Numbers 1-10 And Attached Railings

Terrace of 10 houses forming the east side of Bedford Square, built between 1775 and 1786. All were built by William Scott, with No.6 built in partnership with Robert Grews. Nos.1, 6 and 10 are known to have been designed by Thomas Leverton; the remaining houses were designed either by Thomas Leverton or Robert Palmer, for the Bedford Estate. The houses were built as a speculative venture and represent an important and complete example of 18th-century town planning.

The terrace is constructed in yellow stock brick with evidence of tuck pointing on most houses. A plain stucco band marks the 1st floor level, while the centre house, No.6, is fully stuccoed. All houses feature slate mansard roofs with dormers and tall slab chimney-stacks.

The exteriors display three storeys with attics and basements. Nos.2-10 form a symmetrical terrace, each with three windows, except No.6 which has five windows. Entrances are recessed and round-headed, detailed with Coade stone vermiculated intermittent voussoirs and bands, with mask keystones. Enriched impost bands and cornice-heads ornament the doors. Side lights flank panelled doors, some of which are two-leaf. Fanlights are mostly radially patterned. Windows feature gauged brick flat arches to recessed sashes, most with glazing bars. Nos.1 and 5-9 have cast-iron balconies to the 1st floor windows. A cornice and parapet run across the facade; Nos.2 and 10 have balustraded parapets.

Individual houses contain distinctive interior features. No.1 was built for Sir Lionel Lyde, a tobacco merchant and director of the Bank of England. It has a central stucco entrance surround of triumphal arch type with flanking niches containing wrought-iron crossed arrows, enriched impost bands continuing as a cornice to the door, roundels, a fluted frieze with panel and dentil cornice, double panelled doors with a patterned fanlight approached by curved steps, and gauged reddened brick flat arches to sashes. A dentil cornice and blocking course with a central Coade stone panel depicting an urn and arabesque complete the facade. The interior follows an unusual plan with a hall the width of the house and stair to the left, retaining most original features and decoration in simplified Adam style. The 1st floor rear room contains a fine plaster ceiling with 7 painted panels of Classical scenes after Angelica Kauffmann, probably produced by the mass-production process known as "mechanical painting" promoted by Matthew Boulton, the Birmingham metalworker—a form of colour printing finished by hand. No.2 has a plaster ceiling with painted panels. No.3 has a rear elevation with a full-height bow and a plaster ceiling. No.4 has a plan of interest with a stair rising in the middle of the house between front and rear rooms. No.5 has a rear elevation with a full-height bow. No.6, possibly designed by John Mecluer, has a rusticated ground floor with 5 Ionic pilasters rising through the 1st and 2nd storeys to support a frieze, roundels above each pilaster, and a pediment with delicate swag and roundel enrichment on the tympanum. A continuous enriched band runs at 2nd floor level behind the pilasters. Originally a single house, No.6 was divided in 1880 when the centre section was raised, and was restored to single occupancy in 1985. The interior contains a good full-height staircase compartment rising through the centre of the house. No.7 has a rear elevation with a full-height bow with cast-iron balconies to 1st floor windows. David Hartley fire plates were discovered on the 1st and 2nd floors during 1980s restoration. No.8 has a rear elevation with a full-height bow. No.9 has a rear elevation with a full-height bow and 2 plaster ceilings. No.10 was built for Samuel Lyde, brother of Sir Lionel, and has a return to Montague Place. The ground floor has 1 sash and a 3-window bay; a 2-window bay occurs at 1st floor. The interior has a staircase rising between the front and rear rooms and 2 plaster ceilings with painted panels, one the same as that in No.1. Some houses retain original lead rainwater heads and pipes.

Subsidiary features include attached cast-iron railings to areas with urn or torch-flambe finials. No.4 has a wrought-iron lamp bracket and snuffer. Most houses have good wrought-iron foot scrapers.

The design of all houses in Bedford Square remains unclear. Thomas Leverton, a country house architect, may have been involved only with the grander houses and lived at No.13. Robert Palmer was the Bedford Estate surveyor and may be responsible for variations across the square. The majority of plots leased by the estate were taken by Robert Grews, a carpenter, and William Scott, a brickmaker. No.6 was finished for John Mecluer, an architect otherwise unknown, and later became the home of Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor.