10, De Vere Gardens

No. 10 De Vere Gardens is a terrace house built circa 1875-8 by the builders Taylor and Cumming, designed as part of a wider scheme by Charles Edward Barlow. The main interiors were remodelled circa 1904 in a Wrenaissance style for Captain C A Osbourne, with carving and plasterwork by Laurence Turner, and marblework by Farmer and Brindley. The facade is typical of the houses along De Vere Gardens, constructed of grey brick with stucco dressings and iron balconies. It features five main storeys plus a basement. The ground storey has a projecting porch, paired with No. 8, and a bay window. The first and second storeys have tripartite windows with vertical and triangular pediments respectively. The second and third storeys have three windows each, incorporating keystones, and a heavy, bracketed and dentilled cornice is present between the upper storeys, topped by a deep crowning cornice. The windows follow a Georgian-style fenestration pattern, likely dating to the Edwardian period.

The interior is of exceptional and lavish quality. The entrance corridor is panelled and vaulted in plaster, leading to an inner hall with a high cove bearing ornamental plasterwork, painted panelling, and a marble fireplace. The stone main staircase is largely from the 1870s, with a cast-iron balustrade, although the lowest flight of steps has an S-shaped iron balustrade and two pairs of marble columns of French jasper at the foot, dating to the Edwardian period. The former dining room on the ground floor has marble floor margins, painted panelling, ornamental cornices, and elaborate overmantel and door surrounds, both with segmental broken pediments. The former library, also on the ground floor, features painted panelling and a built-in bookcase. The first floor is occupied by a double drawing room, possessing rich plaster ceilings, fluted Corinthian columns around the walls, painted panelling, an ornamental overmantel and a fireplace with a Pavonazzo marble surround. The building is notable as a rare example of a mid-Victorian town house retaining high-class Edwardian reception rooms and experiencing minimal subsequent alteration.