78 Wimpole Street, Westminster

The property at 78 Wimpole Street is a four-storey building with a basement and mansard attic, dating from the early to mid-19th century and situated in Westminster. It is constructed of brick, now painted, with stucco detailing and a slate roof.

The building has a plan of two rooms deep, with the staircase located at the front, resulting in the rear rooms being wider than the front rooms. A secondary staircase provides access from the second floor to the attic. A lobby has been inserted between the front and rear rooms on the ground and first floors. The second floor is more extensively altered, and the basement has been modernised.

The front elevation is three bays wide, with the ground floor faced in channelled stucco. A porch with Corinthian columns stands at the front. The windows are six-over-nine pane sash windows on the ground and first floors, and six-over-six on the upper floors. A glazed door and rectangular fanlight were added in 1907. The mansard roof is punctuated by three dormers. Modern cast-iron area railings stand on the original low stone wall. Stone steps with an iron balustrade lead down to a basement area featuring brick vaults under the pavement. The rear elevation incorporates a canted bay window at basement and ground-floor level, which has been remodelled and rendered. The rear windows are 1950s metal casements. A one-storey and basement building, linked to the main house by a corridor, is situated at the rear; it was rebuilt in the 1950s and is not considered to be of special interest.

The interior entrance hall retains an original plaster cornice with modillions, a moulded dado rail, and skirting boards. The main staircase rises from the ground to the second floor and remains largely intact, with the exception of a replacement newel post from 1907. It features an open well, open string with scroll-silhouette tread ends, column newels, a ramped mahogany handrail, and turned column-on-vase balusters. The inner string is ramped and has a moulded rail and skirtings. Stair landings also feature modillion cornices. The secondary staircase has been rebuilt. The rear ground-floor room contains an Edwardian chimney piece designed in the 18th-century style. The first-floor rear room retains an original, elaborate chimney piece with a lugged and scrolled surround and marble slips. It also retains its original plaster cornice, featuring enriched modillions, egg-and-dart, and dentils, although it has been disrupted by inserted steels. While no original doors remain, some window architraves, panelled shutters, and aprons are still present in the front part of the building.