74, South Audley Street W1

No. 74 South Audley Street is a terraced town house built in 1736 by Edward Shepherd, with alterations made in the 1830s and 1880s, and a refronting by Balfour and Turner in 1908. The building is constructed of Portland stone and has a slate roof. It features a subtle reworking of the Georgian style, combined with distinctive Arts and Crafts details from Balfour and Turner. The house has three storeys, a basement, and an attic storey, and is three windows wide, but the front is divided into two parts.

The right part is slightly recessed and includes a prominent square pier porch on the right, with a ground floor window flanked by pilasters. The first floor has two segmental arched windows that are recessed for one order, topped with eyebrowed cornices, while plain recessed lintelled sashes are above. The left part, which is one window wide, features tripartite windows of Venetian design on the ground and first floors, with the ground floor window altered to serve as an entrance. Both sections of the front are highlighted by giant Doric pilasters that extend through the first and second floors, supporting an entablature across the front, with an attic that has a balustraded parapet. A continuous wrought iron balcony extends over the porch on the first floor.

Inside, the layout interlocks with No. 75 and retains exceptional plasterwork ceilings dating from around 1740, including four on the ground floor and two on the first floor. Several ceilings are deeply coved, particularly notable are those in the rear left ground floor room and the ceiling and upper walls of the stair compartment, with the stairs themselves being Edwardian, all of which are attributed to Shepherd. From 1747 to 1829, this house served as the Portuguese Embassy.