Numbers 8-13 And Attached Railings. Number 11 Incorporating The Former Number 10

This group of six terraced houses was built in 1717-18 by Robert Burford, carpenter, on land leased to him and George Devall, plumber, by Margaret Skipwith in 1716. Most houses received internal alterations of high quality around 1820. Number 10 was gutted in 1941 and rebuilt as a replica after the Second World War, incorporated into Number 11. The houses are constructed of brown or yellow stock brick with some refacing of upper storeys and parapets. Tiled mansard roofs run at right-angles to the street front, though Numbers 10 and 11 have slated roofs.

External Appearance and Plan

Each house is two rooms deep, originally with a cross passage between them. In the early 19th century this passage was incorporated into the front rooms as a buffet alcove. At upper levels this space is filled with stairs, all with closet wings. The principal stair at the rear of the entrance extends to first floor only, with rooms over this space at upper levels. Rear extensions over gardens and mews are not of interest except where noted. Brick bands mark first floor level. Number 12 is tuck pointed. The houses are four storeys with basements, each three windows wide except Number 11, which is four windows wide. Windows are flush frame sashes with gauged red brick arches and dressings.

Numbers 8 and 9 have wood architraved doorcases with good carved brackets, panelled soffits to flat hoods, patterned fanlights and panelled doors. Number 11 has a 20th-century wood doorcase with fluted Doric engaged columns carrying an entablature and modillion cornice, with patterned fanlight and panelled door. Numbers 12 and 13 have wood architraved doorcases with good carved brackets, panelled soffits to flat hoods, patterned fanlights and panelled doors complete with original hinges and bars. Some houses retain original lead rainwater heads inscribed 1718.

Interior of Number 8

Number 8 has fully panelled ground floor rooms with box cornices. The entrance hall is also fully panelled with Corinthian pilasters forming an inner arch. A fine open-string staircase features twisted balusters and decorated tread ends, counterpoised by a continuous dado on the other side. Upper floors were not inspected but are noted to be of high quality.

Interior of Number 9

Number 9 has a fully panelled entrance hall with dado rail and box cornices, and a marble tiled floor. Fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals form the inner arch. Ground-floor rooms have raised and fielded panelling with smaller panels over fireplaces and shutters. The front room has a flat arch leading to a curved buffet arch and an early 19th-century cornice. The ground-floor rear room and closet have full panelling, box cornices and corner fireplaces. A room beyond the closet, a later 18th-century addition, is fully panelled with a simple cornice and early 20th-century fireplace.

The grand staircase to first floor is an open-string staircase with decorated ends and twisted balusters set three per tread. A corresponding panelled dado features small Corinthian pilasters at head, foot and turn of flights. Box cornices and shutters to a giant staircase window complete the treatment. First floor rooms have early 19th-century ceilings and fireplaces. The rear room, with corner fireplace and closet, retains early 18th-century panelling.

Between the main rooms, a closed-string staircase with chunky turned balusters rises to third floor. All save the return flight to second floor was renewed in 1994. The second floor has simpler ovolo-moulded panelling and dado. The rear room has an Adamesque fireplace with marble lining and box cornice, and the closet has a corner fireplace and cast-iron grate. The front room is partitioned but retains full-height ovolo panelling and dado and a fireplace with marble surround. Over the principal stair, another rear room has ovolo panelling, box cornice and fireplace. The third floor has some panelling and early 20th-century fireplaces. The attic is reached by a stick baluster stair.

Interiors of Numbers 10 and 11

Number 10 was incorporated as part of Number 11 in 1944. It has a fireplace moved from the ground floor of Number 11 and now forms part of that address.

Number 11 is the most impressive house in the row, built on a larger plot for Dame Rebecca Moyer, resident from 1720 to 1723. Her initials and the date 1720 appear on water tanks brought from the basement and now in a conference room added in the 1950s in sympathetic style to the rear. A pair of closet wings stands at the rear.

The magnificent entrance hall and staircase dominate the interior. The staircase, with twisted balusters and landing, fills the front entrance hall. The hall has a corner fireplace and is fully panelled. It contains a fine and complete sequence of wall paintings by John Vanderbank from the early 1720s in commemoration of George I, mounted and surrounded by allegorical figures in a painted architectural surround. A secondary stair to the rear at ground floor continues as the principal stair from first to third floor, with turned balusters on a closed string, corresponding dadoes and panelling.

The ground-floor front room has 18th-century panelling with early 19th-century cornices, shutters and fireplace. The rear room has early 19th-century cornices and a fireplace brought from the third floor. A ground-floor panelled closet wing to the rear of the stair has a corner fireplace. First floor rooms continue this lavish combination of fine raised and fielded panelling with richly moulded early 19th-century cornices and marble fireplaces. The second floor retains box cornices, ovolo panelling and fireplaces. The third floor has plain panelling, most complete in the rear rooms. Basement wine cellars survive.

Interiors of Numbers 12 and 13

Numbers 12 and 13 are in common ownership with linking doors. Number 12 has a fully panelled entrance and staircase hall with fluted Corinthian pilasters to the inner arch. From ground to first floor runs a handsome open-string stair with decorative ends and twisted balusters, three per tread, with a corresponding dado featuring Corinthian pilaster strips at head, foot and turn of flights extending to full height.

The ground-floor front room is divided by timber Corinthian columns of the early 19th century to form a buffet. It has a marble fireplace, cornice, and shutters with 18th-century hinges as in the staircase hall. The rear room has a marble fireplace under a dentilled mantlepiece and an ovolo-panelled closet. The first floor was altered in the early 19th century with cornices to both rooms and a ceiling rose to the front room. A central closed-string stair with turned balusters rises from first floor to attic in the central compartment at right-angles to the street. The second floor has ovolo panelling to all rooms and fireplaces in those to the rear. The third floor retains panelling and cupboards to the rear room; panelling to the front room is very simple.

Number 13 has a fully panelled entrance hall and a staircase of identical pattern to those in Numbers 8, 9 and 12, but woodgrained and never painted. However, the staircase hall has plaster moulded swags and drops between panels, with richly moulded fruit and leaves—rare in a London townhouse of this date.

The ground-floor front room is divided by marbled timber columns supporting an arch to the rear buffet. It has box cornices and full panelling with dado rail, and a 19th-century fireplace. The rear room is also fully panelled with a closet, the latter carefully restored on all floors in 1992. The first floor front room has a handsome early 19th-century marble fireplace and cornice. The rear room has 18th-century panelling and an 18th-century marble fireplace in a later Victorian surround. The door to the closet is treated as a continuation of the panelling to dado height, with the upper section treated as a window with early 19th-century glazing bars. The panelled closet has an 1820s grate.

A closed string staircase rises from first to third floors through the centre of the house at right-angles to the street, panelled and with corresponding dado panelling flanking the stair. Second-floor rooms have ovolo panelling, box cornices and a cupboard with H-hinges. The front room has a 19th-century fireplace; the closet has an 18th-century fireplace. The third floor retains some simple panelling and matchboarding, with an 18th-century rear corner fireplace.

Subsidiary Features

Attached cast-iron railings protect the areas, some with urn or torch flambe finials.

Historical Significance

This is a fascinating and well-preserved group of houses of unusual richness which together form a group of exceptional quality. The painted staircase hall in Number 11 is an individual piece of architectural bravura, making for one of the finest early 18th-century interiors in London.