28, James Street Wc2

This building on James Street began as a house initially leased in 1635, with the present structure dating to the late 17th or early 18th century. It was refronted in 1790 and raised in 1874, and later restored by the Greater London Council between 1980 and 1981. The exterior is stock brick, now painted, with brick party wall stacks and a hidden roof behind a parapet. The building has a parallelogram plan, featuring a front room, a rear room, and a staircase hall to the south. A two-story rear closet wing originally existed; its ground floor remains within a 20th-century rear extension.

It is four stories high, with a basement. The front elevation is regular, with four-pane sash windows, likely from 1874, though the first floor retains earlier window frames. Gauged brick heads above the windows on the first floor indicate the 1790 refronting, while others appear to date to 1874; a prominent sill band runs between them. A sensitively designed shop front and entrance to the upper floors, created by the GLC in 1980-1, occupies the ground floor. The rear elevation features a large window and a smaller staircase window on each floor, with a large French window on the first floor opening onto the flat roof of the rear extension.

The upper floors contain noteworthy interior features. An open tread staircase, with decorated ends and two turned balusters per tread, rises from the ground-floor half landing to the top, featuring paired newels and a thick, upswept handrail. Panelling extends from the ground-floor half landing to the second floor, terminating at dado height on the landing above. The second-floor landing panelling has been renewed, with possible modifications also on the first floor. The first-floor front room has simple panelling, disturbed at times, beneath a deep box cornice. The rear room features large panelling, a corner fireplace surround, and a shallow cornice. The second-floor front room has a fireplace surround, some original panelling to the south wall, and cornices above these elements; the other panelling is either from the GLC’s salvage store or a recreation. A fire passage now separates this room from the rear room, which has three walls of original panelling and a corner fireplace.

The building is listed as a notable example from around 1700, due to its retention of many original interior features.