12, Cavendish Place W1

This is a mid-18th century townhouse situated on Cavendish Place in Westminster. It forms part of a terrace facing the street, but also has a significant garden front to the east. The building underwent alterations in the early and mid-19th century. It is constructed of brick with a rusticated stucco finish to the ground floor. The building rises three storeys with a basement, and has a slated mansard roof with dormers. There are three windows facing the street. The front features an enriched Victorian scroll plat band below the second floor, and a stone, cyma bracketed cornice below the parapet. Stone architraves frame the windows; the first-floor window, above a 19th-century Corinthian columned porch on the left, is a Palladian window enriched with additional detailing in the mid-19th century. The east-facing garden front has five plus one windows, with a central section that is advanced and topped with a pediment, matching the street front’s cornice and Victorian scroll detailing. The first floor of this central section features an unaltered Palladian window with Ionic columns. The ground floor stucco is channelled and struck to the window arches. An early 19th-century cast iron verandah with a geometric pattern balustrade serves as a balcony to the first floor. The survival of the side garden elevation is considered a rare feature.