14, HAY'S MEWS W1 (See details for further address information)

A substantial terraced town house was built in 1753 by John Spencer and William Timbrell, working under a Berkeley estate lease, and underwent major internal remodelling between 1913 and 1914 by Mewes and Davis for the Hon Mrs Ronald Greville. The building is constructed of brown brick with a slate roof and extends over four storeys, including an attic storey with dormered mansard, and a basement. It has a four-window frontage. A stone, Ionic columned doorway with an open cartouched pediment is located in the second bay from the left. Recessed glazing bar sash windows are set under flat, gauged arches. Stone plat bands and sill bands are present on the first floor, with a main stone cornice above the second floor, and a parapet with coping. Cast iron area railings and stone obelisk gate piers are positioned in front of the entrance.

The interiors are on a vast and grand scale, retaining elements of original Palladian decoration but significantly elaborated by Mewes and Davis in a neo-Georgian and “Louis XV-XVI” style. The house is double pile, with a full-height, top-lit grand stair compartment on the left rear. The stairs are marble-clad, leading to what is believed to be the original “Stage noble” arrangement. A fine, ormulu-enriched wrought iron balustrade in a “Louis XVI” style is present. At the first floor, the compartment walls feature large, Kentian framed panels flanked by floral pendants, while at the second floor level, there’s a bridge gallery with rectangular framed panels. Enriched plat bands and cornices are also present. The ground floor reception rooms are fully panelled, incorporating reset elements of French mid-18th century boiseries. The Rococo plasterwork of the ceilings, and the enriched modillion cornices, may incorporate or elaborate the original decoration. A through drawing room-ballroom on the first floor features a marble Ionic column screen and reset boiseries dating from circa 1730-40. The plasterwork of the ceiling is possibly an elaboration or refurbishment, but more likely the work of Mewes and Davis, as it exhibits a more French than English style. Fine statuary marble chimney pieces are also present. Vaulted passages, one above the other, connect the ground and first floors. The first floor passage features grotesque painting and leads to the rear former coach house wing on Hay's Mews, where Mewes and Davis installed a vast ballroom in a grand Palladian manner, complete with a deeply coved ceiling, columned and pedimented doorcases, etc.