73, South Audley Street W1

No. 73 South Audley Street is a terraced town house built in 1736 by Edward Shepherd and refronted by Paul Waterhouse in 1908. The building features a Portland stone front, original brickwork at the rear, and a slate roof. Its elevation is consciously asymmetrical, showcasing mannerist neo-Adam features. The house has three main storeys, a basement, and an attic storey with a steep mansard roof.

The façade is three windows wide, with the entrance bay on the left slightly recessed. The doorway is topped with a swept stone hood, and the window above features an eared architrave with a segmental pediment. The upper plain windows have shallow relief keystones above their lintels. The two main bays on the right are more elaborately designed, with a channelled ground floor that includes two deeply recessed sash windows, and the channelling is extended to the lintels.

A giant order of Ionic pilasters runs through the first and second floors, with the central pilaster broadening out to include a shallow niche at the first floor and a medallion plaque adorned with garland pendants, which divides the half capitals. This supports an entablature with a modillion cornice. The attic storey features pilaster strips with enriched pendants and a vestigial modillion cornice at the parapet, which is topped with urns.

Inside, the house retains a fine original interior with exceptional plasterwork ceilings in the ground and first floor rooms. There is also an elaborate plaster wall cartouche in the front room on the ground floor and decorative reliefs on the walls of the rear room. A top-lit stone stair is complemented by a balustrade designed by Paul Waterhouse, along with detailed doorcases and cornices.