39-41, Brompton Road

Commercial premises built in 1899 by T.H. Adamson and Sons of Ealing, located at 39-41 Brompton Road. The ground floor shop is not of special interest.

The five-storey frontage to Brompton Road is the only elevation visible from the street. The architectural style is Flemish Revival and, while the composition does not differ dramatically from neighbouring properties, the building is double their width. The most striking feature is the material: where other shops in the parade are constructed in red brick, stone or terracotta, Nos 39-41 is expensively faced in rich brown and butterscotch faience. This unusual choice of material makes the building stand out considerably.

The façade features a projecting central bay on the upper floors and a shaped gable that partly conceals the attic Mansard roof with its pedimented dormer windows. The fenestration is regularly arranged, comprising round-headed windows with mullion and transom and large keystones to the first floor, and pairs of arched windows with transoms above. The bays are marked by fluted pilasters. Between the storeys are friezes or panels of decorative faience, some with lozenges and some with swirling foliage and cherub heads. Further moulded details appear in the spandrels to the arched windows. The overall level of decoration is unusual. The colour contrast is also notable: the lower storeys are a mixture of brown and butterscotch faience, while the fourth storey and gable are entirely butterscotch. Even the tall chimneys are clad in faience. The ground floor has a wide shop front opening with modern glazing, but above this the building is unaltered.

Internally, the staircase with its timber handrail and chunky blockish balustrade survives. The first and fourth floors, which were inspected, have been refurbished and contain no original features. The second, third and attic floors were not inspected. The ground floor has been entirely refurbished with a modern shop front and is not of special interest.

The building was constructed as part of the second phase of major development on this important thoroughfare. Brompton Road was first laid out with houses in the 18th century. In the mid-19th century, the typical Georgian houses which lined the road had been converted to retail use at ground floor, but more significant changes occurred from 1888 onwards. By this time William Watkins and John Goddard had acquired most of the land south of Brompton Road between Sloane Street and Hans Crescent. Between 1892 and 1908 the block was rebuilt with a parade of gabled red brick shops to Brompton Road. Most of these buildings maintained the plot widths of the original houses, but two buildings (at Nos 39-41 and Nos 47-9) incorporated two former plots. This greater prominence perhaps explains why the materials used on Nos 39-41 are more lavish than those of its neighbours.

The first occupants, recorded in the Post Office London Directory of 1899, were Conrade E. Webb and Sons, cheesemongers. Their name also appears on the drainage application submitted to the authorities in 1899. In 1910 the building is recorded as being empty, but by 1915 it was in the hands of Parker Edwards Ltd, house furnishers. Originally there were two shops on the ground floor. A plan of 1926 shows a large shop front with a central porch and two curved glass display windows, and a second deep-recessed entrance to the left with narrow display windows leading to a corridor and then a shop floor at the rear of the building. The building became a single retail space at ground floor around 1935, when it had an island display case and an arcade of display windows. This had been removed by the 1950s.