Richmond House, incorporating Nos. 1-8 Richmond Terrace

Richmond House is a government office building comprising two distinct architectural phases. The first is a terrace of houses designed in 1819 by Thomas Chawner and built 1822–4 by George and Henry Harrison. In 1979 the rear portions of the terrace were demolished. Between 1982 and 1986 the surviving front sections and end wings were restored by BDP and incorporated into a new structure, Richmond House, designed by Whitfield Associates. Both phases are described below.

Former Nos. 1–8 Richmond Terrace (1819–24, restored 1982–6)

The terrace is built of amber brick with Portland stone facing at ground floor level, Bath stone dressings and columns above, and a slate roof.

The terrace was originally built as a single free-standing block, set end-on to Whitehall. A gateway and lodge, now demolished, once gave access to an extensive landscaped forecourt. Behind stood a row of mews buildings, also demolished, reached separately via an archway from Whitehall. Each house had three principal floors, plus a half-basement and attic. Internal layouts varied from house to house, as individual occupants had the interiors fitted out and subsequently altered to their own specifications. The middle six houses (Nos. 2–7) faced north and shared the same basic ground plan: a lobby and stair hall on the right, principal rooms front and back on the left, with service ranges projecting to the rear. The two end houses were larger, forming return wings. No. 1 faced east towards the Thames and had a terraced garden running down to the river. No. 8 faced west onto Whitehall and featured a deep area and a central doorway with steps and balustrade.

The 1980s development removed both the mews buildings and the rear parts of the terrace, including the service wings and stairs. The party walls were also removed but replaced by modern construction to the same footprint to one room depth. The reinstated rooms are now accessed by a new spine corridor on each floor. Historic features have been reinstated to one room depth, and in Nos. 1 and 8 to two rooms depth in the rebuilt pavilions, including the staircase in No. 8.

Exterior

The terrace has three main storeys, with an area basement below and an attic above. The principal elevation faces north and is treated as a single Neoclassical composition of 23 bays arranged 3–6–5–6–3. Six giant Ionic half-columns and a pediment form a slightly projecting centrepiece. The pediment was restored in the 1980s when the attic storey added in 1876 was removed. The end pavilions each have two half-columns in antis. Spiked cast-iron railings mark the area and entrance steps, curving outward through a quarter-circle on the Whitehall side.

The raised ground floor is faced in channelled Portland stone, with round-headed multi-pane sash windows and doorways with panelled double doors, fluted surrounds and semicircular fanlights. All these features were restored in the 1980s. The first and second floors are brick-faced, with square-headed multi-pane sash windows in moulded Bath stone surrounds. A continuous first-floor balcony with a slender iron balustrade, restored in the 1980s, runs the full length of the terrace. Above, a stone balustrade, also restored in the 1980s, conceals a mansard roof with dormers and broad stacks.

The balcony and balustrade continue on the five-bay return elevations to the east and west wings, which display a giant pilaster order. The west return to Whitehall at No. 8 has a central doorway and solid parapet walls instead of railings. The short, windowless south returns to the wings are largely creations of the 1980s.

Interiors

The interiors of note are on the ground and first floors. Within each house are reinstated front rooms on each level, incorporating salvaged elements, plus the ground-floor entrance lobby and the first-floor hallway. The deeper rooms were truncated to accommodate the spine corridor. All surviving internal features were removed during the project, but original chimneypieces and panelling were reinstated, and joinery and plasterwork recreated to match original details. Chimneypieces in the main ground-floor front rooms of houses Nos. 1, 2 and 5, and first-floor front rooms of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 are reinstated in their reconstructed original positions. Others are relocated from demolished rear rooms.

Ground Floor

The best ground-floor interiors are in the east-facing No. 1, which was comprehensively redecorated in the late 1870s and early 1880s on behalf of the then lessee, the financier BW Currie. The ground-floor rooms, of 1877–8 by Mr Turner Lord, featured delicate neo-Adam plasterwork to walls and ceiling. This is reinstated in the front room, along with a large Neoclassical fire-surround in golden marble with flanking columns and monochrome painted grisaille figures inset. The rear room has been truncated, removing the columned semicircular exedra that once formed its northern side, but its Doric frieze, wave-scroll dado, and yellow marble fire-surround with scrolls and sinuous foliate and natural rocaille forms are reinstated. Between these two rooms is a small lobby that once gave access to the river terrace. This too has Adamesque plasterwork, as well as pedimented doorcases to the two flanking rooms and an ornamental glazed screen to what is now the spine corridor. The double-leaf mahogany doors to the corridor are standard throughout the building and were presumably installed in the 1980s. In the main north-facing entrance lobby, plasterwork includes a semicircular niche and an ornate yellow marble fire-surround beneath.

Nos. 2 and 3 are much plainer, with plain marble fire-surrounds and simple moulded cornices. At No. 4 the main room has a French Empire-style marble fire-surround with sphinxes and torchères. The adjoining entrance lobby now forms the ceremonial entrance to the building and contains a modern glazed screen and ironwork. The front room at No. 5 had been enlarged, presumably in 1892 when this house was united with No. 4, to take in the adjoining entrance lobby. The plasterwork ceilings with their flower vases and monograms are probably contemporary with these works, as are the two Ionic columns and entablature that replace the dividing wall. There is also an elaborate fireplace with egg-and-dart and mask ornament, and flaming urns in relief on the fire-back. Nos. 6, 7 and 8 are again plainer, with simple fire-surrounds and cornices. No. 8 contains the one staircase, rebuilt, of open-well type with flying stone treads and wrought-iron baluster panels featuring palmettes, lyres and wreaths.

