22, Weymouth Street

House, 1934. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in conjunction with his brother Adrian Gilbert Scott, built by Bovis Ltd (date stone on front elevation).

Ground floor constructed in reinforced concrete; upper floors of timber joists. Faced in red and plum hand-made bricks laid in a variant of English garden wall bond with stone dressings and pantile roof.

Rectangular plan comprising a central entrance hall with drawing room to the right (east) and former library and dining room to the left. Main stair to rear of hall. Stair to basement in south-west corner of hall is a modern insertion.

Two-storey building in restrained classical style with neo-Grec detail. Symmetrical south front elevation of six bays (2-3-2) to ground floor with central section breaking forward. The central entrance bay is recessed, with stone steps and a reeded architrave, flanked by windows. The central portion of the first floor breaks forward only slightly and comprises a loggia with two windows behind, flanked by two windows on each side. Soldier course bands continue across window heads. Stepped-back parapets to stacks. Georgian-style timber sash windows throughout; those to the outer four ground-floor bays and recessed balcony are tripartite. Entrance steps are flanked by stone planters. Hipped roof to front and sides conceals a flat-roof terrace to rear.

The rear elevation facing Devonshire Close is visible for only part of the building's width. It has a recessed porch to the left with two sash windows, those to ground floor tripartite. Soldier course banded detailing is similar to the front elevation.

The hall has a stone floor with shallow architraves and skirtings in artificial 'San Stefano' stone. Doors are three-panelled in an archaic Greek manner. The drawing room has a timber pilastered architrave to double doors. The hall and ground-floor rooms have shallow-stepped moulded cornices, with reeded banding beneath in the hall, though some cornices appear to have been further embellished at a later stage. Several late-18th-century marble neo-classical chimneypieces were installed when the house was built. Two curved steps lead up to the main stair, which has a solid lower balustrade with wrought-iron scrolled upper balustrade; the handrail has been replaced. A skylight is above. The first-floor rooms and basement are more altered but retain some cornices and panelled doors.

The house was built in 1934 to designs by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in conjunction with his younger brother Adrian Gilbert Scott. Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) was one of the most important 20th-century British architects; his celebrated commissions include the Anglican cathedral of Liverpool, Battersea Power Station, and the K6 telephone kiosk. Scott designed relatively few private houses: Greystones, Hendon (1907, in conjunction with Adrian); Grey Wings, Leatherhead (1913); Chester House, Marylebone, his own residence (1925-26), all Grade II listed, and 22 Weymouth Street. The house demonstrates Scott's personal manner of combining modernist form with traditional detail and is virtually intact externally. The high-quality brickwork with subtle detailing exemplifies Scott's advocacy of 'contrast between plain surfaces and sparse well-placed ornament just where it is needed and nowhere else'. The interior complements this restrained classical aesthetic and retains a significant proportion of its original plan and fittings on the principal floor.