36-40, BRUTON PLACE

This is a group of three former stables with accommodation above, now mews houses, dating from the late 19th century. The buildings are constructed of red brick with gauged brick dressings, glazed brown brick dados, and tiled gabled roofs. They are designed in the Queen Anne style and are slightly stepped to accommodate a change in ground level. Each ground floor has a recessed central pedestrian entrance with a glazed overlight of nine square panes, flanked by a pair of double doors with similar nine-pane glazing and long hinges. The first floor has three windows set beneath shallow segmental arches of gauged brick, featuring keyblocks and gauged brick aprons. Above this is an advanced dentilated cornice broken to centre, leading to a central gable with a loading door beneath a similar arch. The loading doors are divided and have hoists above, though the one at number 40 has been replaced with a wider window. The apex of each gable has a curved moulded hood with a pair of ribs below, and a larger advanced rib at cornice level between each building. Interior features are reported to include glazed wall tiling, iron rings, vertical timber boarding, and brick-paved floors. Originally designed as livery stables to serve the Mayfair residential area, their survival represents a rare example of late-Victorian town stables. They were later adapted for automobile garage use and Bruton Place retains its scale as a quiet mews street. The group remains externally mostly intact, clearly expressing their original function, and shares group value with the Grade II former mews at 10-38 Bourdon Street.