First Floor

On the first floor, the most elaborate interiors are again in No. 1. In 1882 the two front rooms were fitted up as a library by Messrs Mellier, with glazed shelving and full-height hardwood panelling in a florid French 17th-century style, featuring portrait busts of famous authors—Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Molière and Goethe—in rich scrollwork frames. The stone fireplace in the larger room has been stained to match, and the ceilings have ornamental plasterwork in a corresponding style. The adjoining hallway has more Adamesque plasterwork.

Nos. 2 and 3 are plainer, having simple cornices and white marble fireplaces with some carved ornament. In Nos. 4 and 5 the front rooms were thrown together when the two houses were united. The walls have elaborate Rococo plaster panels, some with mirrors, featuring palm-fronds, shells, putti and dolphins. The two fire-surrounds, of richly variegated marble, are similarly ornate. Nos. 6–8 are again plainer, having simple Classical fire-surrounds with mirrored overmantels.

Aside from simple moulded cornices and, in some cases, small fireplaces with tiled inserts on the second floor, formerly bedrooms, and reinstated fireplaces on the attic floor, the second floor and attic floor are not of special interest. The basement rooms have been comprehensively altered and are not of special interest.

Government Offices by Whitfield Associates (1982–4)

Commissioned in 1975 and assigned to the Department of Health and Social Security before completion, this phase was designed 1982–4 by Whitfield Associates.

The structure is a reinforced concrete frame. The Whitehall frontage is in Tudor Perpendicular idiom, according to Whitfield taking its cue from the former Holbein Gate and King Street Gate. It is built in amber brick with ashlar dressings of a similar palette to Richmond Terrace. The rear is in red brick banded with grey granite, reflecting the Norman Shaw building, and set on a red granite plinth. The external treatment of the towers is carried through internally into the lift and stair lobbies. Floors and ceilings are coffered beams rather than slabs. Internally, principal areas are lined in ashlar; fair-faced concrete is painted white as a finish.

Plan

The main entrance on Whitehall leads to a shallow entrance hall spanning the width of the facade, from which a monumental staircase rises to a lobby that opens onto the Cathedral Room, an imposing double-height conference room above the entrance. This centrepiece is flanked to the right, or south, by grouped stair and lift towers which turn the corner and link the new building to the 18th- and 19th-century commercial buildings on Parliament Street. The main staircase continues between stone portals to the first-floor corridor which runs the length of Richmond Terrace. The building is spliced onto the rebuilt rear of Richmond Terrace, its shallower seven levels offset against the five principal storeys of the latter. It provides 15,000 square metres of offices, to the rear of Richmond Terrace and in side wings or spurs of unequal length which are stepped in above a central courtyard. The courtyard is filled at lower level by conference facilities, the canteen and a small enclosed decked area. At the rear the wings terminate in robust stair and service towers which wrap round the courtyard.

Exterior

The Whitehall elevation is set back from the adjacent buildings and is asymmetrically arranged with a strong vertical emphasis. The centrepiece is articulated by full-height facetted towers which rise above the Cathedral Room. The lower level is clad in ashlar, the upper levels in banded brick and stone. The Cathedral Room has stone oriel windows. Above are recessed bays of simplified mullion windows, while the top, mansard, level is in the idiom used at the rear, of glazed office floors set back beneath the pronounced profile of the beam ends of the roof structure. To the right, blind, grouped facetted towers flank lobbies, on the principal floors lit by vertical stone screens, while the upper stages of the turrets are lit by narrow slit windows.

At the rear, glimpsed from Victoria Embankment and also from Derby Gate, are monumental towers with facetted corners, in horizontally banded red brick and stone. Office floors are set back or shelved, with shallow hipped roofs, and have continuous anodised metal window units, again with a vertical emphasis, set back on each level beneath pronounced, projecting ceiling beams or, on the courtyard elevations, above a granite fascia band. To the rear, the footprint of the building is defined by an offset polished granite plinth and perimeter paving.

Interior

The entrance lobby leads to monumental stairs, framed by portals, which progress to the upper lobby and conference room. At upper level the stairs continue dramatically between narrow portals, from where a series of round-arched openings are seen. The ensemble is lined in ashlar, while the first-floor lobby and upper flight also have flush oak dado panelling, all executed to a high standard. The portals to the staircase are flanked by gridded oak screens. A similar device is used for the doors to the Cathedral Room, while stairs have steel and brass balustrades.

The Cathedral Room is a monumental double-height space with pronounced piers, facetted at the top, and a coffered ceiling reflecting the articulation of the room. Windows are set in deep, facetted reveals and have bronze or bronze-finished frames.

Within the principal towers, offset lift lobbies and deep-set fenestration, reminiscent of a medieval tower, and stairwells with facetted lanterns are arranged to dramatic effect and are executed in high-quality materials. The same ethos is applied to the smaller rear lobbies, where the external materials are continued internally and where stairwells are top-lit. Within the building, the majority of the stairs are of masonry with deep moulded timber rails and many lit by a light well from above. Conversely, stair S2, the minister's stair, is an open-well stair with oak tread ends, a steel balustrade and brass rail. Office floor windows have a screen of rear timber spurs aligned with the ceiling beams; in some areas these have been removed.

The underground car park and ramp, office floors, toilet and catering facilities, plant and services, provisions for disabled people, and security installations are not of special architectural or historic interest and are excluded from the listing.