20-24 Belgrave Road and attached railings

A terrace of three townhouses, probably built between 1830 and 1837 as part of the Cubitt estate in a classical style.

The houses are constructed from yellow brick laid in Flemish bond, with channelled stucco applied to the ground floor and basement. Cast iron balcony screens and railings are featured, and the roof is covered with slate.

Each house is approximately rectangular on plan, with a series of rear extensions of varying levels and depth creating an irregular rear elevation. The original plan of each house was linear, with front doors opening onto a corridor leading to the back and rooms to the left. Internal staircases towards the rear of each house aligned with the front doors and adjacent to the party wall of the neighbouring house. This plan has been significantly altered by the insertion of lateral corridors to every floor, providing access between the three former houses following their combination and reconfiguration into a hotel.

The principal elevation faces north-east onto Belgrave Road and comprises four storeys over a basement. Each of the three houses is two bays wide. The ground floor and basement feature channelled stucco, while the upper floors are constructed from yellow brick in Flemish bond. Most windows have been refitted with double-glazed sashes matching the originals, and where original windows survive, they have been fitted with secondary glazing. Each floor above ground level has two six-over-six pane sash windows with flat brick arches. Those to the first floor reach floor level and open onto stone balconies with cast iron screens of anthemion design. The ground floor has a single three-over-three sash window and door to each house, offset from the windows above. The ground floor window to number 22 retains a cast iron window box retainer. The front doors each have four recessed panels and appear to be original, with a plain rectangular transom light above each doorway. The basement has a single window for each house in line with those on the ground floor. A moulded stucco cornice sits above the second floor, with a parapet above the attic storey. The pitched natural slate roofs are each divided by chimney stacks continuing from the party walls. The roof of number 24 is mono-pitched, with only part of its rear half rising above the first floor.

The south-east return wall steps down towards the rear, reflecting the varying levels of flat-roofed extensions. This side elevation is blind and constructed of unadorned brick, terminating in a wide chimney stack.

The rear elevation, backing onto Hugh Mews, is partly obscured at ground floor level by a twentieth-century building at the end of the mews. The attic storey for numbers 20 and 22 is contained within a steep mansard roof, while number 24 has a flat-roofed wing of a single bay for the second and third floors and an adjacent lower flat roof over the first-floor wing. All three houses have rear extensions of varying heights with flat roofs. Small courtyards between each house permit light into rear rooms on the lower levels. Rear fenestration comprises timber sashes of various sizes with segmental brick arches over the windows up to and including the second floor.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the interior underwent extensive superficial alteration during conversion to hotel use. Hotel bedrooms, connecting corridors and stairwells have carpeted floors with simple coving, skirting and dado rails of twentieth-century date. Internal partitions have been inserted into all bedrooms to provide en suite bathrooms.

The staircases remain in their original positions for numbers 20 and 24, and for number 22 up to the first floor. Above this level, the original staircase for number 22 has been truncated and filled in with en suite bathrooms. The staircases have simple timber handrails and dado rails, with most of the area below the handrail boxed in; original balusters may survive behind. The front door to number 22 has been blocked internally. The original coal vaults running under the street in front of the houses survive well, though completely tiled over internally with additional openings created between vaults to provide through access. Original direct access routes from numbers 20 and 22 have been blocked. The vaults now collectively serve as refrigeration and laundry areas for the hotel.

Spearhead railings of cast iron, probably original, border the basement lightwells to the front of each house and are attached to the front elevation.