The Piazza, Bedford Chambers

The Piazza, comprising numbers 1 to 8 and including number 33 James Street, is a row of terraced houses with an arcade built between 1877 and 1879. The design is by Henry Clutton and represents a large-scale rebuilding of the original northwest "piazza" block by Inigo Jones, with modifications to the original detail. The building is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and a slate roof.

The arcading is a faithful recreation of Jones and Isaac de Caus's original design, although the upper floor and pilasters have been modified, with the addition of an attic storey. The building is four storeys high with dormers. The front has a regular eight-window arrangement, with a James Street return façade in a 1:3:1 rhythm. The ground floor is set back behind a rusticated stone arcade, referred to as the "piazzas." This arcade is vaulted, with shop fronts located within the arches, and surmounted by mezzanines. The doorways are architraved with console bracketed cornices. First and second floor windows are stone architraved sashes, separated by channelled stone pilasters. Windows in the attic storey are set in stone panelled frames. A string course and plinth are present at first floor level, above the arcade; a projecting bracketed main cornice is above the second floor, and a frieze and cornice define the attic. Oeil-de-boeuf dormers are also visible.

The James Street return is generally similar, but features a central section of three doorways with Gibbs surrounds, surmounted by mezzanine windows below a first-floor balcony. The outer bays have large arched entrances, the left one marking the return end of the arcade to Covent Garden. This Clutton block is the only remaining, remodelled remnant of Jones’s original 1631 piazza.

Nine gas lamps are hung within the arches of the south arcade. These are cradle-mounted Rochester lanterns with external Horstmann control clocks, supported by iron brackets. A photograph from 1921 shows a single Grosvenor lantern in an archway, suggesting the Rochester lanterns were likely installed in the 1930s, along with numerous column-mounted examples in the surrounding area.