Pembroke Studios

Pembroke Studios

Artists' studios and accommodation built in 1890-1 by CF Kearley, accessed from Pembroke Gardens through an ornamental gatehouse. The buildings are constructed from buff stock brick laid in Flemish bond with red brick dressings, slate roofs occasionally replaced by synthetic slate, and brick chimneystacks.

The studios consist of two terraces of six units arranged north to south in the manner of a mews between Warwick Gardens and Edwardes Gardens, enclosing a long central courtyard garden with a boundary wall at the north end. Each unit contains a double-height north-east facing studio with ancillary rooms to the west, a stair leading to a mezzanine balcony, and additional rooms above. The units differ slightly in size and internal layout. No. 11's studio has been subdivided by the insertion of a floor into the double-height space. Nos. 5 and 6 at the north of the western terrace were rebuilt as domestic accommodation on the same footprint following Second World War bomb damage. The small gardens to the rear of the eastern terrace are linked to provide rear access, though doorways between backyards on the western terrace have been blocked.

The gatehouse is single storey with a mansard attic clad in slate, arranged in three bays with a central Renaissance-style archway and canted bay windows either side, each with a dormer lighting the attic. The archway has a moulded red brick architrave with keystone, stepped pilasters with bas relief foliate panels, fascia and deeply moulded brick cornice topped with a segmental pediment. A brick up-stand on the roof marks the gatehouse extent, adjoining the pitched roofs of the southernmost studios with moulded brick chimneystacks and irregular fenestration.

Each studio is a rectangular gabled range running east-west with canted corners on the east side and an entrance block adjoining the north-west corner. All have large areas of glazing at their north-east corners providing even north light. The courtyard-facing elevations of the eastern and western terraces differ but are unified by the rhythmical arrangement of tall shaped gable ends. The western elevation of each terrace is heavily articulated, with deep recesses between gables forming entranceways on the western terrace and part of rear gardens on the eastern terrace. Eastern elevations form a roughly continuous line. On the courtyard elevations, gable ends have red brick quoins and dressings with large, roughly central windows lined in red brick with segmental arched lintels. On the western terrace these were originally glazed with two pairs of casements and fixed multiple-pane top lights; on the eastern terrace the windows were originally blind, though many now have smaller openings inserted. Doorways within entrance blocks between gables mostly have double doors with four-over-one fielded panels, many with glazing inserted to upper panels. On the eastern terrace, entrance blocks are single storey with mansard attic and pitched dormer; on the west they are two storeys with a pair of casement windows to the first floor. Nos. 5 and 6 continue the terrace rhythm through projecting gable ends and recessed entranceways, using similar materials.

The interiors are characterised by double-height studios with 'broken back' windows where large north windows adjoin an inclined skylight. Mezzanine balconies overlook the studios with living quarters to the west and north-west. In most studios the balcony has been extended to provide additional first-floor space, and layouts of ancillary rooms and stairs have often been altered. The staircases and balconies remain of special interest as designed features. Nos. 3 and 7 appear to retain their original plan. No. 3 retains the original simple timber balustrade to the mezzanine balcony with stick balusters and moulded handrail. Upstairs in No. 3 is a wall painting of a dancer, possibly connected to Isadora Duncan's occupation in 1899.

The interiors of studios 5, 6 and 11 are excluded from the listing as they are not of special interest.

Subsidiary features include a pair of brick piers with iron gates leading to the gatehouse, flanked by low walls with an iron screen and higher walls either side, enclosing the forecourt.