruding roof, flanked by two sash windows with glazing bars. The attic room has a window with a horizontal sliding sash, an extremely rare feature in London.

Inside, the ground floor has been modified, but it still showcases a full-height 18th-century staircase with gently moulded handrail and newel posts, along with stick balusters. The dado rail and thick skirting board create the impression of panelled lower walls, with proportions that appear carefully considered. Many original doors remain, and the first-floor rear room has well-preserved dado panelling. The second-floor rooms feature box cornices and panelling around cupboards set in the fireplace reveals. The third floor is particularly well-preserved, with a cupboard at the top of the landing, simple unmoulded doors, and 19th-century cast-iron fireplaces.

Goodge Street was developed following an application made in 1758 by Francis and William Goodge to the Commissioners of Sewers. This house is a remarkably complete survival from that period.