34-52, Portland Place W1

This is a terrace of large, high-quality town houses built between 1776 and around 1780 by James Adam, in partnership with his brothers and John Elwes. It was a speculative development on a lease from the Portland Estate. The houses are constructed mainly of stock brick, with Nos. 46, 48, and 52 being stuccoed. The terrace was originally designed as a symmetrical block, with Nos. 46 and 48 emphasized with a giant pilaster order and a pediment. The houses have three main storeys, with dormered mansards to Nos. 46 and 48 and full attic storeys added to the remainder. Nos. 34 and 36 have later added mansards. The fronts are three windows wide, except for Nos. 46 and 48, which have a symmetrical five-window front. Entrances are grouped in pairs, except for No. 34, which has a Corinthian columned porch. They feature broad, semicircular arched doorways with double doors, panelled dividers or columned side lights, corniced doorheads, some adorned with rams’ heads, and fanlights. Recessed sash windows are arranged under flat, gauged arches on the upper floors. A plat band finishes the stuccoed ground floors, with a moulded band above the first floor and a stucco entablature above the second floor (No. 40 has a balustrade). An attic cornice and blocking course top the facades. Nos. 46 and 48 are particularly elaborate, featuring a segmental arched, recessed apsidal entrance with doorways set on a curve, shallow elliptical arched recesses for the windows flanking the entrance, and a giant order of composite pilasters rising to a main entablature with an enriched frieze and a shallow pediment with a relief roundel over the central three bays. Between the second-floor string and sill course are alternating rectangular and circular relief panels depicting urns, gryphons and paterae. Continuous cast iron balconies, dating to the early or mid-19th century, are positioned on the first floor. Cast iron area railings are present, finished with urn or plumbe spike finials. Valuable original Adam interior features survive in Nos. 34, 40, 44 and 46, including delicate plasterwork, geometrical stone staircases, statuary marble chimneypieces, and overmantel reliefs.